Hawa Dawa and Inveox Not only are both winners of the Munich Startup Award, but they have now also been recognized by the BMWi as digital startups of 2020. A total of four teams will receive the award. Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, said when announcing the winners:
"With the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and audio streaming, the award-winning teams are addressing core themes of digitalization. Their ideas are helping to accelerate the adoption of such key technologies in our lives. Be it for better cancer diagnosis, cleaner air, as a tool for breaking down data silos, or as a contribution to a strong self-image of women in our society. I am particularly pleased that this year we can honor outstanding female founders in addition to outstanding founders. Our goal is for more women to found technology startups in the future, and role models and visibility of female startup founders are important factors in this."
Digital Startups 2020: the four winning teams
1st prize
The startup Hawa Dawa aims to reduce air pollution by making air quality visible – for example, for those responsible in cities and companies. Hawa Dawa's solution makes it possible for the first time to map consolidated air quality data in real time and derive actionable information from it. In addition to state-of-the-art IoT and sensor technology, AI and machine learning are used in data processing. The startup's goal is to integrate environmental data into decision-making processes and thus enable clean air for cities, companies, and citizens.
2nd prize
The technology of Apheris AI enables data from multiple companies to be jointly evaluated and used to train intelligent algorithms – while preserving intellectual property and privacy. Digitalization is driving companies to produce ever-increasing amounts of data. Much of this data is not meaningful on its own. However, when combined with datasets from other companies, it can be used to optimize machine learning methods. Apheris AI offers a technical solution that jointly evaluates this distributed data while preserving privacy.
3rd prize
Inveox brings automation and digitalization to cancer diagnostics. Using IoT hardware and software, a part of the preanalytical process—sample receipt in histopathology—is automated. This reduces errors caused, for example, by sample mix-ups or data loss. With Inveox's software, physicians can also transmit all data digitally and securely to pathology. The system opens the door to big data, image recognition, AI, and machine learning in pathology laboratories.
Audience Award
And the Audience Award goes to Pink Internet, which has built Femtasy, the first streaming platform for sensual audio stories for women. The audios are tailored to women's needs. The audios are produced in collaboration with around 150 freelance authors and speakers who work for Femtasy.
