For the 2nd year in a row, 10 of Europe’s most-promising mobility startups will win the European Startup Prize for mobility (EUSP) – a unique accelerator program aiming to facilitate new market expansion for high-impact mobility solutions throughout the European Union.
Officially launched in 2017, EUSP was co-founded by Karima Delli, Chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Transportation Committee, Boston Consulting Group and Via ID, and remains the leading public-private initiative driving ecological & socially-sustainable mobility in Europe.
In 2018, the EUSP team supported the following Top10 European mobility champions: AddSeat, AppyParking, Atsukè, Bestmile, Cargonexx, Cocolis, Klaxit, Whim (MaaS Global), DiniTech (NRGKick), Tracefy & Voltia.
EUSP’s 2019 program is scheduled to begin in Brussels during the European New Mobilities Summit on April 11th where this year’s Top10 startups will be announced & invited on stage to pitch the jury who will determine the 6 winners who will get the Silver Award which includes: tickets & travel to each of the 5 events + demo/exhibition stand + pitching opportunity + private workshop with access to local ecosystem experts + pre-booked bizdev meeting with targeted prospects, politicians & investors + individual sustainability ranking by Carbone4 to facilitate contract negotiations
The remaining 4 winners will be invited to accept their Gold Award which includes everything listed above as well as: special support from EUSP co-founders & 2019 partners via customized business coaching & legal mentoring
NEW this year will be the addition of a Public Choice Award winner, granted to the startup (from the Top10 finalists) that received the most amount of votes via social media!
Before embarking on this year’s 2019 Tour, let’s take a quick look back at the events from last year — including program highlights & special shoutouts to our incredible list of ecosystem influencers that made each city memorable 😉
Latitude59, Tallinn (Estonia) :: May 24th-25th, 2018
Shortly after announcing EUSP’s 1st-edition winners during the Awards Ceremony in Brussels, our first stop on the 2018 Tour was Latitude59. In Tallinn, our EUSP startups enjoyed personalized introductions to local Baltic, CEE & Nordic ecosystem actors as well as pre-booked meetings with other potential prospects during the 2-day conference.
Kicking-off EUSP’s first on-site workshop was Kadri Simson, Estonia’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure who shared critical insights into why Estonia remains so attractive to new / expanding businesses.
We’re proud to have connected our EUSP startups to: Arnaud Castaignet, Head of Public Relations at Estonia e-Residency; Egita Polanska, Program & Partnerships at Startup Wise Guys; Anu Oks, Managing Director of EstBAN; Toomas Seppel of Hedman Partners; Simona Frazzani, Associate at Grimaldi Studio Legale; Martin Gorosko, Head of Tallinn Technopol & Karl Aru, Expansion Manager at Taxify.
IFA Next, Berlin (Germany) :: September 3rd-4th, 2018
After the summer break, we took off in the direction of Berlin for the 2nd stop of the 2018 Tour to attend the infamous IFA Next where we learned how to better understand, negotiate & then navigate the German Tech startup ecosystem. Congrats again to Thomas (Atsukè) for winning the “Best Pitch Award” during the show!
Attending the inaugural Shift AUTOMOTIVE conference (within IFA Next) we were inspired by Karima Delli who presented a keynote address before welcoming Ben Boutcher-West (AppyParking) along with the other panelists to join her on stage for a debate about the issues surrounding self-driving cars & their ability to (re)gain our trust.
Proud to have connected our EUSP startups to: Dirk 0. Evenson, Director of New Mobility World; Tanja Kufner, Partner at MHP / dynamics.vc; Urs Rahne, Partner at BCG Digital Ventures; Alexis Hue, Partner at Via ID; Christoph J. Stresing, Deputy Managing Director and Head of Public Affair at BVK; Dr. Norman Röchert, Partner at Taylor Wessing Law Firm; Juergen Mayntz, Head of Business Development at High Mobility & Franziska Ehrhardt, Project Manager Transport/Mobility/Logistics at Berlin Partner.
ITS World Congress, Copenhagen (Denmark) :: September 18th-19th, 2018
The 3rd stop of this whirlwind 2018 Tour was to Copenhagen to check out the 25th ITS World Congress, hosted by our partner ERTICO which kicked off with a workshop on Danish and Scandinavian startup and mobility ecosystem.
The pitch at the ITS Forum in front of potential investors and decision makers gave the startups a unique opportunity to show and explain the latest technologies and services.
Proud to have connected our EUSP startups to: Jacob Bangsgaard, CEO of ERTICO-ITS Europe; Christian Bering Pedersen, Technology & Data Lead at Autonomous Mobility, Alexander Frederiksen, cofounder of Donkey Republic; Yan Yang, Head of Investment at Copenhagen Capacity; Carlien Roodink, Smart Urban Mobility for DG Move/European Commission and Mikael von Dorrien, Senior Innovation Advisor at Nordic Innovation.
AUTONOMY, Paris (France) :: October 18th — 20th, 2018
The 4th stop on the 2018 Tour was Autonomy, where the EUSP delegation got the chance to introduce themselves and present their winning mobility solutions to both Elisabeth Borne, French Minister of Transport and Mounir Mahjoubi, State Secretary on Digital Economy.
EUSP startups then pitched in front of an international mix of investors and potential business partners. Given the continued growth of the French Tech investment ecosystem along with ever-increasing international attention, the timing was perfect for strategic exchanges with key industry leaders during this event in Paris.
Proud to have connected our EUSP startups to: Ross Douglas, CEO at Autonomy; Mathieu Dunant, Head of Innovation at RATP; Jean-Marc Zulesi, MEP at Assemblée Nationale; Jean-François Dhinaux, Head of Innovation at Via ID; Julie Gozlan, Head of #FrenchMobility; Matthieu Pichon, consultant at BCG; Arthur Millerand, lawyer at Parallel & Henri Capoul, French Director at Taxify.
Smart City Expo World Congress, Barcelona (Spain) :: November 13th-15th, 2018
With this 5th & final stop on the 2018 Tour, our EUSP startups were on fire: knocking out their on-stage pitches and confidently taking advantage of their privileged exhibition opportunity to attract even more attention from the event attendees.
We truly enjoyed organizing the Mobility Innovation Workshop at WayraHQ and connecting our EUSP startups to local Spanish ecosystem influencers including Mario Brassesco, Investment Associate at Encomenda; Oliver Grimm, Executive MD at SEAT/JustMoove; Inês Oliveira, Program Partnership Manager at Wayra España; Josep Sole, Venture Maker at OneRagtime; Jordi Torrent, Head of International at Barcelona Tech City and Xulei Xu, CEO & co-founder of NEXT Electric Motors.
Catch us at any of these upcoming 2019 Tour events
- European New Mobilities Summit @ Brussels — April 11th
- Viva Technology @ Paris — May 16th-17th
- ITS European Congress @ Brainport — June 3rd-4th
- New Mobility World @ Frankfurt — September 12th-13th
- Smart City Expo World Congress @ Barcelona — November, 19th-20th
Interested in meeting us at one of these events and/or participating as a speaker at one of our on-site workshops?
Speakers for this year’s private EUSP workshops are already being confirmed so please don’t hesitate to comment below or email us directly so we can get you on the list before it’s too late 😉
Article originally published on Startup Sesame’s Blog.
