Solutions for retail
University of Wuppertal start-up wins Science Award 2025
Honoured for excellent work: The start-up experial at the Science Award 2025 ceremony. The two co-founders Dr Tobias Klinke (left) and Nader Fadl (right) are closely associated with the Chair of Marketing at the University of Wuppertal. // Photo EHI Retail Institute
experial was founded by Dr Tobias Klinke and Nader Fadl from the university of Wuppertal. The two economists are (former) doctoral students at the Chair of Marketing under Prof Dr Tobias Langner and are developing an innovative solution with their start-up to make market research faster and more cost-effective: AI-based digital twins simulate real target groups and provide precise answers for companies' strategic marketing and purchasing decisions.
This enables companies to avoid typical challenges in traditional surveys: unlike human participants, the digital twins do not have the motivation problems that often occur with real samples, for example.
Where science becomes practice
"As a research-driven team that develops new methods of digital market research, the science prize is both a special honour and motivation for us," explains founder Tobias Klinke. Together with his colleagues, he accepted the award last week in Düsseldorf in front of around 250 guests from the retail and consumer goods industry. The event was organised by the EHI Foundation and GS1 Germany, which award the prize to scientists and start-ups whose excellent scientific work and projects are relevant to the retail sector and consumer goods industry.
The experial technology is based on large data sets, machine learning and natural language processing. It enables companies to carry out in-depth analyses of their consumers up to 100 times faster than with conventional methods.
Find out more on the experial website.
Prof Dr Tobias Langner: "A great achievement, on which I congratulate warmly! I am delighted that Tobias Klinke and Nader Fadl will continue to be closely associated with the University of Wuppertal through our joint research projects. Their innovative approaches show the potential of combining science and practice."
experial also received support in the start-up process from the University of Wuppertal's Start-up Centre. Its head of operations Dr Kazem Mochkabadi (centre) accompanied the founding team to the award ceremony in Düsseldorf // Photo BUW
Professional structures
Congratulations also come from the Start-up Centre at the University of Wuppertal, which advised experial in the final phase before it was founded and nominated it for the science award. Dr Kazem Mochkabadi, Head of Operations: "At the Start-up Center, we help prospective founders, for example, with structuring an idea, advising on the selection of suitable funding programmes or preparing for idea pitches to investors. A success story like experial's shows how worthwhile and important it is to work together in professional structures."
Start-up counselling permanently established at the BUW
The University of Wuppertal is strengthening its support for those interested in starting a business in the long term: since January 2025, the Start-up Centre has been funded directly by the university rather than through the EXIST Potential Programme. This secures the central contact point for entrepreneurial ideas in the long term and firmly anchors it in the university structure. The centralised funding means that the wide range of advice, coaching, events and funding opportunities for prospective founders - as in the case of the start-up experial - will be retained.
"This decision is an important step for the sustainable promotion of entrepreneurship at our university," explains Prof. Dr Christine Volkmann, Academic Director of the Start-up Centre. "The permanent institutional support will enable us to further expand our services and support students and employees in the realisation of their business ideas in the long term."
Since its foundation, the Start-up Centre has already provided over 690 consultations, which have resulted in 458 start-up projects - 148 of which were successful start-ups. This impressive record shows how strongly the ecosystem for entrepreneurship has grown at the university.
Further information on the services offered is available on the Start-up Centre website.
