Estonia’s BaseTracK Claims Jury Award at WMF 2024 Startup Competition, while Intuos Secures Audience Award
The President of the Emilia Romagna Region, Stefano Bonaccini, during the opening of the WMF – We Make Future 2024. Credits: WMF
BaseTracK Wins Jury Award at WMF 2024 Startup Competition. Audience Award Goes to Intuos
BaseTracK is the startup winner of the jury award at the 12th edition of the Startup Competition at WMF – We Make Future, the International Fair and Festival on AI, Tech & Digital Innovation, which is ongoing until Saturday, June 15th, at BolognaFiere.
The final round took place this afternoon on the Mainstage, in front of a packed audience from over 90 countries, marking a pivotal moment for the two main events within WMF focused on innovative entrepreneurship: the World Startup Fest and the Open Innovation & VC Fest, which this year brought together over 3,000 startups and open innovation stakeholders from around the world in Bologna.
The six finalist countries were Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Austria, and Estonia, with the final event co-hosted by Cosmano Lombardo – Founder and CEO of Search On Media Group and creator of WMF – and journalist and presenter Veronica Maffei. The main stage, streamed live worldwide, featured BaseTracK, Devengo, ResilientX, Intuos, Barin Sports, and Necture, presenting innovative ideas in a tightly contested pitch competition.
About the competition
These ideas addressed the 12 future challenges identified by WMF, aligned with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and ESG criteria: Future of Cities & Communities, Future of Health, Future of Work, Future of Culture & Travel, Future of Food & Agriculture, Future of Learning & Education, Future of Retail & Customer Experience, Future of Marketing, Future of Media & Entertainment, Future of Sports & Events, Future of Finance & Insurance, and Future of Life on Planet Earth.
“We received over 5,000 applications from more than 120 countries this year, a clear sign of growth and a push for innovation that goes beyond business and considers society, looking towards the future of everyone,” explains Cosmano Lombardo, Founder and CEO of Search On Media Group and creator of WMF.
“This year, we asked startups to respond with their projects to the 12 future challenges we identified, which we consider fundamental for building a better future,” he continues. “Startups are absolutely essential for the evolution of tomorrow, and we are increasingly proud each year to provide them with a venue and multiple opportunities for meeting and development, thanks to the thousands of open innovation stakeholders who come from around the world to Italy, to WMF, to get to know them. For us, this is a great success.”
The winners
The two winners were decided by a jury of selected open innovation stakeholders from around the world and the international audience of WMF, who could vote live via the official event web app. BaseTracK won the jury prize provided by EIT Digital, while the audience awarded Intuos the prize provided by Exelab-HubSpot.
BaseTracK, an Estonian startup, offers 20% fuel savings for human-driven trucks and an automated freight service for all weather conditions. Human drivers are inefficient by nature – they cannot calculate optimal driving parameters considering all relevant conditions, cannot memorize all routes, and cannot always perform at the same level. This system will do the work, making every driver assisted by the most experienced and professional robot driver, addressing the “Future of Cities and Communities” challenge.
Intuos, an Italian startup, is a modular software platform that optimizes and simplifies the operational processes of aircraft owners by providing insights on flight and engine status based on data collected and transmitted by IoT devices in real-time. These insights are enhanced by AI-based predictive algorithms. With 90% of fleets still having limited digital technologies and unable to provide data for analysis, and with many instruments only supporting pilots during flight while the residual life of aircraft is extending beyond 50 years, safety and maintenance issues are becoming more prominent. Intuos addresses the “Future of Life on Planet Earth” challenge.
The World Startup and Open Innovation & VC Fest
World Startup Fest and Open Innovation & VC Fest: Three days of business with the global innovation ecosystem gathered at WMF. Over 3,000 startup and open innovation stakeholders are meeting during the three days of WMF to generate new collaborations and projects.
They come from Europe, Africa, North and South America, Asia, and the Middle East, gathering at BolognaFiere and beyond to take advantage of matching, networking, and business opportunities organized for startups, investors, investment funds, as well as national and local businesses and institutions. Multiple new synergies are thus being created, beneficial for business development in the Italian market and those of the over 90 countries involved in the event through B2B areas, exclusive partner events, informal meetings, a Startup District with startups from every continent, and much more.
Not only business but also numerous moments dedicated to the presentation of innovative projects, business models, and products on various open stages, including the Future of Open Innovation & VC, Future of Entrepreneurship, and Innovation Showcase stages, where it will be possible to explore various ecosystems and approaches, comparing open innovation dynamics and global collaborations; the Startup Stage, where founders of over 300 selected startups from around the world will pitch every day on different future challenges; the Impact to Business stage focusing on the co-design of inclusive and scalable prosperity models.
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