Petter Pilsjö is a Professor at Lund University Centre for Geographical Information Systems (GIS Centre), as well as a founder of PluvioFlow.
Tell us, what had you found out through your research?
In order for society to increase its resilience to floods, better tools are needed to understand how water moves. We have created a new type of algorithm that makes it possible to create advanced flood simulations, faster and simpler.
Why did you choose to start a company?
We have been out and speaking about this at conferences and in other forums. We’d had several intresested parties - but there was nothing they could act on or buy. We therefore didn’t gain traction even though we knew that what we had was good and important.
Describe the process before you decided to start a company
By chance, we met an innovation developer from LU Innovation at Gerdahallen. Later we got the chance to sign an LU Business Track programme agreement which meant that we got help from LU Innovation and LU Holding to investgate some important questions that needed to be straightened out ahead of starting a company:
(1) The market: Who is our customer and how big is our market?
We already knew that the cities loved our approach and that there was a demand for it. But during the LU Business Track, we got help to broaden our perspective and conduct market interviews with 50 actors in several different areas. This gave new energy and insights to our research, and we saw a strong interest from customers.
(2) Team: Who will do what?
We got help to set up ownership structure and a recruitment plan so that we could continue researching. When, after the LU Business Track programme was complete, we got an investment from LU Holding there was enough structure and start-up capital for our newly recruited CTO to have the courage to leave his current position and jump on this.
(3) IP: What do we have? Who owns the rights to it?
A review of the project's intangible assets led to us write an agreement with previous project members, so that a future company would have the opportunity to fully commercialise the research.
When we had worked with the market, team and IP, we had a strong enough business case to start a company and get both LU Holding and Sandberg Development as investors right from the start. We also found two experienced board members via LU Holding's network who have built several software companies before.
What will be the next step for you?
We are now at a stage where we are starting pilots together with some selected customers. We are also in the process of recruiting a CEO who will take responsibility for driving the project forward. Andreas, Abdulghani and I will all have an ownership stake in the company and will be very involved in product development to ensure that the research results are put to use in the company in the best way. We will also continue researching, and when we find exciting opportunities, this is transferred to the company so that the results can benefit society.
Curious to embark on a similar journey? Apply to LU Business Track by May 15
LU Business Track is a tailored programme where you are paired with a dedicated project team and financial support to assess and develop the commercial viability of your research. The programme is jointly run by Lund University’s innovation office, LU Innovation and the university’s investment company and venture builder, LU Holding.