The Smart Country Startup Award 2026 goes to Frankfurt am Main: ENVIOTECH prevailed against four other start-ups in the final at the Smart Country Convention, impressing both the audience and the jury with its solution for smart street lighting.

Making smart use of existing infrastructure

Street lights are part of the cityscape and can be found almost everywhere. ENVIOTECH makes this existing infrastructure smart: with retrofittable control modules and sensors, street lighting can be controlled according to demand. When the sensors detect movement, the light becomes brighter. When no one is around, it is dimmed. According to ENVIOTECH, this enables local authorities to save up to 80 per cent in energy without compromising on safe lighting.

What makes this special is that the existing infrastructure can largely be reused. The solution can be installed without the need for civil engineering works and gradually extended to cover entire road networks. ENVIOTECH thus offers local authorities a comparatively simple way to digitise their street lighting whilst simultaneously reducing energy costs.

Start-ups bring new ideas to the public sector

Every year, the Smart Country Start-up Award honours young technology companies that develop innovative solutions for government, public administration and public infrastructure. The prize is awarded by Get Started, the start-up initiative of the digital association Bitkom. The 2026 competition was supported by Deloitte and the de.hub initiative.

The award brings together innovative start-ups with representatives from local government, politics and the digital economy. At the Smart Country Convention, young companies can present their solutions and establish contacts with potential partners and customers from the public sector.

Full details of the Smart Country Start-up Award are available online at: www.bitkom.org/Themen/Startups/Smart-Country-Startup-Award