Yesterday we attended the Bitkom hub conference in Berlin – a festival of creativity and digital disruption. Over 2,000 people – startup founders, journalists, scientists, IT experts, CEOs of big companies, managers and politicians – attended the event whose main topic was digital transformation. In total, up to 400 startups attended yesterday’s hub16 conference.
About 100 startups from 15 countries applied for the event’s Innovators’ Pitch. Nine startups made it to short lists in the areas of Digital Health, IoT and Mobility. Apart from receiving a sum of €5,000 each, the three winners got a free Bitkom membership as well as the chance for an exclusive pitch in front of top-class investors. And here are the winners:
Digital Health category: Medicus (Austria / Dubai, UAE) is an app that displays blood test results in a way that is easy for all patients to understand. Machine learning also enables the Medicus app to interpret all medical findings in real time, assess risks and provide health tips.
Internet of Things category: Skysense (Berlin, Germany/ San Franciso, U.S.) provides a fully automated inspection service for drones that does not require any human assistance. The startup developed a drone station that is compatible with most professional drones and can be adapted to the user’s respective requirements. Skysense partners with enterprises at the forefront of the security, inspection, logistics and defense markets.
Mobility category: Synfioo (Potsdam, Germany) is developing a new real-time and prediction services for multi-modal transportation monitoring. The Synfioo platform pools all of the available data on individual types of transport. Logisticians can then call up and work with this data in their usual work environments.
The other six startups that made it to the short list were:
Digital Health
Careship (Berlin) is an online marketplace where those in need of care and their dependents can find a personal carer or everyday helper. This digital platform will make it possible for senior citizens in particular to live independently in their own home for a longer period of time.
CortiCare (London, England) drew upon cutting-edge technologies to develop a solution for hormone tests without using any syringes or devices that penetrate the body. The startup found that test strips and a measuring device can be used to measure cortisone levels in saliva without requiring time-consuming, expensive laboratory testing.
Internet of Things
Factor-E Analytics (Berlin) provides manufacturers with a one-stop-shop solution for implementing Industry 4.0. The solution monitors production in real time and provides data on performance, energy efficiency and capacity utilisation.
Toposens (Munich, Germany) develops innovative 3D sensors that work like a bat’s echolocation. Ultrasound is used to locate three-dimensional objects in space in real time. This is valuable for gesture control or robotics applications, to name two examples.
Mobility
evopark (Cologne, Germany) is working to make parking in a car park more convenient. The startup has developed an app to let drivers easily find a free parking space; the evopark map lifts barriers in the car park using RFID technology. Users pay for the app on a monthly, cash-free basis.
PlugSurfing (Berlin) has tasked itself with making charging electric cars as simple as possible. Armed with the PlugSurfing app and a download key, users can access charging stations run by all of Europe’s major power suppliers.
