Co-development Program to Accelerate Infrastructure Engineering Software Startups Focused on Infrastructure loT Solutions
Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading company in infrastructure engineering software, has announced the introduction of Twin Activate. This 20-week co-development program is specifically designed to expedite the growth of early-stage startups in the field of infrastructure engineering software.
Twin Activate operates in cohorts aligned with various industry sectors and is overseen by Bentley Twin Ventures, a corporate venture capital fund worth $100 million that actively promotes innovation through co-investments in startups and emerging companies.
The primary objective of the Twin Activate program is to provide comprehensive support to startups in developing industry-specific solutions. This support is achieved by leveraging Bentley's technology through program and co-development funding, offering solutions architecture guidance, and granting access to Bentley executives for valuable commercial insights.
Tom Kurke, Vice President of Twin Ventures at Bentley, expressed his enthusiasm for the program, stating, "Our first cohort was a small, invitation-only group of four startups focused on the electric grid industry. We were excited to see the innovative solutions that the startups built incorporating our technology. The projects serve as powerful examples of new capabilities that arise from these collaborations, and in some cases, we are already seeing our shared users benefit from these new tools and the efficiencies they unlock." The first cohort of Twin Activate, named Grid, featured four supported startups: Spatial Data.Al, Virtual Technology Simplified, Rebase Energy, and SurPlus Maps.
Spatial Data Al developed a solution that streamlines the processing of LiDAR data extracted from point clouds into readily usable vector formats. This includes generating SPIDAcale models and other CAD formats, and automating the entire process for enhanced efficiency. During the project, significant focus was placed on creating a connector for Bentley's pole analysis solution, known as SPIDAcalc.
Doug Culbert, the founder of Spatial Data, expressed his appreciation for participating in the Twin Activate program, stating “Participating in the Twin Activate program supported the automated development of a design-centric digital twin for electrical distribution and telecommunications companies. The outcome of this initiative advanced our technical solution and expanded our service offerings in these markets. Spatial Data would like to thank the Bentley team for this accelerator program and is excited to continue co-developing products and services, enabling digital transformations across the infrastructure sector."
Virtual Technology Simplified (VTS) specializes in enabling the capture of utility asset data using tablets and phones. As part of the Twin Activate program, VTS developed a solution focused on data mobility and visualization on the Twin Platform. John Chwalibog, the founder and CEO of VTS, highlighted two key aspects of their experience. “For us at VTS, two things particularly jumped out. One was that the VTS development team had access to Bentley's team of SME's who could help us identify problems and collaborate with us to find solutions to any technical issues that came up throughout the project. Second was the team of people that came together over the course of the cohort. They were able to address the challenges all startups face when going from startup to funded company. We would highly recommend the program to other startups in the geospatial community as the experience was extremely positive for the entire VTS team."
Twin Activate Cohort #2 will concentrate on developing solutions for Infrastructure Internet of Things (IIoT) use cases. This cohort is now open to all interested parties who wish to apply. Cory Baldwin, Bentley's Vice President of Infrastructure IoT, shared his objectives for this cohort, expressing enthusiasm for collaborating with startups in the IoT space. "We are excited to work with startups in the loT space and build technology and partnerships together to solve the needs of the infrastructure sector. We are particularly interested in working with teams focused on creating predictive analytics or deriving insights from the sensor data federated in the Twin Platform, as well as those creating novel sensors or sensing technologies that can be brought into our digital twin ecosystem as part of a software-led motion."
If your team is engaged in developing infrastructure IoT solutions and wishes to be considered for participation in Twin Activate Cohort #2, we highly encourage you to submit an application through our website: https://bentleyitwinventures.com/itwinactivate/.
The application window will remain open until June 16, 2023, and we anticipate notifying applicants of their application status by June 23, 2023. We are excited to announce that Twin Activate Cohort #3, which will focus on generative artificial intelligence for infrastructure use cases, is planned for the summer of 2023.
For further details about the program, please visit the Twin Activate website.
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