Deutsche Telekom’s tech incubator hubraum their sustainability award this year focusing on energy efficiency and sustainability in telecom networks. Their partners Deutsche Telekom, Orange, SK Telecom, and Microsoft, have chosen four winners out of more than 200 applicats. During the Network Sustainability Award ceremony, the award winners were announced.
The goal is to make Deutsche Telecom and startups more successful by creating joint business opportunities and supporting the green tech segment.
2021 marks the second edition of the Network Sustainability Award. Teams presented ideas in areas of energy production, energy storage, energy efficiency.
At the beginning of the session, Axel Menneking, VP of Startup Incubation & Venturing, Managing Director, Hubraum, introduced last year’s winning team, 2Cimple, was introduced and given the floor. 2Cimple created the app Nano – to support individuals, groups and organizations to track their carbon footprint and optimize it playfully.
‘Capitalism and sustainability don’t often go hand in hand’ – Molly Lanfear, Content Creator, Nano.
The Nano Team gave a stellar pitch identifying the key points that led to the app’s creation, the unique bits and the aspects where they require assistance. As the world is moving forward, many companies are pressured by critical stakeholders to reduce their carbon impact. 2Cimple recognized this issue and introduced Nano – a unique, multiplayer gamification platform where users engage through interactive challenges called ‘Nano tasks’, which rewards players for competing in their championships. Nano tracks the avoided carbon emissions and gives companies third-party data to include in their investor communications. The platform features mobile gamification, video, mixed reality, AI and crypto, which integrates well with 5G and IoT. Nano’s partnering up with global partners like Deutsche Telecom and Amazon’s sustainability Data Initiative to help solve climate change. Nano gives companies the chance to be a part of this global movement by tapping into the power of 3.8 billion smartphone users.
Leif Heitzer, Technology Guidance & Economics, Deutsche Telekom AG, was brought to the stage. As a jury member of the Network Sustainability Award, he was asked about his take on the sustainability award. He said that this year, there were many potential solutions in energy efficiency, which made the jury itself an experience.
Partners like Microsoft, Orange, and SK Telecom gave different views on business models from a geographical perspective, making the experience more enriching. According to Leif, you must form a team and collaborate to make it a success. The award is not just about the money but also the visibility and reputation of companies. The Impulse Foundation will offer to pitch to potential investors. As jury members, they could work with the startups to determine whether they could run proof of concept to turn brilliant ideas into reality. The different partners and startups together allow for an ecosystem with beliefs and open mindsets. He mentioned that startups must not just provide meaningful solutions but also the best customer experience.
“It’s about making things real. Helping teams to implement and scale the solutions” – Alex Axel Menneking, VP Startup Incubation & Venturing, Managing Director, Hubraum
The team that won the Best Young Startup Pitch won 10,000 euros. The winning team was a team from Bavaria, “Fellas”. They came up with a technique for eco-friendly electricity storage using air liquefaction.
Fellas has developed a scalable, cheap and sustainable electricity system using liquid air. By design, the system provides flexibility in scaling power and adapting to the energy storage requirements of customers. It outperforms competitors with cost advantage and excellent environmental performance.
Leon, the representative of Fellas, said that the award highlights the importance and relevance of what Fellas are doing. The funding enables them to finalize proof of concept, develop and prepare a complete-scale pilot project and help assess other business cases.
“Our journey to 100 renewable energy has just begun”
