“Show that you can also develop innovative technology from Europe”

But how do you put such an ambitious vision into practice? “Autonomous machines cannot do without chips,” explains CEO Jens Verbeeck. “But traditional electronics break down in radiation environments. That is how we came up with the idea of ​​developing chips for robotics solutions in radiation environments. In nuclear environments, for example, our technology can handle 1,000 times more radiation than the solutions that were on the market.”

Fusion reactors and satellites

The chips that Magics Technologies develops have various applications. For example, they work in nuclear reactors, Verbeeck explains. “We were working on our PhD when the nuclear disaster in Fukushima happened. You saw there, and earlier also in Chernobyl, that all technology failed due to the radiation. Our technology allows us to use robotics for inspections and repairs at such a time. Or even earlier, to collect data and intervene in time if something goes wrong. By the way, our chips will be used in Fukushima for the inspection and decommissioning of nuclear reactors.”

Everywhere in the world, especially in the US and Japan, research into new nuclear fusion reactors is in full swing, says Verbeeck. “Not only governments are pumping a lot of money into that research, people like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are also investing heavily in research into this new energy source. We are the first company to make technology that can work in those fusion reactors.”

“Our chips also provide added value in space travel and defense applications. You see that more and more communication takes place along space, via satellites. Space is of course also an extreme environment, which traditional chips cannot withstand. We have developed solutions that allow these satellites to process and share real-time information in an energy-efficient manner,” says Verbeeck.

European market leader

Magics Technologies has the ambition to become the European market leader in chips for the aerospace, nuclear and defense industries. “In recent years, due to the pandemic and all kinds of geopolitical developments, the realization has grown that Europe must become independent in strategic areas. We want to show that you can also develop innovative technology from Europe. Even from the Kempen”, laughs the founding CEO. “We want to keep that technology in our own hands and hope that we can pull other companies into ours slipstream.”

Every week we present – in random order – a company from the list of 30 most innovative tech start-ups and scale-ups that Omar Mohout put together especially for Bloovi and which we ‘Flanders Tech 30’ baptized. These companies have already been discussed:

1. 
   D-CRBN
2. 
   Foodpairing
3. 
   SoundTalks
4. 
   Goodless
5. 
   Swimtraxx / Capetech
6. Solergy
7. 
   IVEX
8. IPEE
9. GSR-DEME
10. 
    Slimbox
11. QelviQ
12. CoMoveIT
13. 
    Moonbird
14. Arani
15. 
    CADSkills
16. 
    Alberts
17. Westray
18. 
    Urban Crop Solutions
19. 
    Tractonomy
20. 
    Bloomlife
21. 
    On-Hertz
22. 
    Magics Technologies