Digital start-up ebm-papst neo celebrates its one-year anniversary

The initially small team of ebm-papst neo now includes around 30 colleagues. (Photo: Roland Kentrup, TZDO)

Making data visible and thereby creating added value – that is the mission of ebm-papst neo in Dortmund. (Photo: ebm-papst)

A year full of growth, progress, but also challenges, ebm-papst neo looks back on the first anniversary of its official founding day. The digital start-up in Dortmund and subsidiary of ebm-papst, a globally leading manufacturer of fans and drives, develops and markets digital solutions, for example to improve energy balance and air quality in buildings or for intelligent data analysis. For this, ebm-papst neo draws on a broad repertoire of software and hardware solutions as well as various competencies in the fields of service and consulting.

Since 2018, there has been a project team within ebm-papst dedicated to this. Due to the great future potential for the entire corporate group of the Mulfingen-based fan and motor manufacturer, the company ebm-papst neo GmbH & Co. KG was founded in April 2020. From the initially small start-up, a team of around 30 people has developed, with colleagues in Dortmund, Mulfingen, and India. Over the past year, they have worked on and implemented more than 100 projects in 17 different countries worldwide. Oliver Kühnle, Managing Director of ebm-papst neo: “Although the COVID-19 pandemic hindered company growth in some areas, it also provided a boost, for example in the field of Indoor Air Quality. Overall, last year we were able to expand our Building Solutions and Industry Solutions divisions in particular.”

Also, the involvement of ebm-papst neo in three international companies gave the team a significant advantage. “Together with our subsidiaries and partners, we were able to develop and implement solutions in the shortest possible time — RESET, the only real-time data-based standard for indoor air quality; Flexi-Connect, a flexible cloud-based data collection platform; Secure-Connect, a highly secure architecture; and Building Connect, a self-learning energy management platform for buildings. This allows us to make data usable in a variety of areas,” explains Thomas Sauer, Managing Director at ebm-papst neo in Dortmund. There were also milestones in close collaboration with the parent company ebm-papst. For example, the cloud-based ScipExpress was developed, which helps companies manage the reporting obligations for products containing concerning substances that have been in effect since January.

Another highlight of the past year: In spring 2021, the renowned business magazine Capital reported on the start-up from Dortmund within the “Most Innovative Companies” category. The magazine highlighted the focus on digitalization and value creation by making data visible and usable. The team was also particularly pleased about the award “Germany’s Most Innovative Companies” that accompanied this recognition.

Motivated and with big goals in mind, ebm-papst neo looks forward to the next year. New solutions in the fields of Industry 4.0 and Building Solutions are already in development.