Hamburg (Germany), 10 June 2021: The Future Hamburg Award 2021 was presented as part of a digital awards ceremony at the International Innovation Day by Plug and Play Hamburg. The winners of this year’s award are the startups Breeze Technologies, traceless materials, and Infinite Mobility. Based in Norway and Germany, these three impact startups convinced the Future Hamburg Award’s expert jury with their smart solutions for sustainable cities of the future. Up-and-coming businesses from 15 countries had applied for the award. Bonus prizes by homePORT, a partner of the award, were bestowed on the teams of Blue Atlas Robotics from Denmark and KONVOI from Germany.
The three sustainable companies will be invited to join a tailor-made programme by the Hamburg Startup-Unit and will be able to take their business model or products to the next level in Hamburg. Moreover, they will be supported in building a high-quality industry network and establishing contacts with investors. The first-place startup, Breeze Technologies from Germany, will also be able to take part in an international four-week accelerator programme hosted by Plug and Play in Silicon Valley. In addition, the homePORT innovation campus of the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) is contributing attractive bonus prizes: Blue Atlas Robotics from Denmark and KONVOI from Germany will have the opportunity to develop their products and solutions in the fields of logistics and maritime technologies at the homePORT test field in Hamburg.
The following startups will be able to advance their business model with the support of the Future Hamburg Award:
1st place: Breeze Technologies, Germany
Established in 2017 and based in Hamburg and Copenhagen, Breeze Technologies is already a technology leader in the area of air quality sensors, data and analysis. The sensors developed by Breeze allow for real-time, area-wide air quality monitoring, whether on business premises or in urban environments. The Breeze Environmental Analytics Cloud collects real-time data from Breeze’s own air quality sensors and enriches these with information from external data sources. This technology helps managers, environmental scientists and city administrators understand their local air quality and identify ways of improving it. With their AI-generated decision-making tools for air pollution control measures, Breeze Technologies plays a decisive role in reducing CO2 emissions.
Combining a successful business model with the fight against air pollution, Breeze Technologies has the potential to thrive internationally. The company’s mature technology is particularly convincing as it provides extra transparency with regard to key questions on air quality. What is more, it is possible to integrate data from third-party air measurement systems too. Other strong points include the company’s highly responsible approach to privacy and data protection. An outstanding startup that is already well-developed, Breeze is capable of greatly improving urban life through its recommendations for action in particular, while also providing potential usage scenarios for existing technologies. To honour the team’s innovative strength, entrepreneurial mindset and the willingness to collaborate, Breeze Technologies has been awarded the first prize of the Future Hamburg Award.
2nd place: traceless materials, Germany
Traceless materials, a bio-economy startup, has created a holistic, eco-friendly alternative to plastic. The highly innovative technology developed by traceless now makes it possible to use by-products of the agricultural industry to produce storage-stable films, solid materials and wafer-thin coatings that are fully compostable. Yet this novel material has the same positive properties as conventional plastics. With its innovative plastic substitute, the company contributes to solving the global issue of plastic pollution. Founded in Hamburg in 2020 by two female entrepreneurs, traceless managed to secure a single-digit million investment in its first round of financing.
Traceless materials uses its innovative power to tackle one of the most pressing global issues caused by plastic waste. The founders have the expertise regarding the relevant technology and have been able to translate this into a highly convincing sustainable business model that has the potential to reduce the ecological footprint of products considerably. Still in its early stage, traceless is currently preparing to enter the larger market. The Future Hamburg Award is proud to support this challenging and exciting journey towards market maturity.
3rd place: Infinite Mobility, Norway
Founded in 2020, Infinite Mobility specialises in developing lightweight, solar-powered vehicles for urban mobility, offering innovative solutions for short inner-city journeys. The company is committed to supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals – poverty alleviation, climate action as well as sustainable cities and communities in particular – by ensuring that their solar-powered tuk-tuks are not only cost-effective, but also safe and space-efficient.
Infinite Mobility convinced the jury with its great range of usage opportunities and the high disruption potential of its forward-looking business idea. While the mobility market is still dominated by large corporations, small innovative companies are increasingly demonstrating that greater diversity can significantly improve the quality of life in cities. In future, micro-vehicles will play a key role especially with regard to the “last mile” and will contribute to shaping life in the city. Precisely because Infinite Mobility is still in an early seed phase, the Future Hamburg Award will be glad to support the company in taking its vision to the next stage. Being the host to the ITS World Congress for Intelligent Transport Systems in October 2021, the City of Hamburg is certainly a fitting location for advancing this project.
The following bonus prize winners will be provided with access to the test field at the HPA’s homePORT innovation campus:
Blue Atlas Robotics, Denmark
Blue Atlas Robotics aims to modernise underwater monitoring and the inspection of ships and other structures in the marine environment through cross-sector collaboration and autonomous analysis technology. The startup is currently working with a number of shipping companies on prototypes as well as customised product solutions.
KONVOI, Germany
KONVOI is dedicated to developing a preventive security system for parked lorries based on sensors and machine learning. The aim is to make the stopping and resting time of such vehicles much safer as robberies have become a major global issue here in recent years. Using state-of-the-art technology, KONVOI helps protect the security of parked lorries via an autonomous process, while at the same time increasing the safety of drivers.
The Future Hamburg Award: a tailor-made support programme for sustainable high-impact startups
Hamburg is one of the few European cities to have its own startup award. With the Future Hamburg Award, the city honours sustainable innovations in the fields of mobility, logistics and hydrogen. The award aims to help new enterprises test their innovative business projects in an urban ecosystem – projects that have the potential to become best-practice models and thus generate additional positive impact. With its international layout, Hamburg’s new startup award also serves as a bridgehead between Europe, the United States and other pioneering regions worldwide. The award winners will be able to advance their projects in Silicon Valley and in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region and benefit from Hamburg’s excellent connections to key global markets.
At the digital awards ceremony, which was held at the International Innovation Day by Plug and Play Hamburg, the finalists presented themselves in front of international experts, leading figures from the startup community as well as stakeholders from politics and established companies. As host to the ITS World Congress 2021, Hamburg has become an international centre for innovative mobility solutions. In addition, the Hamburg Metropolitan Region is presenting itself as a forward-looking location for green hydrogen in the heart of Europe as it showcases pioneering projects along the entire value chain of green hydrogen. Hamburg is Northern Europe’s number one trading hub and the second-largest city in Germany, and with a population 1.8 million it is an ideal location for exploring fresh ideas and tapping new markets. Taking place for the second time since 2019, the Future Hamburg Award is bestowed by Hamburg Marketing GmbH on behalf of the City of Hamburg.
More information at: https://future.hamburg/award.
