The Arrow Innovators Award program aims to support tech startups early on in development, marketing, and production, enabling them to bring their products to market faster. Hardware startups from the DACH region in the fields of electrical engineering, IoT, and deep tech are eligible to participate.
This year, the award goes to Munich: In the final, Energyminer impressed the jury, beating eight competitors. The jury, composed of representatives from Analog Devices, BatchOne, Infineon, Molex, Munich Re, and Arrow, evaluated the submitted products based on the criteria of degree of innovation, technical difficulty and solution approach, as well as business case and team.
Energyminer has developed the Energy Fish, a micro-hydropower plant that generates electricity in rivers around the clock and can supply cities and communities with continuous, base-load electricity. More extensive tests and larger plants are planned for the coming year.
Energyminer: “Pushing large-scale production”
George Walder, Co-CEO and Founder of Energyminer, commented on the award:
"We are delighted with the victory and the prize money, which we will use to advance electronics development with Arrow for large-scale production. This success confirms our innovative strength and commitment. Our goal is to install enough Energyfisches over the next five years to replace at least one large coal-fired power plant in Germany. Thanks to the excellent platform of the Arrow Innovators Award, we have the opportunity to make our solution accessible to a wider audience and make a sustainable contribution to the energy supply of the future."
Other winning teams
The Lara solution (land-based automatic recirculating aquaculture) from Blue Planet Ecosystems from Vienna makes it possible to quickly establish sustainable and closed ecosystems for algae, plankton, and fish farming. The containers are powered by solar light and produce algae, which in turn is available as zooplankton for feeding fish. This creates fresh organic fish close to consumers, regardless of location. The system addresses the problems of conventional aquaculture.
The company Xtra Dynamics from Heilbronn develops ultra-thin, stretchable light films. The electroluminescent films, known as X-TENSE, are used on workwear, for example, to increase people's visibility in the dark or in foggy conditions. The product is already being used successfully in racing and safety-related facilities, among other applications.
