The URBAN TECH final event, “Innovate for Europe – Greentech, Health Tech & Smart City Showdown”, took place on 6 June, as part of the Impact Days 2024, during ViennaUP, a city-wide celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship.
The event provided a unique platform, for the over 20 companies of the URBAN TECH program, to meet with investors and pitch their groundbreaking solutions developed across the sectors of Greentech, HealthTech, and Smart City.
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, giving a prospective for the URBAN TECH companies to keep up their growth beyond the project duration.
The pitch competition (check the video – from 3:00:00) 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 URBAN TECH prizes to the best companies in each category, celebrating their potential to transform their respective fields.
The winners of the Urban Tech Prizes
- Greentech sector: IngeniousWare, who developed 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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 EUR 9 500 of financial support for each solution and 900+ hours of mentoring,
- 33 working solutions tested in real environment with challenge owners, with EUR 27 000 of financial support provided for each one of them and 12+ joint training workshops for upskilling,
- 23 fully developed solutions promoted in international markets, with EUR 14 000 of financial support for going global provided for each solution and 6+ international fairs attended for the demonstrations, leading to…
- 32 innovative solutions available for the market with a total of more than EUR 2 million of financial support provided to 160+ companies which established cross-border collaborations.
About URBAN TECH
URBAN TECH is a 3-year project funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The project supported the acceleration of competitive success of European SMEs and start-ups through market launch of new or significantly improved products and services with higher value in Health Tech, Smart City and Greentech industry sectors. Discover all the companies (solution providers) who participated in the URBAN TECH program here.
