The software developer’s Sixth Sense program is essentially an incubator for promising manufacturing technology start-ups

Hexagon, a developer of CAD, CAE and simulation software for manufacturing is giving eight start-ups from all over the world a chance to advance their innovative solutions in a way they likely wouldn’t have been able to achieve on their own.
The selected start-ups were invited to pitch by Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division from more than a hundred creative and forward-looking companies that responded to this year’s Sixth Sense open innovation platform challenge searching for solutions in visualization, digital reality, intelligence and automation. The entries were whittled down to only those who could demonstrate the most innovative solutions.
“A truly successful ecosystem needs excellence at all levels and that’s what we’re trying to achieve here,” said Parth Joshi, Chief Product and Technology Officer of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division. “Today’s market is more competitive than ever, and even good ideas can get lost if all the dominos don’t line up. By making sure the determining factor for growth is quality of idea, not chance, we can progress the industry as whole.”
Each candidate has developed a unique approach to pressing manufacturing issues, targeting skills shortages, inefficiency, and greater sustainability through the challenge’s themes of harnessing metaverse-like digital reality and automation. The start-ups will be given access to Hexagon’s market insight to help fast-track their solutions to commercial success.
Each company will now undergo 10 weeks of mentoring, product refinement and focus group opportunities with key experts. The program will close with a pitching competition in February 2023, which will see each start-up pitch their company and progress made under Sixth Sense to a panel of judges representing tech-specialists, investors and Hexagon experts. Two or more winning start-ups will be selected and receive access to Hexagon’s customer base to help improve their processes and globalize their solutions.
“Following on from the success of our first cycle, I am excited to see how this cohort will develop over the next ten weeks. Digital reality and automation are our bread and butter, but part of the Sixth Sense mission is to function as a mutual exchange of value,” said Milan Kocić, Head of Sixth Sense, Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division. “We are looking forward to learning as much from these nimble young companies as they will from us – with our market know-how and technical heritage, and their agility and dare-to-fail culture, I think we can create real magic.”
The eight start-ups are:
3YOURMIND—Berlin, Germany
3YOURMIND enables more agile manufacturing with a software suite that standardises, optimises and automates the entire process chain to enable on-demand part production. Software is designed to efficiently schedule and track manufacturing processes – from the initial order to the finished part.
Augmentir—Horsham, P.A.
Augmentir provides companies with smart insights to the workforce and processes, from “hire to retire”. The collected data helps to reduce time to productivity, enables targeted reskilling and upskilling, and provides individualised guidance and support at the point of work.
Threedy—Darmstadt, Germany
Threedy provides the visual computing technologies to translate the ever-growing web of 3D, business and process data into highly responsive and interactive 3D applications. Its instant3Dhub technology translates existing 3D data entities into highly interactive experiences while minimising device and infrastructure costs.
oculavis—Aachen, Germany
oculavis develops Visual Assistance software which connects machinery and equipment with experts, technicians and customers worldwide. Intuitive Augmented Reality (AR) annotations in video calls facilitate focused collaboration between technicians and clients.
CASTOR—Tel Aviv, Israel
CASTOR provides automated 3D printing software which analyses thousands of parts simultaneously and offers deep technical analysis of a complete machine design. It enables manufacturers to identify cost reduction opportunities, suggests geometry changes to the part’s design, estimates the cost and lead time and connects the manufacturer to a printing service bureau.
GelSight—Waltham, Mass.
GelSight develops human skin-like tactile sensing technology that provides detailed and rapid surface characterisation, enabling several surface measurement applications and robotic sensing capabilities.
JITbase—Montreal, Canada
JITbase builds smart manufacturing software that uses machine data and information from CNC programmes to calculate the optimal sequence of machinist activities on the shop floor. The Optimal Path System (OPS) is based on algorithms that calculate in real-time what should happen in production to maximise the availability rate of the fleet of machines.
Teratonics—Orsay, France
Teratonics offers highly automated non-destructive testing, imaging systems and analysis services through the use of ultrashort Terahertz pulses. Users can look into every produced part to uncover internal defects and measure dimensions.
Sixth Sense
Hexagon launched the Sixth Sense platform in early 2022 to advance cutting-edge technology produced by manufacturing start-ups. This technology can fail to take off due to lack of opportunity rather than lack of sophistication. Sixth Sense offers them access to business insight, proximity to experts and technologies that can be used to iterate and improve their solutions, as well as exposing them to Hexagon’s global customer and partner base, which includes names like Audi, NASA, Microsoft and Boeing.