STORY
Jakob Hölzel, born in 1985 in Wriezen, grew up in Brandenburg and Bavaria and completed his master's degree in carpentry at the Landshut State Vocational College from 2005 to 2007. He worked in the construction industry and in parallel from 2010 as a development engineer on numerous projects in the fields of wind and hydropower as well as renewable energies. He is interested in exploring all areas - from the idea to the first functional prototype through to pre-series production - and developing them as efficiently and optimally as possible. From 2017 to 2019, he intensified his knowledge of automation in the field of mechanical engineering by developing products for industrial projects. Over the years, he has acquired self-taught skills in the areas of research and development, CAD design, 3D printing to metal casting, metal processing, milling and CNC milling, turning and CNC turning, mechanical engineering, programming, Python, C, C++, control card prototyping, sensor technology, SMD electronics, software and hardware development, automation in the field of mechanical engineering, machine learning, embedded systems, prototype production, small series production.
"Projects with the X factor were always interesting for me. A factor X that I didn't know about and that I learned from." Quotation from Jakob Hölzel
Since 2019 he has been developing his own vehicle: Smile. After three years of research and development in his garage, he met his current project partner Malte Stäblein, who motivated him to work together to get the vehicle ready for series production. Today, the core team of Jakob Hölzel, Lisa Schlenker and Malte Stäblein are working on completing the first prototype at the EMMA creative centre in the heart of Pforzheim. Together with University of Pforzheim and other strong network partners, they are already developing the second prototype, which will be produced in series.
Smile Mobility's vision is to create climate-friendly and global mobility with renewable energy while reducing CO2 emissions. For the company, being at the forefront of innovation means going beyond the needs of today's mobility market to use high-quality materials and sustainable alternatives in an energy-efficient way. All this with a vision of inclusion that encourages trainees, students, the self-employed, craftsmen and women, universities and companies to commit to the use of more sustainable materials and energy-efficient mobility. For change requires us all to get involved.