The award recognizes innovative technologies that drive the digital transformation of industry. Hopper impressed the judges with its data-driven process optimization, which reduces scrap and cycle times by up to 20%.
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The spin-off plus10, founded in 2019 by Fraunhofer IPA (headed by Professor Bauernhansl), was honored at the Allianz Industry 4.0 Award Baden-Württemberg 2025 in the "Winner" category for its adaptive quality optimization tool that learns live from high-frequency machine and raw material data. The network, initiated by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor, and Tourism, recognizes the startup as a pioneer for outstanding digitization solutions in industrial production. The award ceremony took place during the Allianz Industrie 4.0 Baden-Württemberg digitization event and was presented by Minister of Economic Affairs Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut.
With this competition, Allianz Industrie 4.0 honors companies from Baden-Württemberg that are driving forward the digital transformation with innovative technologies. The "Winner" category recognizes particularly market-relevant and practical solutions that demonstrate a high degree of innovation.
plus10 impressed the jury with its self-learning optimization solution "Hopper," which intelligently automates the operation of injection molding machines and complex production lines. Hopper analyzes production data in real time and set parameter adjusts set parameter —without manual intervention at the machine panel. The system recognizes correlations in the entire production environment of the respective machine, such as the raw material properties of the material batch currently being processed, right through to environmental conditions, and provides precise recommendations for process optimization – for qualified processes such as those in pharmaceutical and medical technology. Naturally, this is always done within the validated parameter windows, which must not be exceeded.
The result: less waste, shorter cycle times, and maximum process stability—fully automated and data-driven. Hopper thus bridges the gap between human experience and digital precision, strengthening the competitiveness of industrial manufacturing.
"This award confirms our claim to create real added value for production with AI solutions,"
says Felix Georg Müller, co-founder and managing director of plus10.
Hopper demonstrates how artificial intelligence and machine learning can help increase productivity, use resources more efficiently, and make companies fit for the future—despite rising costs and a shortage of skilled workers.
The "Winner" award underscores plus10's role as a driver of innovation in the field of Industry 4.0 – and shows how data-based process intelligence makes industrial production more sustainable and efficient – around the clock, 24/7.
"We are on exactly the right track with our developments. This is demonstrated not only by customer feedback on current installations, but also by the many positive discussions we had in October at the world's largest plastics trade fair, "K," where our tools were on display live on several machines, as well as by the award we received from SIEMENS in May: plus10 was ranked second in an evaluation of over 60 global AI startups in the manufacturing sector and was the only one in this field to also deal with regulated pharmaceutical/medical technology production."
adds Felix Georg Müller.
Allianz Industrie 4.0 Baden-Württemberg is a network initiated and sponsored by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor, and Tourism, with the coordination office located at VDMA e.V. Baden-Württemberg. The Industry 4.0 Alliance Award recognizes industrial companies that are driving forward digital transformation with innovative solutions. To take account of the different stages of development in industry, the competition comprises two categories: "Winner" for outstanding individual solutions and "Excellence" for holistic digitization concepts. For details, see: https://www.i40-bw.de/de/award/
