Every year, the Future Hamburg Award is given out in, of course, Hamburg. To get to know why this award is given out in this city, it’s important to know that this second-largest city in Germany has one of the highest startup rates per capita and more than 1,200 active startups. Hamburg is ranked as one of Europe’s most liveable cities. All this is the reason for them to be giving out the Future Hamburg Award.

The Future Hamburg Award is an award where the city honors sustainable innovations in logistics, mobility and hydrogen. The award winners will be able to advance their projects in Silicon Valley and the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, all while making sure they use Hamburg’s excellent connections to key global markets. The award focuses on working together with startups from all over the world towards the city of the future, making it an ideal award for technical innovations aiming for a better future.

The following expert startups were selected by the jury:

Breeze technologies

This Danish/German startup was founded in 2017 and develops sensors that allow real-time and area-wide air quality monitoring. Not only did they develop an urban air quality sensor, but you can also install one in your
office or in an industrial environment. The air quality sensors that can be applied in all these different spaces will help take the step towards a more sustainable future.

At the Future Hamburg Award, Breeze Technologies won first prize, this is not only due to their innovation, but also due to their entrepreneurial mindset and their willingness to cooperate with other startups.

Traceless Materials

Traceless materials is a German startup making sure our future is plastic free by developing compostable packaging through their own production of (bio)plastics. With this innovation the two female founders highly contribute to solving the worldwide issue of plastic pollution. They have also developed a highly sustainable business model that has the potential to reduce the ecological footprint of products all over the world. This innovative startup won second prize at the awards, and is promising for the plastic free future we need to have as soon as possible.

Infinite Mobility

Infinite Mobility is a Norwegian startup developing lightweight and solar powered tricycles, especially for short trips in an urban area. They chose solar energy as it is one of earth’s most abundant resources making the solar powered tricycles cost effective and space efficient. Their business idea is what convinced the jury to give them the third prize. The mobility market is currently still dominated by large corporations and they need to give space to smaller startups like these in order to make sure the quality of life in our cities will get better. The “tuk tuks” are set to launch in the fall of 2021.

Platform Zero’s Perspective: The future hamburg awards once again show how big of a role climate change is playing in the development of new technologies and startups. This top three will for sure make a change in our future and will make it easier for us to live a sustainable lifestyle. All these startups looked into the problem differently and it truly shows. It gets us inspired and we are for sure keeping an eye open to their developments in the near future!