FISEGO: from THM startup to your own company

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From the idea to development and research at THM to its own online shop: the FISEGO company is celebrating the start of sales of its fire-safe sockets in Butzbach. Photo: THMNine years passed from the idea to the start of sales. In 2015, during his training as an electronics engineer, Fabian Goedert asked himself whether there were sockets that didn't burn. This idea became a student research project at the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen ( THM ) in 2018: FISEGO fire protection technology. The GmbH of the same name has existed since 2022, and the Butzbach-based company is now starting to sell its fire-safe multiple sockets online.

The technology behind it: In a first alarm level, there is an acoustic, visual or digital signal that there is a (fire) risk and there is the option of switching off the device - either on the power strip or via the app. If the alarm is ignored, the device is automatically switched off. If you really want to be safe, you can use a multiple socket that also has an integrated extinguishing system. This actively combats the fire that develops.

“Almost ten years ago, when a basement fire was started by a multiple socket in my best friend's parents' house, I saw for the first time how tragic a fire like this is,” says Fabian Goedert, who volunteers with the Butzbach Volunteer Fire Department deleted it in the basement at the time. He then developed the first sketch of a fireproof socket.

After his training, Goedert began studying civil engineering at the THM , his partner Sophia Reiter studied electrical engineering. In 2018, the two students sought contact with the THM 's Research, Transfer and Young Academics department with just their idea, without a prototype - and since then the development of their idea has picked up speed. “We have always received very good feedback and received a lot of support,” says Goedert, referring to four years of development and research at THM . Not only was the potential of their idea repeatedly confirmed, the researchers also received advice from the university's departments and administration, for example in developing their prototype, registering a European patent and in idea and start-up competitions.

Sophia Reiter (from right) and Fabian Goedert have achieved their first major company goal: THM President Prof. Dr. congratulates on the start of sales of their fire-safe sockets. Matthias Willems and Pamela Schück from the university's transfer department. Photo: THM“We were a purely student research group and many professors from different departments supported us. We always had the opportunity to present our idea in a protected environment and ask ourselves difficult questions,” says Goedert. THM President Prof. Matthias Willems gave the two negotiation training. In 2021, Reiter and he won the Hessian Founder's Prize - as the first THM startup.

“For our company, which was founded in 2022, we initially had an office space on the THM campus. Since we come from Butzbach and feel very connected to our homeland, we asked the city administration there and were provided with office space. Our company headquarters have been in Butzbach since 2023,” says Goedert.

The first version of the fire-safe sockets has been available to order in the FISEGO online shop since August 9th. Further versions will follow in the coming months. “Delivery will take place from December 1st, a little numbers game on my part because of the fire brigade,” says the company founder. FISEGO celebrated the opening of the online shop in the Butzbach open-air cinema.

“No matter how successful we are, I hope that our team will continue to exist in the future. And of course I hope that sales get off to a good start from now on,” explains Goedert.