Robovision becomes scale-up of the year 2020

Robovision, the tech company from Zwijnaarde that makes smart software, wins the prestigious "Scale-up of the Year 2020" award.

For 15 years in a row, the Flemish government has awarded the "Scale-up of the Year" prize. With this, they not only want to distinguish a company that is in the middle of its development, but also put growth companies in the spotlight. Out of 4 finalists, the jury chose the Ghent tech company Robovision as the winner. After being named "Scale-up of the Year 2020" at The Big Squeeze a few weeks ago, Robovision may now share this award with its employees. A just reward for the innovative work of a strong Ghent tech company. 

What makes Ghent tech company Robovision?

The ambitious, fast-growing Ghent-based company Robovision, located in the Technology Park in Zwijnaarde, is a specialist in artificial intelligence. The company makes software that can learn and improve on its own. Through deep learning, Robovision teaches the software to look, analyse, index and recognise itself. Deep learning enables computers to learn new things from large quantities of data (numbers, text, sound, images, etc.). Robovision has indexed thousands of photos of e.g. fruit, plants, body parts, ... so that their software itself builds smart algorithms to recognise objects, shapes and disorders. For example, the Ghent tech company created the 'cutting machine', a robot that can take hold of and plant cuttings in the best possible way. Robovision also develops medical software to detect cancerous tumours so that people can be treated more quickly and accurately.

Ghent is an ideal technology city to further strengthen the digital ecosystem. We are therefore very proud to be the 5th Ghent company to win the "Scale-up of the Year" award, after Ontoforce, Itineris, Netlog and Financial Architects.

Jonathan Berte, CEO Robovision

From start-up to scale-up

Ghent is a real scale-up city where tech companies like Robovision can grow. But what exactly is a scale-up? And what is a start-up? We will explain it to you:

  • A start-up is more than just an ambitious newcomer in the business world. There is no hard definition of a start-up. Start-ups are mainly young companies with an innovative idea, using the latest technologies and aiming for rapid growth. Start-ups are young, innovative, ambitious, have a big national and international impact and make a prototype or work with existing products or services.
  • A scale-up, such as Robovision, is actually a scaled-up start-up with at least $5 million in revenue after 5 years. Some also believe that a scale-up should have a growth of 20% per year for 3 years, with at least 10 employees at the beginning of that period. 

According to Deloitte, 1 out of 200 start-ups in Belgium grows into a scale-up. To grow into a scale-up, 4 crucial factors (people, strategy, execution and cash) and a large portion of luck are needed.