Hamburg, January 28, 2021. Starting now, founders can apply for the new Future Hamburg Award from the city of Hamburg. With the international startup award, Hamburg supports innovative solutions for the city of tomorrow. Startups from around the world with innovative business models are invited to register by March 31st at www.future.hamburg/award to apply. A prerequisite is a business model with an impact for sustainable metropolises and a connection to logistics, mobility or green hydrogen. Internationally, the Future Hamburg Award is a bridgehead between Europe and America: the winning startup can expand its sustainable innovations in California’s Silicon Valley and implement them in the Hamburg real-life laboratory.
The Future Hamburg Award is going into the second round in 2021: This year, Hamburg honors innovations for the city of tomorrow, because cities as hubs of economy and mobility face similar challenges worldwide. At the same time, cities, as centers for future-oriented ideas, are the place to try out smart solutions. This year, the Future Hamburg Award is therefore looking for business models to redesign cities, make them more livable and enrich the economy and coexistence in metropolises. A particular focus of the award is on the topics of logistics, mobility and green hydrogen. The kickoff of the competition took place today as part of a virtual press conference with participants from Hamburg and San Francisco.
“The solutions to the most important problems of our time can be found in logistics, mobility and, above all, in connection with green hydrogen,” explains Michael Westhagemann, Senator for Economic Affairs for the City of Hamburg, “With the Future Hamburg Award we want to make a contribution to sustainable innovation Cities. We offer the best startups in the world a real laboratory to test their business models in one of the most innovative metropolises in Europe, ”adds Dr. Rolf Strittmatter, Chairman of the Management Board of Hamburg Marketing GmbH and Managing Director of Hamburg Invest as one of the initiators of the competition.
Startups in the fields of logistics, mobility and hydrogen can apply until March 31 at www.future.hamburg/award.
From January 28 to March 31, 2021, startups can apply on the award website; startups worldwide with a digital, sustainable business model and at least one proof of concept are eligible to participate. The submissions will be evaluated by a jury panel made up of international experts. Among others, Ralf Belusa, Managing Director of Hapag Lloyd AG, Jörg Debus, CDO and Chief of Staff of Shell Global, Gunnar Froh, founder and CEO of Wunder Mobility, Clare Jones, CCO of what3words, and Markus Sontheimer, CIO / CDO and board member of Schenker AG.
Strong partners for the best startups in the world
The main partner of this year’s award is the international innovation platform Plug and Play Tech Center. With a network of more than 30,000 startups and 400 companies, Plug and Play is one of the most important players in the international startup industry. Saeed Amidi, founder and managing director of the Plug and Play Tech Center innovation platform from Silicon Valley, sees great transformation potential in the cooperation: “I think Hamburg can show the world how a smart city can work, because business and society work closely together here to shape change together. That is why I am very happy to be supporting the Future Hamburg Award through our international network. “
The Hamburg venture capitalist AM HAFEN CAPITAL and homePort of the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) are also important partners in the award. The two big players from Hamburg’s finance and logistics industry each support a startup to test their innovative business model in the Hamburg real-world laboratory. At Hafen Capital, a six-figure investment is available for this purpose, while the HPA provides its test site exclusively. The winner of the award will also be included in the Plug and Play accelerator program in Hamburg and Silicon Valley. During a four-week stay in Silicon Valley, the startup has the opportunity to build an international network.
Experts from Hamburg and all over the world can be won as ambassadors for the award: Harald Neidhardt, founder of the institute futur / io, Johannes Berg, managing director of Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg, and Andrea Weidinger, director of the ITS World Congress, as ambassadors. Katja Diehl, future activist and initiator of the She drives Mobility podcast, also represents the award: “Hamburg is my port. It makes me all the more proud that we are not only hosting the ITS Congress in 2021, but also international startups that are changing the world of transport for the benefit of the environment and people – because that’s what all technology is about: inclusive and climate-friendly mobility. “
STORY: Million investment for LignoPure, winner of the first award round
The Future Hamburg Award was initiated by Hamburg Marketing and the Startup Unit by Hamburg Invest in 2018. In the first round in 2019, the award received 120 submissions from all continents. At the OMR Festival 2019, the finalists of the award were able to present their business model to the jury and the audience at their own Expo stand. The winners were the startup Heptasense from Portugal and the startup Lignopure, which has currently won an investment in the millions. According to Joana Gil, CEO of LignoPure, this was also a result of her participation in the Future Hamburg Award: “As one of the winners of the competition, we had the unique opportunity to present our startup to important investors and were able to build up a broad network. It is really worth taking part here, because the visibility that the award creates in the international startup ecosystem is worth more than a pure cash prize. “
More details about the award at: www.future.hamburg/award
Video of the press conference: pnp.tc/future-hamburg-award
Digtial-Press Kit: bit.ly/2MsarhM
Hamburg and the Future Hamburg Award:
With the FUTURE HAMBURG AWARD, the City of Hamburg honors startups that show outstanding development in their industry in terms of innovation, impact and growth. International, national and regional startups with a digital business model can apply online at www.future.hamburg/future-hamburg-award until March 31st. On the website, founders and interested parties can also find bundled information on the start-up location Hamburg, accelerator programs and co-working spaces. The initiators of the FUTURE HAMBURG AWARD are Hamburg Marketing GmbH and Hamburg Invest.
With over 1.8 million inhabitants, Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany. It supports the latest and most advanced technologies in order to become a model region for innovative mobility. The northern German metropolis is on the way to becoming the international center for the mobility of the future as host for the ITS World Congress 2021. In the future, digital technologies will make urban mobility and logistics in Hamburg safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly. Hamburg’s metropolitan region is also presenting itself as a future-oriented location for green hydrogen in the heart of Europe and showing solutions along the entire value chain for green hydrogen. A current OECD study confirms that the Hamburg metropolitan region is particularly suitable for developing a green hydrogen economy.
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SCHWAN COMMUNICATIONS
Dr. Anna Schwan, CEO
Head of corporate communications
