Inter.national! Startup Contest
Start.up! Germany tour is hosted by the Chambers of Industry and Commerce in North Rhine-Westphalia every year and invites start-ups from all over the world to the region to connect them with local corporates, start-ups, investors and multipliers. German Chambers abroad scouted start-ups in over 40 countries and nominated national winners in collaboration with our Initiative and the other partners. In five global competitions of the Inter.national! Startup Contest, 15 finalists from France, Italy, Croatia, India, Romania, Iran, Belarus, Nigeria, Brazil and other countries were appointed and joined the Grand Final on November 17th in Düsseldorf. The event also included reverse pitches earlier that day in Dortmund from well-known companies like Evonik, Signal Iduna Group, Startport (Port of Duisburg), E.ON and Borussia Dortmund and drew the attention of 593 online and offline viewers.
Industry-specific preparation webinars
Start.up! Germany tour included an extensive preparation program in the months before the final. 4 webinars with expert speakers were organized in cooperation with the Digital Hubs in Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Dortmund, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Berlin informing the start-ups on Logistics & Mobility, InsurTech & FinTech, Smart Cities and Industry 4.0 in Germany.
And the winner is …
Pix Force develops A.I. based solutions for complex and rapid interpretation of RGB, infrared, hyperspectral, radar or lidar images serving the food, logistics and infrastructure industry among others. The company that was ranked the 1st Artificial Intelligence start-up in Brazil in 2020 won the Grand Final against 40 competitors from other countries. Nonetheless, 2 nd and 3 rd rank were not less interesting companies to watch out for. Kineto Tech Rehab (re.flex) from Romania has invented a tele rehabilitation solution for patients and therapists and Ant Machines from Slovakia offers terminal trucks with remote control. This year marks the 5 th anniversary of the tour and has resulted in a couple of promising collaboration projects between international start-ups, German corporates and the local network.