HANNOVER MESSE 2025

With the support of the Ministry for the Environment, Nature and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, KNUW is enabling 10 innovative start-ups to participate in the joint stand at the Hannover Messe.

KNUW offers the start-ups access to a broad market in which both small and medium-sized companies as well as renowned national and international corporations are represented - potential clients of the future. This creates ideal conditions for the scaling of start-ups and their products.

Visit us and our 10 innovative start-ups in the Future Hub:
Hall 2 | Stand C30

Start-ups at the KNUW Joint Stand

Free Tickets

AgPrime

AgPrime GmbH has its core competencies in the field of innovative plant research. It supports regional and international agricultural companies in the development of innovative plant protection concepts and technologies for sustainable and economically viable agriculture and bioeconomy. This includes, in particular, the identification and characterization of new, ideally natural active principles and the utilization of measures to optimize their effectiveness. AgPrime also develops its own biostimulants, for example, and is committed to the diversification of the regional crop spectrum and the establishment of bio-based value chains. Modern equipment is available for the cultivation of agronomically relevant crops and the evaluation of the effectiveness of new products. In addition, the employees have proven expertise in project management as well as the design, implementation, evaluation and interpretation of experiments in the laboratory and in the field.

Website: agprime.de

AI.land

AI.Land stands for the change in agriculture - towards regenerative, sustainable and resource-conserving methods. As a driver of innovation in the field of Smart AgTech, we develop holistic solutions in robotics, automation and artificial intelligence that enable efficient and sustainable agriculture. Our vision: an agriculture that harmonizes technology and nature. With the DaVegi system, we offer a disruptive approach that revolutionizes spot farming. The system stocks fresh, mixed vegetable crates autonomously and energy self-sufficiently every day. It covers all plant cultivation processes - from soil cultivation to harvesting - precisely and individually. This approach brings decisive ecological and economic benefits: Conservation of resources and precision, higher yield per area and sustainable direct marketing

Website: a-i.land

CAESAR+CLEO

CAESAR+CLEO (CC) is an ESG service consultancy based on substantial sustainability expertise. CC supports companies in meeting regulatory requirements and ESG criteria in a legally compliant, innovative, value-enhancing and communicative manner. We support companies on their transformation path towards substantial corporate sustainability and develop circular Net-Zero business model innovations. Together with companies, we integrate responsible business practices holistically and establish innovative sustainability management. The future serves us as a key driver for opportunities in the present. Our unique selling proposition (USP) is based on our holistic approach. A sustainability, circular economy or decarbonization strategy is only the starting point of a change process. In order to achieve the corresponding objectives, operationalization plans and practical implementation measures are required, in which we continuously support companies until success is verified. We take an equally holistic approach to internal and external stakeholder dialog.

Website: caesarundcleo.de

greennxt

greeenNXT specializes in the serial refurbishment (SerSan) of existing buildings. With a focus on sustainability and efficiency, the greeenNXT team develops solutions for the energy-efficient refurbishment of residential and non-residential buildings. The aim is to significantly reduce energy consumption, particularly in buildings from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and to convert them to renewable energies. Together with Terhalle Holzbau GmbH from North Rhine-Westphalia, serial refurbishment in timber construction is being planned and implemented. The existing buildings are given a new shell made of prefabricated façade and roof elements, which are delivered to the construction site ready for installation, including insulation, weathering layer and new windows. There, they are fitted to the existing façade in a minimally invasive process while the building remains in operation. The interdisciplinary and experienced team from the fields of architecture, timber construction and business management develops innovative, functional and aesthetic SerSan modular approaches that can be applied to existing buildings of the same construction in a scalable manner. This makes greeenNXT the ideal partner for anyone who wants to modernize their real estate portfolio in a future-proof and sustainable way and thus make a contribution to climate neutrality.

Website: greeennxt.eu

Layer Performance

Layer Performance develops software for creating three-dimensional machine paths for conventional, low-cost 3D printers and industrial articulated arm robots. Using this non-planar path planning significantly improves the surface quality and mechanical properties of the manufactured components (increasing component strength and rigidity by up to 341% and 207% respectively and reducing surface roughness by up to 94%). The production of support structures is completely avoided and component material is reduced, which enables lightweight construction applications and saves up to 90% material. Furthermore, our optimized planning algorithms enable a reduction in production time and energy consumption of up to 90% and 96% respectively. Our technology is material-independent: In addition to plastics, metals and wood can also be processed. The cloud-based process preparation software therefore enables the use of additive
manufacturing technologies for the production of high-quality, high-performance end components, reduces material and energy consumption for plastic components and opens up new business areas such as customized mass production or the efficient repair of existing components. This video shows a demonstration of the technology as well as insights into the transformation of socially relevant fields of application.

Website: layerperformance.com

MAVY

mavy is a digital platform that is revolutionizing parking space management in urban areas. The aim is to make the use of parking spaces more efficient, environmentally friendly and user-friendly by intelligently networking parking spaces, mobility services and digital booking systems.

• Digital parking space search and booking: users can reserve parking spaces in advance and conveniently enter and exit using license plate recognition or mobile devices.
• Mobility Hub: Integration of various mobility services (car sharing, e-scooters, bike rental) into a central booking platform.
• Dynamic parking space utilization: Private individuals and companies can make their unused parking spaces temporarily available and thus save costs.
• Open interfaces: The platform enables seamless integration with navigation systems, scheduling software and other mobility solutions.
• Gamification & benefits: Users are rewarded for sustainable and reliable use through a points system.

mavy aims to make mobility more efficient and sustainable and to make cities more liveable.

Website: mavy.de

minimum energy

minimum energy develops user-friendly, modern software for the high-resolution planning and control of green energy supply solutions. This enables energy experts to make sensible and cost-optimized decisions for their customer base more quickly. Our platform facilitates the collection of relevant property data with the help of computer vision and open data. It provides a funding and legislation database as well as a portfolio of techno-economically parameterized solution options. With the help of our specially developed mathematical optimization model, we create economically optimal investment and operating plans and present them interactively. This quickly and efficiently creates an information basis for investment decisions and more detailed planning steps. In contrast to conventional planning software, which is often limited to individual energy sources, minimum energy offers a holistic and high-resolution optimization of supply systems through the integrated consideration of sector coupling (electricity, heat, mobility). In combination with flexibilities and taking into account dynamic electricity prices or grid tariffs, the software can achieve up to 25% lower energy costs compared to conventional designs. We want to become the leading platform for the fast and efficient planning and operation of climate-neutral energy systems.

Website: minimum.energy

Regascold

Regascold is a GreenTech start-up from Aachen that specializes in recovering cooling energy from the regasification of liquefied gases. Our patented technology makes it possible to integrate previously unused cold directly into industrial cooling processes, allowing companies to significantly reduce their CO₂ emissions and energy costs. We thus offer a sustainable solution for industries with high cooling requirements, such as food, pharmaceuticals or steel, manufacturing and more. Why? Because all these industries use liquid gases and need refrigeration! WIN, WIN! #toocooltogo. Short Presentation.

Website: www.regascold.com

SmartSylvan

SmartSylvan is a pioneering urban sustainability startup that addresses the challenges of urban heat islands, carbon sequestration and environmental resilience. By combining robotics, AI and climate-adapted greenery, we create adaptable and resource-efficient urban green spaces. Our flagship product is an autonomous robotic system that dynamically repositions trees to optimize cooling, carbon uptake and air purification, providing solutions for multifunctional public spaces where traditional plantings are not possible. Advanced AI monitors sunlight, temperature and air quality and enables data-driven tree positioning for maximum impact. Working with leading nurseries such as Baum and Bonheur for hardy trees and robotics innovators such as Ant Robotics, we combine nature with technology. SmartSylvan reduces resource consumption, minimizes manual labor and supports circular economy principles by using reusable materials in the chassis of our robots. Our goal is to cool cities, reduce the carbon footprint and promote health in urban spaces. Our customers include municipalities, private companies and real estate developers in Germany, Europe and worldwide who are driving the transition to smarter and more sustainable cities in a changing climate.

Website: smartsylvan.de

Ziya

The DatenLabel AI pipeline ensures that AI projects are implemented faster, more effectively and more sustainably. Training AI models is energy-intensive: a model with 213 million parameters generates around 284 tons of CO₂, around five times the life cycle emissions of a US car (including production). Models such as ChatGPT, with 175 billion parameters, illustrate the problem. Avoiding unnecessary training cycles saves immense amounts of CO₂ - a goal to which DatenLabel contributes (SDG 12). Quality assurance is key: poor data leads to weak models and can jeopardize entire projects. Subsequent improvements to data quality often require new, energy-intensive training. DatenLabel offers companies efficient tools for forward-looking AI projects (SDG 9) and has an indirect multiplier effect. Together with our corporate customer, the global market leader in fan manufacturing, we are working intensively to significantly increase the energy efficiency of fans. This optimization could enable individual large end customers to save millions in energy costs every month (SDG 12).

Website: www.ziya.de

Lukas Verhofstad will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Tel.: +49 211 6214-8612lefon: +, 4, 9, 2, 1, 1, 6, 2, 1, 4, 8, 6, 1, 2
E-Mail: verhofstad@knuw.nrw

Impressions from last year can be found here.