Last week, Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek honored a Munich startup with the Cebit Innovation Award 2018: Crashtest Security took second place. The award was presented for the sixth time by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Deutsche Messe.
The award, worth a total of 100,000 euros, is given to young developers who were able to particularly convince the expert jury with their innovative IT ideas. Crashtest Security won second prize, worth €30,000. The Munich-based startup has developed a system that automatically detects security vulnerabilities in web applications and can fix them based on its own database. Its ease of use allows developers to identify errors in website programming and ensure the security of both their own and third-party data.
The people of Munich were very happy about the award, as they told us directly after the awards ceremony at Cebit. founder Janosch Maier in addition:
"We took second place, which is worth €30,000. We'll use that to further develop our company. For example, we're currently looking for someone in sales. We can certainly put the money to great use."
Karliczek: “Ideas demonstrate great creativity”
Federal Minister of Research Anja Karliczek said at the awards ceremony:
"I am impressed by the creative ideas and their user-friendly implementation. Here, the technologically feasible has been intelligently combined with everyday needs. I congratulate all the award winners, whose work impressively demonstrates how digitalization can improve our lives."
Jury member Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wahlster, technical and scientific director of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), emphasized the great topicality of the ideas presented:
"This year, the use of artificial intelligence methods played a major role in the award winners' selections – from innovative parking space search solutions to security checks for web applications. The jury was enthusiastic because, in all awards, people remain at the heart of all digitalization solutions."
First prize went to the Braunschweig-based app developers Aipark, which helps drivers find parking spaces. Third place went to the app Divera 24/7, which provides nationwide availability information for firefighters.
The Cebit Innovation Award will continue to honor creative high-tech developments. Startups can now apply for the new round of the Cebit Innovation Award 2019 via the website. The deadline for entries is November 1, 2018.
