All of the finalists convinced the jury with their innovative strength and creativity, a unique business model and great potential for growth. The award winners will be able to look forward to a business and networking programme in Hamburg and Silicon Valley as well as direct access to major global markets. The ultimate winners will be jointly announced with this year’s partner Plug and Play on 10th June 2021.

Established by the City of Hamburg and now in its second edition, the Future Hamburg Award is aimed at honouring sustainable, innovative international startups from the fields of mobility, logistics and hydrogen. The ten teams who have entered the final round are eager to enhance urban life with their pioneering products. Their business ideas range from AI-based software to reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions as well as new strategies and technologies for plastic avoidance to a sustainable mobility solution that allows any vehicle to run on solar power alone.

The shortlist of the 2021 Future Hamburg Award was presented today at the Hamburg Innovation Summit, Hamburg's platform for innovation transfer, which was held in hybrid format this year.

Dr Rolf Strittmatter, Managing Director of Hamburg Marketing GmbH and Hamburg Invest, was visibly impressed with the finalists of this year's award, commenting: “With the Future Hamburg Award, we are giving entrepreneurs from all over Europe the opportunity to test their innovative business projects as part of our urban ecosystem and to benefit from our networks. The finalists convinced us with their innovative strength, their creativity and sustainability. We are really looking forward to the jury's decision and will be glad to welcome the three strongest teams to Hamburg."

Over the next two weeks, the international jury will choose three teams out of the ten finalists, and these will be invited by the Hamburg Startup Unit to join a customised three-day programme in Hamburg. What is more, the first-place winner will be able to join an international four-week accelerator programme in Silicon Valley hosted by Plug and Play, the award’s main partner. 

Shortlist of the 2021 Future Hamburg Award

The teams who made it to the shortlist stem from the Nordic countries, Belgium, France and Germany. Over all, startups from as many as 15 countries had applied, including India, the United States, the UK and Hong Kong / China. The award jury includes leading players from the fields of mobility, logistics and IT, among them Dr Ralf Belusa, Managing Director of Hapag Lloyd AG; Jörg Debus, CDO and Chief of Staff at Shell Germany; Gunnar Froh, founder and CEO of Wunder Mobility; Clare Jones, CCO of what3words, as well as Erik Wirsing, Vice President of Global Innovation at DB Schenker. To be eligible for the shortlist, applicants had to demonstrate innovative strength, considerable impact and growth potential as well as outstanding development within the relevant industry.

The ten finalists are:

Breeze Technologies (Germany) provides comprehensive local air quality data and AI-based decision support for air pollution control measures.

cirplus (Germany) is a managed marketplace for the plastics recycling industry and offers procurement as a service.

Everimpact (France) helps cities and ports track their carbon footprint in real time via IoT software, certify their emission reductions and generate revenue from their carbon reduction projects.

Geckomatics (Belgium) develops mobile mapping systems based on machine learning that create digital twins of public spaces.

Horizer (Germany) offers an all-in-one solar mobility solution through flexible, ultra-thin solar films that are attached to a vehicle’s roof and are then connected to the vehicle’s battery.

Infinite Mobility (Norway) develops lightweight, solar-powered vehicles suited to urban mobility.

NATIX GmbH (Germany) makes cameras smart and video surveillance GDPR compliant.

Papair (Germany) develops innovative technologies for the production of sustainable packaging materials such as a bubble wrap made of paper that combines cost efficiency, cushioning and sustainability.

Skipit (Denmark) offer a digital platform that makes travelling more sustainable.

traceless materials (Germany) is a bioeconomy startup that offers a sustainable, holistic alternative to conventional plastics.

The three selected winning startups will be announced on 10th June 2021 at the International Innovation Day powered by Plug and Play Hamburg, hosted by the award partner Plug and Play.