One to Watch: Sowmya Thyagarajan, founder and CEO of Foviatech

“Not by design, but by destiny,” says Sowmya Thyagarajan, describing how her digital start-up Foviatech came to be based in Hamburg. “I had opportunities in America and Australia, but Hamburg is known for its aviation industry, and I realized there is a lot of potential here.”

Hailing from India, Thyagarajan came to Hamburg in 2016 to do a PhD in aviation engineering. But academia proved too slow for her entrepreneurial spirit and she had already become interested in optimizing day-to-day processes in aviation. “I wanted to implement my ideas in the real world and contribute to the new industrial age,” she tells Markets Germany.

Foviatech concentrates on maximizing efficiency in the transportation and healthcare sectors through integrated smart tech, such as artificial intelligence and graphene technology (a heat-resistant, flexible material). Foviatech’s software aids process optimization and provides virtual assistance for planes and other transportation systems. “The technologies and ideas we implement are complex and new to the market,” Thyagarajan says.

The company she cofounded in 2018 is now developing hardware as well as software, such as sensor interfaces to enhance comfort, provide ergonomics instruction and evaluate biometric data. Her driving vision is to make life easier for passengers as well as carriers.