#SuccessStories | 5 Success Stories from the ICS

REELOQ, Infood, 4a manufacturing, Opus Novo & easescreen

5 Styrian companies, which we at the ICS are privileged to accompany and support on their way into new markets, provided insights into their Styrian EXPORT DAY, international success stories, Lessons Learned & plans for the future. You are welcome to watch the entire talk in the video.

From an idea in a student room in 2019, REELOQ has since developed into a successful start-up company that sells its product – the REELOQ smartphone security system – in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Sweden, and the Netherlands. CEOs Lukas Watzinger & Julia Schadinger participated in various ICS workshops and seminars, thereby improving their export know-how. With the help of funding from go-international, market entry was also supported in Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Italy. Find out in the video how the market entry in Switzerland succeeded and what strategy they are pursuing in opening up new export markets.

Wolfgang Gladysz is the CEO of infood GmbH, a leading company in the food trade. When choosing attractive export markets, Mr. Gladysz often follows customer requirements, which is how Italy became an important target market. This brings promising opportunities but also many challenges in export processing. Mr. Gladysz reports on his learnings in dealing with risks and his great motivation to be active internationally. For many years, the ICS has accompanied and supported infood GmbH through personal consultations. By participating in various events and business trips – most recently to Serbia – Mr. Gladysz was able to expand his international network and establish valuable contacts.

4a manufacturing is the leading manufacturer of multi-layer composites for lightweight and acoustic applications. As early as 2019, the internationally active company planned to expand its business activities to China; however, the Covid-19 pandemic thwarted these ambitious plans. With the help of the ICS funding project Restart Export, market entry has now been comprehensively prepared.

Georg Kaltenegger-Uray has been on-site for several weeks and reports directly from Taicang, China, in the video about his experiences, lessons learned, and future plans for the Chinese market.

Andreas Frankl has made it his mission to relieve family caregivers of their duties and support people in need of care in their everyday lives. Therefore, in 2020, he founded the social impact start-up Opus Novo and developed the ELLY digital nursing light. The product has several functions: the orientation light control assists in fall prevention, and an app notifies family caregivers when a person leaves the bed. The ICS supports Andreas Frankl and his team in establishing ELLY not only in Austria but also in marketing it on international markets. For instance, market entry in the Netherlands has already been successful this year. In the video, Andreas Frankl reports how the market development in the Netherlands succeeded and what plans he and his team are pursuing for the future.

Founded back in the 90s, easescreen has developed into an internationally active provider of tailored solutions for the implementation of media technology projects. Through digital signage solutions, information can be presented worldwide on various digital displays or LED walls at any number of locations. These software solutions are used for everything from hotel, airport, or public authority TVs to infotainment screens in subway stations.

Due to the great success within Europe, Managing Director Gerhard Pichler decided to take the step into the USA, as the demand for digital signage applications is particularly enormous there. With the help of the ICS funding project Enabling!Export, the US market entry was professionally and comprehensively prepared. As a result of successful network building, the company was able to conclude contracts with renowned US distributors. In the talk, Mr. Pichler describes how he succeeded in finding and successfully serving a niche in the huge US market.

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