The Landeshauptstadt München has awarded the Municipal Innovation Award for the eighth time. The winners are MCube Consulting, Atopia Space, Hula Earth, Proband15, and the Social Guide team. They convinced with their solutions to current challenges facing the city administration.
The innovation competition is held annually by the Referat für Arbeit und Wirtschaft. The goal is to continuously develop the city administration with the help of digital innovations and strengthen Munich as a smart city. Mayor Dominik Krause says:
“As mayor, it’s important to me that the city not only offers outstanding service to citizens, but also appears as a modern partner to the business community. That’s why it’s essential for Munich as a high-tech location that we as a city administration continue to evolve, take new paths, and remain open to change. The innovation competition is a driver of innovation within the administration, inspiring us to make Munich even smarter and thus prepare it for the future. Congratulations to the award winners.”
Each winning team receives €10,000 in prize money as well as an implementation budget of up to €25,000 for the upcoming co-creation phase with the city administration.
The awarded projects at a glance
MCube Consulting improves the permit process for the approximately 9,000 events that take place in Munich each year with its platform. Intuitive user guidance, automated communication, and geodata-based risk assessment are intended to significantly increase planning security and coordination.
The Social Guide team responds to challenges in the digital application process for humanitarian residence permits. Using a digital assistant, the application process becomes more understandable and accessible for refugees. The team brings its own migration experience and IT expertise to the solution.
Atopia Space transfers temporary art in public spaces into Munich’s digital twin. This digitally extends art, archives it, and makes it interactively experienceable. The platform integrates novel features such as AI curators and curateable templates.
Hula Earth brings transparency to the city’s biodiversity with bioacoustic IoT sensors and AI-based analysis. The solution provides precise, digitally available data on animal and plant occurrences, enabling data-driven further development of species conservation programs.
Proband15 provides a platform with “Datengartl’n” that visualizes and makes open administrative data analyzable. The goal is to promote the use of open data equally for citizens, administration, and research.
Christian Scharpf, head of work and economics, summarizes:
“With the innovation award, we recognize the most promising solution proposals to the city’s challenges and kick off the development of ideas in a co-creation project together with cooperation partners and test them in the city. A proven format and best practice for collaboration between startups and an innovative city administration.”
The next round of the innovation award competition starts in spring 2026. Interested parties can already register on the associated website for more information.
