Smart transportation, autonomous driving, connected vehicles. Or: What will mobility look like in the future? A question to which answers were sought at Mobility.Pioneers in Munich on February 8. Along with a winning startup pitch.
The Pioneers Festival, which will take place at the beginning of June this year, is already casting its shadow. With an international roadshow, the organizers want to get in the mood for the festival and provide space for discussion on industry-specific topics. At Munich's Muffatwerk, everything was focused on mobility. This was also reflected in the agenda, which was divided into three major thematic blocks: Smart Transportation, Autonomous Driving, and Connected Vehicles. Input was provided by renowned speakers such as Christoph Weigler from UBER or Holger Weiss from German AutolabsBut startups offering mobility solutions were also given the opportunity to present themselves and their ideas in three pitch rounds.
Time for Business
In addition, well-known companies and investors also found their way to the Isar and were enthusiastic, as were Marco Faulhammer from Vodafone's Connected Car:
“I met a lot of great companies, who are offering concrete business opportunities for us. I think we've come out of this with at least ten co-operations – not just with startups but with other companies too.”
A Munich startup also presented itself both on and off the stage: Toposenswho want to enable machines to orient themselves in space without interference using a coin-sized, energy-efficient 3D ultrasound scanner.
Off to Vienna
While the jury was certainly impressed by the Munich-based startup's pitch, delivered by Tobias Bahnemann, another startup ultimately won the competition: Palleter from Estonia, whose solution aims to help reduce the number of empty trucks on the roads. The winners—as expected—were able to take home tickets to the Pioneer Festival in Vienna, and were delighted about it:
"This is one of the best events I've been to: a really good crowd and fruitful talks with lots of industry people. I've not seen a better mobility event in Europe and I loved it! Now I'm looking forward to going to Pioneers Festival for the first time"
so Market Kelder, Co-founder of Palleter.
