Digital Logistics Award to be suspended in 2022

Dortmund – Since the first call for application six years ago, the Digital Logistics Award has firmly established itself in the start-up competition scene. But this year, the Digital Hub Logistics Dortmund will not be presenting the award: “We have always considered it an essential added value of our competition to offer the finalists the big stage of the Future Logistics Congress in Dortmund for their pitch presentations, as well as the opportunity to network there with decision-makers from the business world,” explains Hub Manager Maria Beck. “Our goal was to make that possible onsite again this year. But the Corona pandemic has put a spanner in the works for us, as the Future Congress will once again be held digitally. So it is with a heavy heart that we have decided to sit out the award in 2022.”

The Digital Logistics Award has been presented since 2017 as part of the “Future Congress Logistics”, which is organised by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML and the Digital Hub Logistics at the Messe Dortmund Congress Centre. In the past two years, the event was already held digitally due to the Corona pandemic. The pitches of the award finalists were also broadcast via live stream, as was the award ceremony. “On the one hand, the digital format has given us the opportunity to become even more international: Registrations from Europe and other continents have increased significantly during the pandemic years. The contacts have enriched our network and we are very happy about that,” says Maria Beck. “On the other hand, a start-up competition thrives on personal exchange: online pitch presentations and networking are limited. We hope to offer the Digital Logistics Award again in 2023 to innovative logistics start-ups and idea providers.”

In the meantime, the Digital Hub Logistics Dortmund offers founders the opportunity to join the start-up network of the Digital Hub Initiative. Interested young companies can become members of the Digital Hub Logistics network association and engage in direct exchange with other players in the innovation ecosystem. As network partners, they are also informed about all the hub’s events, where they can make contacts with business and science. When looking for speakers for formats such as “Mittelstand meets Start-up”, the Hub also prefers to ask young companies from the network. Maria Beck: “Hopefully next year we will once again be able to give start-ups, start-ins and idea providers in logistics a lively platform where they can present their project to potential customers and cooperation partners not only via the Internet, but also in person and discuss it with them.”