Confidential data when using artificial intelligence, smart charging stations for all electric vehicles or a digital twin for society as a whole: the six finalists of the Smart Country Startup Award 2024 offer all this and more. They will be pitching for the title in two categories - Smart City and GovTech - at the Smart Country Convention (SCCON) in Berlin on October 16.

The Smart City category is about digital solutions that improve life and everyday living in cities and municipalities. In the GovTech category, innovative technologies are designed to make processes faster and smarter. The startups who are able to convince the jury in front of the SCCON audience will each receive 5,000 euros in prize money and a free startup membership in Bitkom. The Smart Country Startup Award is organized by Get Started, the startup initiative of the digital association Bitkom, together with cooperation partner ]init[ AG for digital communication.

“Startups offer precise solutions for everyday problems in cities, municipalities and public administration. Unlike many tried-and-tested solutions, they often rely on current and innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and thus offer public administration the opportunity to access applications that can be used immediately,” says Daniel Breitinger, Head of Startups at Bitkom. “With the Smart Country Startup Award, we want to give six startups and their outstanding ideas the chance to present themselves and thus gain the necessary attention for their offerings.”

The finalists of the Smart Country Startup Award are:

GovTech

communeo: The start-up from Münster offers planning and management software for the public sector aimed at sustainable development. The digital platform enables administrations to operationalize and monitor their concepts and strategies - across all departments.

Edgeless Systems: AI yes please, but confidential! With its confidential computing technology, Edgeless Systems based in Bochum enables public administration to process even sensitive data securely encrypted and protected from the provider in the cloud and in AI applications.

Neuraflow: The start-up from Bremerhaven makes the data treasures of German cities quickly and effectively usable and has developed an “empathic AI” for this purpose. The objective is to use intelligent data indices, cognitive architectures and smart interfaces to drive digitalization in the public sector and simplify communication with citizens.

Smart City

kaleideomoskop: The Berlin-based start-up adds the most important component to smart cities that was previously missing: the citizens. By developing a digital twin of German society as a whole, decisions in cities and municipalities can be tested in advance on a drawing board. This makes effects visible at an early stage and conflicts of interest can be resolved.

Leon Mobility: Leon Mobility combines charging, advertising and the collection of environmental data in one device. With an advertising-financed and efficient charging infrastructure for electric cars, scooters, e-bikes, etc., the start-up from Leonberg near Stuttgart aims to “redefine the use of limited spaces” and contribute to reducing inner-city traffic.

UrbanDataLens: Making public data usable for everyone - that is the goal of UrbanDataLens. Using AI analyses and natural language input, the start-up enables data-based decisions in urban planning, business and administration. For smart cities, companies and citizens.

All information about the Smart Country Startup Award can be found at: www.bitkom.org/EN/Topics/Startups/Smart-Country-Startup-Award.

Pitch of the finalists for the Smart Country Startup Award at SCCON 2024

Date: October 16 at 5:45 pm
Location: Plaza Stage at hub27

Tickets for the Smart Country Convention are available free of charge in the online ticket store.

Journalists can apply for accreditation for the Smart Country Convention here: www.smartcountry.berlin/en/press/accreditation/accreditation-registration/