The Spark –
The German Digital Award

For the sixth time, Handelsblatt and McKinsey award The Spark – The German Digital Prize to exceptional new thinkers whose ideas have the potential to fundamentally and sustainably change markets and bring them together with business leaders.

The Spark 2020

2020, we were looking for the most exciting smart mobility concepts that are already shaping the mobility of the future. The focus was on start-ups across all mobility forms and solutions.

In addition, for the second time we awarded the Female Founder Award to female founders who, as digital pioneers, encourage more women to take the step of founding a company.

2020

The Winners 2020

All ten start-ups and over 100 nominated female founders inspired the jury with their ideas and commitment. But the following four were ultimately able to convince and emerged as the winners of The Spark 2020:

1. Place: TWAICE

Regardless of manufacturer or type, Twaice helps you to use batteries. Digital twins by Twaice combine battery expertise with data analytics capabilities, enabling customers across a wide range of industries to use their batteries more efficiently. Transparency about the actual aging of the battery helps to extend its life cycle.

twaice.com

2. Place: ChargeX

In the future, every parking space must also be a charging space, says Charge X. The company develops charging stations as a overall solution for operators of fleets, hotels or car dealerships. The “Aqueduct” charging station can charge vehicles on demand from a supply point. The system analyzes the individual demand and supports the operator for further planning.

chargex.de

3. Place: Wunder Mobility

Wunder Mobility offers software for car and ridesharing, for example, and organizes shuttle services and e-scooter concepts. 200 employees develop systems that help rent fleets, manage parking space or reduce traffic with carpooling. The technology is used by more than 60 clients in more than 70 cities spread across six continents.

www.wundermobility.com

The Finalists 2020

The Spark is looking for the best concepts for the mobility of tomorrow.
These ten start-ups were selected as 2020 finalists and presented their ideas to the jury:

BIT Technology Solutions

BIT combines physical principles with AI methods to generate synthetic datasets with a high coverage of safety-relevant cases. BIT provides the backbone for autonomous driving by creating a photorealistic 3D model of our world. BIT enables scalable development, ultra-detailed resolutions, and rapid scenario variation

CHARGERY

Cleaning the vehicles of ridesharing fleets, checking tire pressure, replacing batteries on rental e-scooters – Chargery offers sharing services the full range of services to ensure daily operations. Through a variety of features, the Chargery platform significantly increases the availability of vehicles in a sharing fleet.

CHARGE X

In the future, every parking space must also be a charging space, says Charge X. The company develops charging stations as a overall solution for operators of fleets, hotels or car dealerships. The “Aqueduct” charging station can charge vehicles on demand from a supply point. The system analyzes the individual demand and supports the operator for further planning.

FAIRTIQ

No more studying of combs and zones – get on the bus or train, open the app, swipe – swipe again when getting off and Fairtiq calculates and redeems the cheapest ticket option. Currently available throughout Switzerland and in German cities and regions such as Aschaffenburg, Flensburg, Göttingen, Halle and the Lörrach and Mittelthüringen transport associations.

HAWA DAWA

Managing traffic flows in a way that allows all road users to get through smoothly – or perhaps in a way that keeps environmental pollution low? Hawa Dawa measures air pollution and prepares the data so that it can be used in the decision-making processes of city planners or even transport operators. In addition, Hawa Dawa evaluates health data related to air pollution.

PARK HERE

Who is allowed to park where and when? Park Here offers a complete package of solutions for allocating and managing parking space rights. Users can reserve spaces with an app, authentication takes place at the barrier via a QR code. For operators of large parking areas, Park Here helps to use the available space efficiently and flexibly.

ROUTAGO

Routago Assist offers comprehensive tools to support blind and visually impaired people in traffic. Routago helps pedestrians to cover the routes within the city safely and quickly. Instead of the car lane, the navigation system orients itself to pavements and recognises safe crossings, guides along the correct side of the street and shows paths from one door to another.

SMARTLANE

20% lower transport costs – that’s what Smartlane promises with its AI-based software. Smartlane’s services range from automated scheduling and self-learning simulations of transports to the optimisation of individual destinations. For the first time, transport planning, controlling and analysis processes are fully automated.

TWAICE

Regardless of manufacturer or type, Twaice helps you to use batteries. Digital twins by Twaice combine battery expertise with data analytics capabilities, enabling customers across a wide range of industries to use their batteries more efficiently. Transparency about the actual aging of the battery helps to extend its life cycle.

WUNDER MOBILITY

Wunder Mobility offers software for car and ridesharing, for example, and organizes shuttle services and e-scooter concepts. 200 employees develop systems that help rent fleets, manage parking space or reduce traffic with carpooling. The technology is used by more than 60 clients in more than 70 cities spread across six continents.

Female Founder

McKinsey and Handelsblatt were looking for female founders who convince as digital pioneers with personal commitment and entrepreneurial success. Over 100 impressive nominations from The Spark Community reached us for The Spark Female Founder Personality Award 2020. These are the winner and the finalists:

The Winner: Katharina Kreitz

Vectoflow produces standardized and customized flow measurement technology for every application area. The probes, which are among the smallest, most accurate and temperature-resistant in the world, come from a 3D printer and increase measurement accuracy by 45 percent. International industrial customers from 50 countries rely on Vectoflow’s technology. Katharina Kreitz founded her own network of mentees and is involved in activities such as the Girls Day.

Learn more

Finalists 2020

Lea-Sophie Cramer

Amorelie

Katharina Kreitz

Vectoflow

Verena Pausder

Digitale Bildung für Alle e.V.

Catharina VAN delden

innosabi

Jury

For The Spark 2020, we have once again assembled a high-calibre jury whose expertise was used to select The Spark 2020 winners at the jury meeting.
The jury meeting took place on 22 September.