aau/MüllerSome want to simplify the shopping experience, others want to prepare financial data, and yet others want to offer businesses customized AI tools. What unites these potential founders is that they all use AI technologies to solve challenging problems for various target groups. The six prospective founders are supported in developing their ideas by vor.GRÜNDEN, an initiative run by the Carinthian Economic Promotion Fund (KWF). Isabella Hold, spin-off manager at the University of Klagenfurt, is there to provide support.
Saving money and resources and reducing hassle with an AI shopping assistant
What problem does your innovation address?
Oluwatomisin Owolabi: Every day, we receive an average of six brochures and flyers in our letterboxes from companies that want to draw our attention to their current offers. At the same time, we keep missing out on discounts: Sometimes, chicken is marked down at supermarket A on Tuesday mornings, and other times it’s reduced at supermarket B on Fridays and Saturdays. Our DISHPAL.AI app is an AI-based shopping assistant that offers customers a better overview and helps them shop at a lower cost with less effort.
Which products will it work for?
Dolapo Akanni: For as many products as possible, for example, watches, food, cars, clothing, furniture. We want to save everyone time and money: There will be no need for companies to send out advertising brochures, the environment will benefit from the fact that they no longer have to be produced, customers will save time spent on reading flyers and can still shop cost-effectively because they know which products are sold at the best price. The service will also be location-based, which means that the app uses my surroundings to suggest where I can get the cheapest breakfast rolls at that particular time.
Where does the underlying data come from?
Dolapo Akanni: The data is already available online. We want to show both: online and offline stores. Most brick-and-mortar stores usually put their brochures online. By using machine learning and AI, we want to sift through all this information, enabling customers to perform targeted searches for specific products. Where can I find the cheapest pickles right now or at a later date? We always focus on offers, so-called discounts, which often only apply for a limited period of time.
How did you come up with this idea?
Dolapo Akanni: As it happened, I really did buy some chicken meat one day, only to discover a day later that it was on special offer a short while later and I could have paid less for it. Besides, the endless stacks of paper in the letterbox were annoying. The idea struck a chord because I had been wanting to start up a business for some time.
Oluwatomisin Owolabi: We are both from Nigeria and we came here with a focus on machine learning and AI. Once here, it became clear to us that there is extensive support available, which made it easier for us to take the next steps. Our mentor is Kyandoghere Kyamakya, a professor who conducts research at the Department of Smart Systems Technologies.
Dolapo Akanni and Oluwatomisin Owolabi
“Initially, there are many sleepless nights, but the effort is worth it.”
Customized AI assistant for businesses
What does your innovation aim to support?
Markus Fox: We want to help Austrian companies communicate effectively with their data. Specifically, companies store huge volumes of data: There are business reports, minutes of meetings, invoices, company presentations and the list goes on. This data exists in a wide variety of formats, both structured and unstructured. Our aim is to build a private ChatGPT for businesses, an AI assistant that only searches for answers within this specific data.
But ChatGPT already exists. Why do companies need their own AI assistant?
Josef Lubas: The questions and tasks are usually only relevant for that particular company. If I ask the AI assistant to create a presentation for a potential new customer, I don’t need data from the entire internet, just from the company in question. We also offer the convenience of keeping the data within the company or on our server.
What sets your product apart from the competition?
Markus Fox: What we are building is an AI assistant that is specifically tailored to the customer’s needs. In the background, we have a modular system with various agents that can perform tasks for different databases. Next, we want to adapt that to the specific requirements of a company.
Have you already had experience as a founder?
Markus Fox: Yes, I have been through all the phases of a start-up. I have been an employee in a start-up and I have also been closely involved in setting up a company. With Speechcraft, I would now like to found my own company for the first time, together with Josef.
Did you have a specific idea from the outset or has it changed?
Josef Lubas: The core idea has stayed the same. Initially, we had the idea of an AI-based rhetoric trainer, but then we started to focus mainly on the evaluation of meeting notes. Finally, we came up with the complete package that we are currently working on. From a scientific point of view, we are supported by Julius Köpke from the Department of Information Systems.
Markus Fox and Josef Lubas
“An idea needs time to mature. Often, things only take shape as work progresses.”
More accessible information about business and finance
What are you hoping to offer?
Andrii Ivanov: Along with my co-founder Amirreza Badpa, our aim is to help companies in the financial sector, both large and small, to collect and evaluate data. The challenge: Every day, people are faced with an unmanageable amount of information on the financial market. Much of this information is public, but some of it is not. Our tool is designed to collect all this information and process it in such a way that it is easy to understand and use, even for those new to the field.
How do you get hold of non-public information?
Andrii Ivanov: There are several large data providers that we would like to enter into a contract with so that we can ultimately include this information in our evaluations.
What services do you offer?
Andrii Ivanov: We plan to offer a total of six tools. If a company uses all of them, the complete gap from data collection to data analysis can be closed. The company saves time and money for the entire research and evaluation process. When it comes to many decisions in the financial sector, time is of the essence. With our tool, customers can benefit because the data is analysed very quickly and presented so clearly that it allows for rapid responses.
How will that work?
Andrii Ivanov: Our approach relies on AI algorithms developed in-house. We are mentored by Martin Wagner from the Department of Economics. We are grateful to have the perfect environment here to make good progress with our business idea, not least because we also have two volunteer supporters, one from the field of mathematics and one from software engineering, who are both on board.
Andrii Ivanov
“We’re doing our own thing. When you’re doing your thing, you don’t feel stressed, just the determination to move forward.”
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The founders
Oluwatomisin Owolabi is from Nigeria and has been pursuing a Master’s degree in Information and Communications Engineering at the University of Klagenfurt since the summer semester of 2024. Dolapo Akanni, also from Nigeria, came to Klagenfurt in 2022, where he completed a Master’s degree in Media and Convergence Management in 2024. Markus Fox and Jakob Lubas are both from Carinthia. Markus Fox completed his Bachelor’s degree in 2018 and his Master’s degree in Applied Informatics in 2020. Jakob Lubas completed his Bachelor’s degree in 2018 and his Master’s degree in Information Management in 2019. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Technical Sciences. In 2020, Andrii Ivanov came to the University of Klagenfurt from Ukraine to study for a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Economics. His co-founder, Amirreza Badpa has been studying for a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Economics since 2022.
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The vor.GRÜNDEN programme
The primary aim of “vor.GRÜNDEN” is to guide start-up ideas with potential for economic success from the scientific environment towards market maturity. This KWF product supports people from universities, universities of applied sciences and non-university research institutions in implementing their product or service ideas. The technical and start-up support helps to prepare a start-up project.
Funding is provided to institutional sponsors (e.g. universities, research institutions) that anchor innovative and technology-oriented start-up projects within the organisation during the project period and provide them with professional support, thus strengthening the regional innovation ecosystem.
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Support for start-ups
Isabella Hold is the spin-off manager at the University of Klagenfurt. She is the first point of contact for students and staff who are interested in turning a business idea into a reality. For this purpose, she regularly offers an “Open Door for Start-up Ideas”. Every Tuesday at 1 pm, people can come to her office (Room S.2.21 at the Department of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship) without an appointment to discuss ideas and options.
The call for proposals for the next phase of vor.GRÜNDEN. is currently underway. Isabella Hold is happy to share her extensive experience to help with the submission.
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Der Beitrag “When you’re doing your thing, you don’t feel stressed.” erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.