SXSW Startups: Tunnelware
The Forrest Four-Cast: February 4, 2019
Fifty diverse startups will aim to impress a panel of judges and a live audience with their skills, creativity and innovation at SXSW Pitch Presented by Cyndx. Winners in 10 categories will be announced at the Pitch Award Ceremony at 6:30 pm Sunday, March 10, at the Hilton Austin.
A finalist in Augmented and Virtual Reality, which will pitch at 3:30 pm Saturday, March 9, Tunnelware is a product of DigitalTwin Technology, founded in Cologne, Germany, which aims to create digital twins of civil infrastructure. Tunnelware provides digital twin of construction site and construction machineries in order to monitor and manage the construction process in real-time on 5D platform virtually for safer and productive environment.
Last year, the UK Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy announced a fund of £72 million for construction techniques with an emphasis on developments in virtual reality. How do you expect Tunnelware will play a role?
This is a great initiative by UK government to digitize the construction industry. The government has compelled to all construction sites to be on BIM (Building Information Modeling) level 1 and soon to be on BIM level 2.
The benefit for being on BIM level 2 and further is that during the phases of a construction project the information loss can be minimized.
Virtual reality has been a familiar tool in the construction industry for some time now — but a relatively new variant of the technology looks set to make an equally significant impact. Virtual reality creates a digital environment that is a copy of the real world, called digital twin, and produces a 3D environment where physical and digital objects can be visualized co-existing and interacting in real time. As is increasingly the case with technology developments — including those that benefit construction — it is powered by 3D game engineering, a multibillion-pound entertainment sector that now makes more money than the film industry.
If, as an industry, we are to deliver on the targets set in the Construction 2025 strategy, we need to be innovative in our thinking. It is highly configurable and can utilize many different types of project data, expanding the possibilities for project teams and clients alike. It has the potential to help save time, cost and carbon.
Tunnelware has showcased at several international tech events. What have you found most essential to communicate about your product?
Tunnelware is not just a data visualization software or data management software. It is quality assurance software, a design and real construction comparison platform, and construction process simulation software.
Tunnelware is a software that can be deployed on your private cloud system or even on your site server for data privacy issues.
And Tunnelware is a first 3D software for construction sites that can provide the predictions using the artificial intelligence algorithm.
Who will use the Tunnelware technology and how will you reach them?
Contractors, consultants and TBM Manufacturers.
We are a new company with a novel product in a traditional market and hence must focus on establishing a foothold in various segments of the industry for which our product can be applied. Initially the business will focus on reaching potential clients in the European market, expanding into American and Asian markets as time progresses, and as we gain the necessary experience. Our initial aim is to instill awareness and confidence in our services and our products.
The company’s marketing strategy rests on the belief that its products and services represent a value-added approach to interpreting, qualifying, and understanding the complexities of the tunneling industry and the construction industry as a whole.
What are your goals for Tunnelware in 2019?
Within the second quarter of 2019, we will have our first investor on board to accelerate our development process by hiring more developers and civil engineers. By the end of the fourth quarter, we will have the first customers deploy our basic version.
DigitalTwin is currently based in Cologne, Germany. Tell us about the startup ecosystem there.
The startup ecosystem here is quite young. Mostly, the startups are in the area of media, art and design and 3D video games. The government here fully supports startups to grow and stay by providing funds and a stage to grow.
How and when did your team come together and please fill us in on any relevant startup experience?
The three founders of DigitalTwin Technology met during the EU ICT 2017 in Budapest, Hungary. Rahul Tomar is basically a Tunnel Engineer who has worked for 14 years in India and Germany. He had the idea for Tunnelware since 2014. Being a software developer, he looked for the team in game development and he pitched the idea to Holger Sprengel and Jens Piesk who became the two other founders.
What trend is your team most excited about?
We are very excited towards the development in the area of robotics and mixed reality hardware.
Name three people, in any field, alive or dead, you’d like to meet and tell us why.
Shahrukh Khan: a great entrepreneur and amazing speaker.
Sachin Tendulkar: how he did maintain such a calmness all the time playing cricket?
Steve Jobs: how he maintain the quality of his product so well and at the same time able to sell it with great marketing strategy?
What’s one piece of advice you wish you’d had that you’d give to others wanting to join the startup journey?
Be flexible with your idea development and the scope of the idea. Because when you enter as startup with your idea there is a big possibility that you will have to pivot your business model or your target customer or the way you approach to your customer. Remember if trees that can bend over during the storm, they can survive for long.
Look for more interviews with other SXSW Pitch finalists in this space between now and March.
Click here to see all 50 finalists for SXSW Pitch 2019, along with the links to their interviews on Medium.
Also, if you are an entrepreneur, check out all the cool panels and presentations in the Entrepreneurship and Startups Track, which runs March 8–12 at SXSW.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
