From the Core

For the first time in human history, the populations of the industrialized world are no longer growing — they are beginning to contract. Japan is already living this future; much of Europe and East Asia is following close behind. This is not a temporary fluctuation but a structural turning point, and it confronts us with a question without precedent: how do we sustain prosperity, knowledge and progress with fewer hands to carry them?

We are convinced that technology — and artificial intelligence embodied in smart machines in particular — is a decisive part of the answer. By amplifying human capability rather than replacing it, smart machines allow a smaller workforce to achieve more, freeing people to focus on creativity, judgment and care. Handled wisely, this is how we turn a demographic challenge into an opportunity: to build a future that is sustainable, peaceful, free, and economically secure for generations to come.

Our Background

Each of us brings 30 years of experience in machine vision, artificial intelligence and quality control for manufacturing — from start-up founders to senior CEOs, from a garage start-up to a leading enterprise with subsidiaries around the world, and from entrepreneurs to non-executive directors. Three decades of building, scaling and leading technology companies have shaped how we think, decide and act — individually and as long-standing partners. We founded 4smartmachines to bring our entrepreneurial activities together under one roof: a holding company through which we hold, develop and grow our shareholdings and ventures. It is the structure from which we pursue new opportunities, back the technologies we believe in, and put our combined experience to work building the smart, resilient businesses the coming decades will demand.

(C) Manfred Baumann

Stefan Scherer

Stefan Scherer holds an M.Sc. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Graz University of Technology. Some 30 years ago — while still working as an assistant professor — he co-founded a high-tech spin-off together with his long-time business partner Manfred Prantl. From a garage start-up, the two built it into an international group with operations across Europe, the USA and Asia. Stefan's instinct for people and customer value drew him into sales leadership, where his teams sustained average annual growth of more than 25% for over a decade. At the turn of 2018/19, he and Manfred completed a successful exit to an international industrial group.

In 2020 he invested in smaXtec and took over as CEO, building an international SaaS growth strategy that doubled revenue five years running and established the company as the most disruptive innovator in dairy-cow health management. In January 2025, KKR and Highland Europe invested in smaXtec in one of Austria's largest private-equity transactions, and — as planned — Stefan moved to the board at the end of 2025 as a Non-Executive Director.

He creates the environments where bold vision, technology and international scaling come together — and he does not just thrive in them, he builds them. He designs forward-looking strategies, puts the structures in place to execute them, and guides organizations through the transformations needed to reach their next stage of global growth. His leadership is grounded in empowering people, enabling high performance and combining complementary strengths across teams: coaching-driven leadership that develops talent, distributes accountability and builds organizations with the market insight to act early on emerging opportunities and turn them into disciplined, scalable growth. Across bootstrapped scale-ups, global expansion, SaaS transformation and PE-backed acceleration, Stefan brings the strategic perspective and execution discipline of a seasoned operator: global growth experience, deep technology understanding, sales-driven value creation, and a proven ability to steer companies through critical inflection points.

(C) Manfred Prantl

Manfred Prantl

Manfred Prantl holds a Master of Science in Telematics and earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Image Processing. Immediately after completing his doctorate, he co-founded Alicona Imaging GmbH together with his long-time business partner Stefan Scherer. What began as a technology-driven start-up developed into a leading international company in the field of surface metrology based on focus variation. While Stefan Scherer passionately drove the commercial and sales side of the business, Manfred Prantl focused on the technological foundation of the company — shaping the product vision, advancing the core imaging technologies, and helping to establish Alicona’s reputation for world-class precision in surface measurement.

Throughout the company’s growth journey, Manfred played a key role in translating scientific ideas into robust industrial solutions. His strength lies in understanding complex technologies at depth and turning them into products that create measurable value for demanding customers. With a strong background in image processing, software engineering and applied computer science, he contributed to building the technical capabilities that enabled Alicona to compete successfully on a global level. At the turn of 2018/19, he and Stefan completed a successful exit to an international industrial group.

Following the exit, Manfred took on the role of CEO at AIgnostikum GmbH, a small medical technology start-up specializing in the AI-based analysis of MRI images for the detection of breast and prostate cancer. In this role, he combines his entrepreneurial experience with his long-standing fascination for advanced imaging technologies and machine learning. His current work brings together several of his core interests: medical image analysis, artificial intelligence, software as a medical device, and the challenge of turning cutting-edge research into clinically useful solutions.

Manfred Prantl is driven by a deep curiosity for technology and by the ambition to apply it where it can make a real difference. Across industrial metrology and medical AI, he brings the perspective of a technical founder and experienced entrepreneur: deep domain knowledge, a strong understanding of image-based technologies, and the ability to guide early-stage innovation toward scalable, high-quality products.