Nicoustic AS

A perfect trio: Fraunhofer IKTS and spin-off management and investment firm CoFounder founded deep tech venture Nicoustic with support from Equinor Ventures. The start-up aims to provide solutions worldwide for acoustic monitoring of fill levels and integrity in pressure vessels, thus enabling operators to reduce maintenance costs, optimize production and improve safety.

And because Equinor, Fraunhofer and CoFounder are all involved, there is a balance between the customer, technology, and management perspectives. This makes Nicoustic a “perfect example of how to combine validated customer needs, world-class technology and external management to take technology transfer to the next level,” says Jan Biti, Managing Partner at CoFounder and Director of the Board of Directors at Nicoustic.

Special ultrasonic waves are an efficient way to monitor long objects such as pipelines for damage. Researchers at Fraunhofer IKTS have now found a new application for this established method and brought it to market with new spin-off Nicoustic: determining fill levels inside closed containers.