3D printer manufacturer Josef Průša is developing his innovation ecosystem. He is offering startups up to half a million crowns to get started
Prague, 7 December 2022 – PrusaLab, the prototyping workshop operating under the auspices of Prusa Research, has launched the third year of its acceleration programme aimed at supporting Czech startups developing hardware products.
As part of his accelerator, Czech developer, entrepreneur and investor Josef Průša offers young companies unlimited technological advice, production capacity in a hi-tech workshop, connections with industrial partners, mentoring and financial support amounting to hundreds of thousands of crowns.
“Czech startups often lack the technological expertise, facilities and seed money they need to succeed. That is why we have decided to expand the capacity of our accelerator in every respect this year,” says Josef Průša, CEO of Prusa Research.
Instead of six months, the length of the acceleration programme, together with the amount of the initial investment, is now set according to the needs of the project. “In order to set the parameters appropriately, the selected team must first complete a one-month pre-acceleration process, during which we get to know each other and confirm our collaboration,” explains Ondřej Kašpárek, manager of PrusaLab. While in previous years the programme opened to applicants once a year, it now accepts applications every four months – the deadline for the first round is 31 March 2023.
A condition of the acceleration is that project development temporarily moves to the PrusaLab workshop in Prague's Holešovice. “Experience from previous years has convinced us that close collaboration between the team and our product development experts is key. This setup lets us make full use of an agile approach and state-of-the-art equipment, and build, test and iterate a working prototype together within months,” adds Kašpárek. In addition to help with developing the hardware product, participants also receive mentoring in business management, patent protection and marketing.
The opening of applications was announced at the Demo Day, where the winners of the second year of the acceleration programme also presented themselves to potential investors. The results of their development were presented, for example, by the startup FlockLock, which aims to digitise pasture farming with smart collars for cattle. “Thanks to the accelerator, we now have a fully functional prototype that we are testing in real-world operation,” says co-founder Daniel Rychlý.
Tibor Kučera, head of Last Miles, also welcomes the progress. He wants to make roller skates the most practical way to travel short distances using a special sleeve that slips over the shoe: “During the acceleration, there were significant design changes that greatly simplified the production of the skate itself and improved user comfort. We now have a viable product and can move on to making the first units for our crowdfunding backers.”
The startup Goboline, which focuses on light projection technology, also showcased the first version of its product. “For industrial sites that use light projection for floor marking, switching to our innovative linear projectors can bring significant energy and financial savings. I'm glad that the trial operation will take place right at Prusa Research,” says co-founder Matyáš Kavan.
The PrusaLab hardware accelerator helps innovative companies develop a working prototype ready for mass production or for investment. In previous years, it supported, for example, the startup Posedla, which won an award in the Top 10 Innovators of the Year 2022 competition. In the first two years of the programme, nearly two hundred projects competed for a place.
