Six EIT ICT Labs Idea Challenge winners chosen at finals in Helsinki and Munich

In seeking innovative ideas to address Smart Spaces and Cyber Physical Systems amongst other tech trends, the EIT ICT Labs Idea Challenge announced on June 3rd another six winners.

19 teams selected from 311 across 25 EU countries were invited to Munich (Cyber Physical Systems) and Helsinki (Smart Spaces) where they had the chance to participate in pitch trainings and other interesting workshops before they finally pitched their ideas on stage in front of the jury members including industry experts, investors, business accelerators, and entrepreneurs, such as Michael Baum (CEO of FOUNDERS.org), Stefan Tirtey (Director of SoundCloud), Jari Mieskonen (Managing Partner of Conor Venture Partners), and Risto Valtakari (Managing Partner of Gottberg Services). 

Munich: And the winner is... Konux!

The grand prize winner in the category Cyber-Physical Systems is Konux, a young startup from Munich. Pitcher Vlad Lata and his team members Andreas Kunze and  Michael Wax took home the 40,000 Euro award for their proposal, a business idea that wants to revolutionize the mechanical sensor market.

“We want to thank EIT ICT Labs for this awesome prize. We will accelerate our product development with the prize money, and we are looking forward to create new possibilities and a great future together with the EIT ICT Labs network and offices“, Andreas Kunze of Konux said.

The second prize of 25,000 Euro went to team Kinexon, a startup founded by Oliver Trinchera and Alexander Hüttenbrink that powers the internet of things with sophisticated sensors for centimeter-accurate localization and motion data. Finally, Stephan Kühr and 3YOURMIND, delivering a 3D-printing button for CAD programs, won the third prize of 15,000.

The Bavarian winners were announced at Siemens New Ventures Forum, organized by EIT ICT Labs' partners Siemens and Center of Digital Technology and Management (CDTM).

In Helsinki, Homey from the Netherlands won the final 

At the Open Innovation House in Helsinki, the Dutch startup Homey did not only convince the jury with their strong pitch; the team of Stefan Wittkamp and Emile Nijssen also received most votes from the audience. Homey offers speech-controlled home automation that combines the possibilities of home automation with entertainment systems and information services.

QGo from Austria won the second prize in the category Smart Spaces. According to the founders, Christinne Cuyugan and Jakob Schröger, QGo users can easily avoid queues. QGo is a system which quantifies the number of people in a queue and estimates the amount of time a person has to wait in line.

Another startup that counts amongst the six winners of the day is Avansera from Finland. Cormac Walsh, Jouni Karvo and Thuy Le provide advanced real-time consumer behavioural and product performance analytics in retail environments across all chains and geographical locations.

Biggest innovation network in Europe

All winners have not only received an essential amount of cash to get their businesses up and running, but also secured themselves a place in the EIT ICT Labs ecosystem that includes the world’s leading organisations, universities, research institutes and companies, in the field of ICT. Additionally, they can use office space for six months in one of the EIT ICT Labs’ Co-Location Centres in Europe and receive coaching and mentoring support from the organization’s Business Development Accelerator.

Willem Jonker, CEO of EIT ICT Labs said: "We are very proud of the winners that have been selected so far in the Idea Challenge. And we are proud that by the end of this year, 24 startups in the EU will be able to develop and grow their businesses through the support of EIT ICT Labs.”

8 cities. 8 topics. One challenge

The Idea Challenge is divided into two waves. In the first wave teams and individuals were asked to submit ideas to address one of the following tech trends: “Health & Wellbeing”, “Cyber Physical Systems”, “Smart Spaces” or “Future Cloud”. The submission phase for the second phase will be open as of September 1. Ideas that address “Cyber Security and Privacy”, “Internet of Things”, “Urban Life and Mobility” and “Smart Energy Systems” can be submitted through www.ideachallenge.eitictlabs.eu.