Wireless communication in real time

High-tech company R3 Communications specialises in connecting applications in the areas of Industry 4.0 and Internet of things (IoT) using a wireless protocol called EchoRing (™). According to the company, EchoRing (™) replaces “the use of cables, which is expensive, inflexible and complex – up to now, there has been no product to fill this gap in the market. “However, cables are still needed in an industry setting, as today's wireless communications systems are lagging behind requirements in terms of reliability and real-time capability. “As a result, the demand for trouble-free, highly reliable wireless communications systems has been growing continuously,” says Mathias Bohge, founder and managing director of R3 Communications.

The company is already working together with global market leaders in areas such as industry automation and automobile and aircraft construction. A typical example for potential areas of application of wireless EchoRing (™) technology would be mobile robots communicating with their surroundings in real-time and without the use of data cables. In 2015, R3 Communications was awarded the Deep Tech Award by the Senate Department for Economics. “This has led to new cooperations with startups, research institutions and the media,” Bohge says. It has also been key in launching a new project within the framework of ProFIT, a Berlin-based innovation support programme.

The current financing round is aimed at speeding up the process of getting the product ready for the market. To achieve this, R3 Communications has been working with Schleicher to develop technology in the area of human-to-machine communication. By the end of the year the product is expected to go into series production. The two companies first came into contact during a specialist conference on Industry 4.0 organised by Berlin Partner at the University of Applied Sciences Berlin. In addition, it is planned to apply for new patents and expand the team from currently ten employees to 18.

Gert Köhler, Managing Partner at Creathor Venture cites “the great potential in a variety of industrial areas of application” as one of the major advantages of R3 Communications. According to him, Germany is in a position “to spearhead the development of smart industry applications”, with R3 Communications set to become “one of the most important players in this segment”. Clemens Kabel, Investment Director at IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft stresses that in Berlin, in particular, “a high-performing ecoystem has been growing for quite some time in the area of wireless communications”. “We are very confident that we will be able to contribute to yet another success story ‘made in Berlin’.” Since March 2015, IBB has been providing capital to growth companies in the technology sector (and in the creative industry, via VC funds with a volume of 60 million EUR and 40 million EUR, respectively).