Owner Klaus Werner separated from NXP in good consultation in 2015 and set up pinkRF. "When I was working at NXP, I noticed at a certain point that more and more people wanted to use the transistors not only for data communication, but also because of the energy in it." This is about RF energy, or radio waves, like the ones used in microwaves.
With a process called hyperthermia, RF energy can destroy cancer cells. The fight against cancer is an important goal for pinkRF. "We want to do something good with this technology," says Werner. It is for a reason that the "pink" in the name refers to Pink Ribbon, the charity organization for breast cancer patients. The company is therefore very proud of the collaboration with the Erasmus Medical Center that was presented last month.
MyTemp pill
However, pinkRF is actively involved with more projects, Werner says. "We help parties in the market to learn the tricks of the trade so that they can get RF energy into an application in the best possible way," he says. For example, they recently became involved with the myTemp pill, a pill that measures body temperature. Behind it is a Nijmegen-based company that won the Sports Innovator Award in 2016. Werner: "We came in contact with them and immediately had ideas about how we could make some parts easier with modern technology and how to make the pill more compatible with wearables."
A consortium has now emerged from three Nijmegen companies: myTemp, pinkRF and Sencio. There is a lot of interest from the sports world, from top athletes as well as from running events that want to detect overheating amongst runners. Food processes are also considered. "You put the pill through their food and read it out afterwards to see if the temperature has been good throughout the process."
Odyssey
Werner is also very happy about the very recent collaboration with the American company Odyssey Technical Solutions. "The ink from that contract still needs to dry, but we have expressed good intentions towards each other."
Odyssey has long been a large player when it comes to RF technology. “They have been repairing equipment that has been used in semiconductor production for twenty years. They had been looking for a first cooperation partner in Europe for a long time and eventually discovered us and also chose us. The European branch of Odyssey will soon be sitting among us on Novio Tech Campus. It offers a lot of synergy possibilities. We will soon have access to a large network of experts who can repair systems, including our own. Really a perfect step for our company, which can stay lean and mean in that way. ”
This article has been written and published by
The Economic Board.
