The Road To SCEWC: 2024 Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge Finalists
Over the past few weeks since the announcement of our Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge created in partnership with Curiosity Lab at Peachtree corners and Texas cities, Frisco, McKinney, and Forth Worth, we have had the honor of receiving dozens of entries from incredible startups across the globe. Our goal with this competition is to continue fostering international innovation and presenting innovative startups with the opportunity to pilot their technology and receive funding to help achieve their goals of developing their technology and potentially entering the U.S. market.
We are excited to present the final four startups that will be heading to the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona to compete to win piloting and funding in the United States! Find our full list of finalists below!
Ecosystem Informatics Inc. (ESI) is a climate technology company specializing in environmental data intelligence. ESI provides cutting-edge solutions designed to help communities enhance health and safety, support sustainability initiatives, and optimize infrastructure planning. The Canadian-based company presented their air monitoring solutions, designed with ease of use in mind, powered by advanced AI algorithm, allowing cities to act on real-time and accurate environmental insights collected without managing any technical complexities.
L&T Technologies Limited (LTTS) is a global leader in engineering and R&D (ER&D) services. The New Jersey-based firm presented their crowd management solution to aid large events and urban areas with public safety and visitor experience. Using cameras, AI algorithms can analyze images to count crowds and monitor movements. By reviewing thousands of carefully selected images, machines can learn to interpret crowd counts and behavior.
Sial-tronica is a leader in smart road signaling solutions. They work to develop and create durable devices and systems that reduce accidents, modernize infrastructure, and optimize vehicular flows. Pedestrian safety is at the forefront of their mission and Sialtronica presented their Retrolight System that alerts drivers upon pedestrian crossing by lighting up road marking and signals with distance for deceleration. Integrated with high-resolution surveillance cameras and a communication module for real-time monitoring and control, the Spain-based company’s system significantly enhances pedestrian safety and reduces accidents.
VisionCraft is a technology company providing a ‘Digital Data Eye,’ with solutions that provide real-time information from AI-based computer vision object detection algorithms. Their solutions are able to determine an object’s speed, direction, size, trajectory, and more to increase safety and improve function across ITS, manufacturing and logistics, healthcare, enterprises and retail, and more. Based in the Czech Republic, this company provides the only IoT sensor on the market that processes video stream directly at the edge and is not dependent on 2/7 electricity or wired data in real time.
What’s Next For Our Finalists?
Finalists will join us at SCEWC in Barcelona for the final competition round on Wednesday November 6th at 1pm in the USA Pavilion. Each finalist will have 10 minutes to deliver their pitch to an esteemed panel of judges, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A. Winners of the competition will be announced shortly after the pitches, with the winners receiving travel, pilot and funding prizes. Prizes include:
Curiosity Lab will commit $15,000.00 towards a pilot, one year of office space at its Innovation Center and access to a global partner network for additional market support.
Frisco and McKinney, Texas will provide travel and accommodations to the U.S. in Texas and Georgia for senior leadership, up to $10,000.00. This includes airfare, hotel, ground transportation, food and office/co-working space in McKinney and Curiosity Lab for the initial visit.
NTXIA, Frisco and McKinney, Texas and Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners will create a curated itinerary of high-level meetings with decision makers in city departments across the regions to explore pilot implementation and partnership opportunities.
Winners will also be introduced to high-level individuals at Plug and Play, University of North Texas, the Dallas College system, major healthcare institutions in Texas like Baylor Scott & White Health, Fortune 500 corporations, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Chambers of Commerce and major sporting and entertainment venues in Texas.
One-of-a-Kind Texas swag and bragging rights.
We wish all of these incredible companies luck, and cannot wait to hear their pitches. If you are attending SCEWC, we would love to have you at the USA Pavilion to join us for this incredible international pitching competition!