- The startups provide innovative solutions to the challenges of the ecological transition in cities. Furthermore, they are committed to the sustainable and smart transformation of cities, innovative entrepreneurship in the field of the circular economy, energy efficiency and the fight against climate change.
- The awards were given at an event held within the framework of S-Moving and Greencities held at FYCMA.
The startups Cimico, URBIM DT, Scoobic Urban Mobility and Washa Logistics SL have won the “Greencities & S-Moving StartUp Europe Awards” in the Municipal Waste to Energy, Greencities & New Bauhaus, S-Moving and Last Mille and Digital S-Moving Startup categories, respectively. The winners will benefit, among others, from a mentoring programme to access European funds.
The prizes were awarded at the “Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga” (FYCMA) within the framework of the S-Moving and Greencities conference. In addition to the winners, the event was attended by some of the members of the jury, such as Carmen Alonso, Councilor for Mobility of the Fuerteventura Island Council together with Carlos David Gutiérrez (technical advisor), Massimiliano Dragoni, Senior Policy Officer at European Commission, Ainara Renteria Tazo, Head Automotive and Mobility sector at Gómez-Acebo & Pombo and Alberto Moreno, Managing Director of T-Box Delivery,
The jury, made up of representatives from the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) of the European Commission; the Finnova Foundation; Málaga TechPark; Diario Sur; the European PropTech Association; the Junta de Andalucía; the Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades (Regional Ministry of Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities); Andalucía Conectada; the University of Málaga; and the Málaga city council, has highly valued the applications received and has highlighted the difficulty in selecting the best projects presented in this edition. All of them come from startups and technologically advanced companies in the environmental sector. They also have innovative capacity at local, regional, national, and international level and are looking for pilot cities where they can apply their ingenuity. “We have evaluated the proposals submitted based on the social and environmental impact of the project, innovation and use of disruptive technologies, internationalisation and long-term objectives,” explained Dragoni.
Winners
Inés Larrea Villanueva, CEO of CIMICO, received the award in the Municipal Waste to Energy category. Her project, Mapyfa, achieves a double objective, greatly facilitating the generation of biogas and drastically reducing (80%) the energy consumption of the biological process of wastewater treatment plants. In this way, it doubly reduces the impact on the environment and their operating costs.
In the Greencities & New Bauhaus category, María Pascual Sáez, General Manager Urbim DT, collected the award. The winning project aims to contribute to the understanding of data and its relationship with space as a means to design better buildings, infrastructures and communities for a sustainable and ethical planet. In short, to help asset managers make their communities more efficient and healthier.
José María Gómez Márquez, CEO of Scoobic Urban Mobility, received the award in the S-Moving category with a project for three-wheeled vehicles capable of transporting large loads, with zero emissions and helping logistics to become profitable again.
Finally, in the Last Mile and Digital S-Moving Startup category, Edgar Chandre Armengol, CEO of Washa Logistics SL, received the award for his project of urban warehouses and light electric vehicles, which solve problems in deliveries to the Horeca and food retail channel. Thus, helping to reduce emissions and congestion in cities.
The four winning applications will benefit from a training and mentoring programme by Startup Europe Accelerator to access European funds (LIFE, EIT, among others), legal advice, networking and international communication, in particular.
Promoting sustainable entrepreneurship
The Startup Europe Awards are an initiative promoted by the European Commission and implemented by the Finnova Foundation in collaboration with Startup Europe Accelerator. Startup Europe Awards (SEUA) is the open innovation methodology of public-private collaboration that was created in 2016 and promotes the identification of innovative solutions by entrepreneurs to SDG and EU challenges. The process fosters collaboration between the different actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and aims to accelerate companies through the tools and mechanisms offered by the EU. These tools and mechanisms are networking and access to investors, training in EU legislation and funds, and mentoring to turn the idea into a real demonstration project such as Horizon Europe or Life, subsidised by the EU with up to €5 million per project.
The aim of the Greencities & S-Moving Startup Europe Awards is to promote sustainable entrepreneurship in the field of circular economy, sustainability, mobility and the fight against Climate Change in an urban environment.
The Greencities & S-Moving Startup Europe Awards had 4 categories:
- Municipal Waste To Energy: best startup with a project in waste management for energy production such as biogas, green hydrogen (pyrolysis, thermocracking, etc) excluding incineration.
- Greencities and la Nueva Bauhaus: best startup with a project that responds to the phenomenon of heat islands in cities with disruptive solutions that redesign the green use of the fifth façade and verticals.
- S-Moving: best startup that addresses the challenges of decarbonised and more efficient mobility in cities.
- Last Mile and Digital S-Moving Startup: best startup with a digital project that helps the development of a smart city.
About the Finnova Foundation
Finnova is the European foundation, of Spanish-Belgian origin, that helps finance innovation and seeks to promote public-private cooperation through the transfer of the best available low-cost technological solutions. Its aim is to address social challenges such as employment, entrepreneurship, the UN SDGs, the circular economy, waste recovery, sustainable tourism, and the fight against climate change. It is present in Spain in the Valencian Community, the Basque Country, Andalusia, the Community of Madrid, Extremadura, and the Canary Islands, where it promotes green jobs, economic recovery, training, and youth employment.