- ABB announces winners of 2022 ABB Electrification Startup Challenge
- Innovating solutions to save energy, lower emissions and increase climate resilience in buildings, industry and power supplies
- Three winners chosen from over 100 applicants will each win a collaboration project with ABB Electrification worth $30,000 to take to market
The champions of this year’s ABB Electrification Startup Challenge have been announced at an awards ceremony in Berlin, Germany, following an exciting finale which saw 20 finalists pitching their digital innovations to tackle a range of global energy challenges.
Against a backdrop of high energy prices, energy insecurity and record emissions, 2022 saw the highest level of entrants to the annual Startup Challenge with over 100 applications from 34 countries. Now in its third year, the Startup Challenge in collaboration with Microsoft and SynerLeap, has become the go-to event for innovators who are developing solutions to support the world’s safe, smart and sustainable shift towards electrification.
The robust process saw 20 shortlisted startups undertake two weeks of intensive work alongside mentors from ABB, Microsoft and Synerleap to fine tune their proposals, before pitching their innovations in early May. From there, nine finalists were chosen to go through to the Grand Finale on 13 May at a live event in Berlin – three from each of the Challenge’s three categories of Smart Buildings, Smart Power and Distribution Solutions.
Introducing gamification, personalization and edge computing, this year’s winners impressed their judges with their innovative ideas to tackle the global energy crisis.
MOOST, from Switzerland, will now work closely with the ABB Electrification Smart Building’s team to bring its Software as a Service (SaaS) platform to the market. Using hyper-personalized notifications and gamification, MOOST is all about making energy saving fun, so that anyone (regardless of experience or qualifications) can understand where the energy issues are in their building and take climate-friendly action to put them right.
Italian startup i-EM won the challenge in the Smart Power category, with its groundbreaking SaaS concept. The innovative tool, x-EM, uses Artificial Intelligence to simulate ‘behind-the-meter’ energy systems. Designed to help operators cope with fluctuations in energy costs, it will allow them to simulate different set ups for their energy assets that maximize ROI and reduce emissions, with the potential to sell extra energy back to the grid.
The Distribution Solutions’ judges were impressed with “edge innovation platform” Pratexo, which uses edge computing for intelligent grid optimization. Pratexo’s technology enables the rapid set up of systems that can process huge amounts of data generated by IoT sensors and run advanced analytics in real time. Through the solution to be co-developed with Pratexo, ABB customers will benefit from unique tools for performing fault causal analysis for their installations, allowing better decisions for future operations.
Anton Kotov, Chief Digital and Strategy Officer at ABB Electrification said: “The talent this year was outstanding, and it was difficult to pick just three champions. Open innovation and discovery are key to tackling some of the unprecedented issues the energy sector is facing. It is only by collaborating with some of the brightest mavericks in the world that we will develop solutions to solve the world’s energy and climate challenges.”
Each of the three champions win a collaboration project with ABB worth $30,000, with the goal to launch a common solution for customers on ABB Ability Marketplace later this year, reaching audiences in over 100 countries. Winners will also receive unique mentoring support from SynerLeap – ABB ‘s startups accelerator - and from Microsoft’s startup advisors.
To find out more about the winners of the ABB Electrification 2022 StartUp Challenge visit www.collaborateandcommercialize.com.
SynerLeap is ABB’s global innovation growth hub. We support startups to accelerate and expand in a global market together with ABB and partners. SynerLeap opens up for investments and offers a unique mentorship and access to ABB’s networks partners, customers and technology in automation, robotics and energy to company members. Today, more than 130 companies from 21 countries spanning five continents have joined SynerLeap including Graphmatech and MTEK from Sweden, Cassia Networks from USA and NumoCity from India. www.synerleap.com
ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 105,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com
ABB Electrification: Electrifying the world in a safe, smart and sustainable way, ABB Electrification is a global technology leader in electrical distribution and management from source to socket. As the world’s demand for electricity grows, our 50,000+ employees across 100 countries collaborate with customers and partners to transform how people connect, live and work. We develop innovative products, solutions and digital technologies that enable energy efficiency and a low carbon society across all sectors. By applying global scale with local expertise, we shape and support global trends, deliver excellence for customers and power a sustainable future for society. www.abb.com/electrification
