The event provided a unique platform for over 20 companies participating in the URBAN TECH program to meet with investors and pitch the groundbreaking solutions developed in response to challenges across the sectors of Greentech, HealthTech, and Smart City.
In the morning session, 22 companies have been interviewed giving them the opportunity to briefly describe the solution they have been working on in the past three years, as well as lessons learnt and the benefits that they could get from the project.
In the afternoon session, the core activities of the event included two series of investor meetup sessions, where URBAN TECH companies had the opportunity to matchmake with an EU-wide network of investors, and the final pitch competition of the project.
18 investor meetup sessions have been held with 21 companies. These sessions facilitated important conversations that could lead to significant partnerships and funding opportunities, giving a prospective for the URBAN TECH companies to keep up their growth beyond the project duration.
The pitch competition was a focal point of the day, featuring 12 competing companies, four from each sector: Smart City, Greentech, and Health Tech. The competition was tight, and the event culminated in the awarding of three €5.000 URBAN TECH prizes to the best companies in each category, celebrating their potential to transform their respective fields.
The winners of the pitching competition are:
- Greentech sector: IngeniousWare, who developed on a cloud-based platform designed to automate and enhance the management of water networks. It provides tools for detailed visualisation and management of water sectors, including tanks, pumps, and meters, and integrates a comprehensive data structure for handling water meter information and readings. The platform facilitates real-time calculations of water balances across different sectors and generates customized reports on water consumption.
The jury member Petra Jung-ErcegKarlsruhe from Technology Region Action Group stated: “The solution has been presented almost all over the world also thanks to the URBAN TECH project and has significant impact in saving one of the most limited resources in our world: the water.”
- Smart City sector: OwnersPartners, who developed QUICK: a smart charging station designed to support the integration of electric personal mobility vehicles (ePMV), such as e-bikes, into urban environments. The stations are equipped with innovative features including lockers with UV disinfection systems and air quality monitoring capabilities. Additionally, the stations incorporate solar panels on protective shelters to enhance energy sustainability. The system includes a user-friendly mobile app for end-users and a web app for city managers, allowing for efficient management and monitoring of station usage. QUICK’s design is scalable and adaptable, making it suitable for expansion and replication in various urban settings to promote sustainable mobility.
The presitend of the board Lauri Antalainen from EstBANstated: “The winner is a company that has several potential customer segments, they are making our environment cleaner, safer and the whole jury really liked their idea.”
- HealthTech sector: Zana Technologies, who developed a digital patient companion designed for at-home rehabilitation in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). It integrates digital technology to support individuals with COPD in managing their condition and undergoing rehabilitation from the comfort of their homes. It includes features such as personalized exercise programs, monitoring of vital signs and symptoms, educational resources, and communication channels with healthcare providers for remote guidance and support. Overall, this solution aims to enhance accessibility, convenience, and effectiveness of COPD rehabilitation while empowering patients to take an active role in their care.
The jury member Dasa Slezakova, Initiator of the Roche Healthcare Lab startup accelerator stated: “This is something really disruptive for us in comparison to the traditional biomarkers, you are very well set, you have the first clinical trials, MDR almost, very scalable so I see especially from the pharmaceutical perspective a huge potential.”
It is possible to watch the entire pitching competition through this video and live the best moments of the event through this video.
A special segment of the event was dedicated to presenting the results of the URBAN TECH project. The Consortium of the project discussed the successful development and pilot testing of numerous Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), Pilots, Demonstrations, highlighting the overall impact of the project which includes:
- 314 challenges collected from 12 countries
- One open call for solutions with 559 applications and 323 companies selected from 36 countries
- 8 international challenge-based hackathons organised, with 160 travel vouchers issued
- 80 companies invited to submit a full proposal
- 80 solutions incubated in the tech parks, with 9500€ of financial support provided for each and 900+ hours of mentoring provided
- 33 working solutions tested in real environment with challenge owners, with 27000€ of financial support provided for each and 12+ joint training workshops for upskilling organised
- 23 fully developed solutions promoted in international markets, with 14000€ of financial support for going global provided for each and 6+ international fairs attended to demonstrate them, leading to…
- 32 innovative solutions available for the market with a total of 2+M€ of financial support provided to 160+ companies which established cross-border collaborations
You can get an overview of all stages of the project and impact through this video, and discover all companies (solution providers) who participated in the URBAN TECH program here.
If you are interested to get to know who is behind the URBAN TECH companies, you can watch their interviews here.
