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Enschede-based deeptech startup wearM.AI received the 100th project voucher from the cross-border subsidy programme INDUSTR_I4.0 on 17 June 2026. The voucher, worth up to 50,000 euros, was presented at the BOOST Summit in Zwolle to Huawei Wang, founder of the company. It relates to the Motion2Load project, which wearM.AI is executing together with Virtualletics.
Motion2Load combines smartphone-based motion analysis with cloud-based calculations of muscle and joint load. The intended users are physiotherapists, rehabilitation professionals and coaches who want to make more objective measurements of movement quality, without having to work with complex laboratory set-ups.
wearM.AI was founded in 2023 as a spin-off from the University of Twente and develops wearable sensor technology for biomechanical analysis. The company won a CES Innovation Award Honoree in the Fitness category in 2025 for its product Beyond 01.
In the Motion2Load project, wearM.AI and Virtualletics bring together two areas of expertise. Virtualletics contributes knowledge in digital health applications, smartphone motion capture and software development. wearM.AI adds biomechanical models, cloud analysis and digital twin technology.
The starting point is that an ordinary smartphone is already sufficient to capture movement. The accompanying cloud analysis then calculates what load that places on muscles and joints. For a physiotherapist or rehabilitation specialist, this translates into concrete insight into how a patient moves and which structures are placed under significant stress, without the need for expensive measurement equipment or a clinical setting.
It is not yet known when the technology will become broadly available to professionals. The project is in the development and validation phase that the voucher partly finances.
INDUSTR_I4.0 is a cooperation programme running from 2024 to 2027 with a total budget of 10 million euros. It targets small and medium-sized enterprises from the Netherlands and Germany that work with digital technologies such as AI, data, smart sensors, cloud technology and digital twins. A requirement for receiving a voucher is that a project combines a Dutch and a German partner.
The maximum subsidy per project is 50,000 euros. The fact that wearM.AI is receiving the 100th voucher indicates that the programme has approved a considerable number of projects within two years. Whether Virtualletics is the German partner in this context, or whether a third party is also involved, is not explicitly stated in the available source material.
wearM.AI emerged in 2023 from research at the University of Twente and is based in Enschede. The company develops wearable camera sensors that analyse gait biomechanics, with applications in injury prevention and performance optimisation. According to public sources, the startup had not yet completed any external funding rounds as of February 2026.
The recognition of Beyond 01 as a CES Innovation Awards Honoree in 2025 was an early international milestone for the product. Motion2Load appears to represent an expansion of the application area towards clinical rehabilitation and coaching, alongside the company's original sports-focused remit.
For the Dutch and European healthtech and deeptech scene, the development illustrates how university spin-offs can finance early product development through layered subsidy instruments, such as European Interreg-style programmes, without immediately depending on venture capital. For investors and policymakers looking at the East Netherlands region, wearM.AI is an example of how the combination of public funding and cross-border collaboration can support a young company during a costly development phase.
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