Contact | Downloads | Legal Notice | DE

Newsletter

Digital Logistics Award: Jury selects eight start-ups for pitch session

In mid-September, participants of the Future Logistics Congress – 37th Dortmunder Gespräche will choose the winners

From solutions for freight transport in Europe to concepts for last mile logistics, from ideas for supply chain management in the food industry to fleet management in intralogistics: Eight innovative start-ups from all over Germany and South Africa made it to the finals of the Digital Logistics Awards. In just a few days, the founders will be able to present their platforms and products to more than 500 participants at Future Logistics Congress – 37th Dortmunder Gespräche. The congress takes place on 17th and 18th September 2019. After the pitch session on the first day the expert audience will decide directly on the three winners.

The spectrum of start-ups is broad. Climate protection and artificial intelligence (AI) are highly valued by the majority of start-ups and founders. Today, hardly any platform or product can do without AI technologies such as machine learning, pattern recognition or robotics. With their solutions, the start-ups are meeting the demands of the logistics industry for greater transparency and efficiency. However, climate protection is also often an important driving force today: two finalists have developed electric vehicles for the transportation of goods in the city, while another is dedicated to CO2 reduction through predictive fuel analyses for trucks. By developing an app for the quality control of fruit and vegetables along the supply chain, a start-up company from Cape Town wants to set an example against food waste. In addition, the increasing importance of data and platform economics is reflected in the selected start-ups – as well as in the applications for the award as a whole.

The Digital Logistics Award is an initiative of the Digital.Hub Logistics Dortmund. It was presented for the first time in 2017. So far, almost 100 companies have applied for the award in sum. In addition, more than 100,000 euro in prize money was awarded. The jury that selected the eight finalists this year consisted of Marcus Gropp, Head of Digital Supply Chain at Kloeckner Metals Operations GmbH, Dr. Stephan Peters, Member of the Board of Management of Rhenus SE, Christina Thurner, Member of the Management Board of LOXXESS AG, Claas H. Nieraad, Managing Director of Next Logistics Accelerators, and Karolin Hewelt Managing Director of the Digital Hub Agency RCKT.

 

An overview of the finalists:

Asurveyor.com, a start-up company based in Cape Town, South Africa, aims to simplify and improve the quality control of fruit and vegetables across the entire supply chain with a simple app. The blockchain-safe solution delivers automated status reports even from remote areas.
ForkOn from Haltern am See makes the management of forklift truck fleets simpler and more transparent. The manufacturer-independent software solution of the start-up company founded in 2017 brings together, analyses and interprets all data relating to the forklift fleet of companies. As a result, the average costs of forklift fleets can potentially be reduced by 25 percent.
By launching the Loadster, Citkar has introduced the first bicycle that can replace a commercial vehicle. The e-cargo bike of the Berlin-based start-up founded in 2017 is suitable for cycling and can be driven without a driving licence. Its highlight: the body completely protects the rider from all weather conditions.
Founded in 2018, the start-up Frachtklub based in Cuxhaven and Munich has developed an online logistics shop through which logistics companies can easily handle their services throughout Europe. As a result, sales and new customer numbers can be increased. The white label platform can easily be integrated into websites and processes.
Founded in 2016, NÜWIEL drives the vision of freeing urban spaces from noise, congestion and air pollution: The electrically powered bicycle trailer for last mile logistics developed by the Hamburg start-up has patented technology so that it can automatically follow the movement of a bicycle.
Identification via virtual ID: The Psoido software, developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technologies IDMT in Ilmenau, Germany, enables the implementation of data-driven business models in which the originators of data retain sovereignty over them while still being able to easily share them. The same named company is currently in the process of being founded.
Through predictive fuel analyses, the Berlin start-up company Tracks, founded in 2018, supports truck fleet operators in reducing fuel consumption, reducing CO2 emissions and optimizing profit margins. Fuel consumption can be predicted by combining vehicle and driving environment data with modern machine learning methods.
The Start-in IoT Data Ecosystem for Finished Vehicle Logistics – a cooperation between Volkswagen Group Logistics, BLG Automobile Logistics and Telekom IoT/T-Systems International – will enter the finals on the subject of “Live Tracking of New Cars” (Finished Vehicle Logistics). The Start-in aims to make logistics for ready-to-sale cars from manufacturer to dealer more transparent.