Markus Brehler: Smart Sensors, No Batteries

At a trade fair four years ago, Markus Brehler found himself in an enviable position for someone contemplating the launch of a company. To investigate demand for a sensor that can generate its own power, Brehler pretended he already had a company. "We were curious to test the response, so we just created a virtual company," says the founder and CEO of EnOcean GmbH. "But the response was overwhelming, and suddenly we had customers and had to form the company."

Tough break. EnOcean's technology is creating a lot of buzz among people in diverse industries, from automation to automobiles. It's a spin-off from electronics giant Siemens AG. While attempting to create wireless switches and transmitters for trains and cars, Siemens developed a sensor that requires such a minuscule amount of energy to transmit a radio signal that it can create its own power from the slightest movements or vibrations.

The sensor is surprisingly simple and maintenance free. It converts ambient energy into electrical energy using, say, a tiny solar cell, vibrations from a spinning tire or even the movement of a light switch. Then an extremely low-power sensor does its job and sends radio signals to a receiver that collects the data. The sensors can be used to adjust shades on a window, measure air pressure in a tire or regulate temperature and humidity in a building. When the city of Dresden began renovating the Baroque Semper Opera House, it wanted to monitor humidity. But regulations protecting historical buildings prohibited opening the walls to lay cable. So Thermokon, the company that provided the humidity sensors, installed 24 EnOcean-powered devices.

Remarkably, the sensor business was almost tossed aside by Siemens in 2000 during a corporate overhaul. "But I realized that this was an interesting enabling technology, and I was keen to do something on my own, so I told them I'd like to take the technology and spin it off," says Brehler, 42. On second thought, Siemens saw the light, and its venture-capital unit provided some start-up financing. EnOcean expects to become cash positive soon. "Today everybody's talking about smart homes and buildings. In this environment, our products are the eyes and ears of these intelligent systems," says Brehler. Good thing there's a real company to sell them.