Award ceremony for the 2024 innovation competition
July 2024. Smart City approaches in the Neuperlach test bed: This year's Innovation Awards of the City of Munich were presented at a formal ceremony at the Munich Urban Colab. With this annual prize, Munich seeks new and innovative ideas for solving challenges in our city.
For this year's City of Munich innovation competition, the Department of Labor and Economic Development had its eye on Neuperlach in particular as a place to test the award-winning ideas for a smart city.
With the most promising proposals for solutions to this year's challenges, the following teams stood out among the many exciting and inspiring applications as having particularly convincing ideas:
• Sky Eye:
Improving the data availability for stationary traffic
• Start-up Tür an Tür – Digitalfabrik gGmbH:
Digital Welcome Centre – AI-supported information portal for new and future Munich citizens
• WORKINGER – Work in Germany:
Job and recruiting compass for international newcomers
• UTurn Mobilitätswende:
Choose Green – Communication of energy-efficient mobility routines for Munich
• SE3 Labs GmbH:
The cool side of Munich – Finding shaded routes for pedestrians
Of the five challenges in the competition, the ideas of the start-ups SE3 Labs, UTurn Mobilitätswende and WORKINGER are now being further developed in a several-months-long co-creative process (see below for a detailed description).
Picture Credits: City of Munich/Bert Willer, Architekturgalerie/Cornelia Hellstern
JOB AND RECRUITING COMPASS FOR INTERNATIONAL NEWCOMERS WORKINGER – Work in Germany
The current labour shortage is hitting many sectors of the Munich economy hard, and integrating people with a flight and/or migration history into the local labour market is associated with a variety of difficulties ranging from legal and bureaucratic barriers to lengthy, inefficient processes. Misunderstandings and a lack of information-sharing between authorities, businesses and job-seeking newcomers to Munich make rapid integration difficult.
With the "Job and Recruiting Compass for International Newcomers" challenge, the Department of Labor and Economic Development is pursuing the goal of developing a digital, AI-based, smartphone-compatible and multilingual application based on the job integration map that serves as an individualised digital journey, guiding and facilitating access to the Munich labour market. The intention is to simplify and accelerate integration into the labour force by making job entry for international newcomers and their recruitment by businesses easier.
The WORKINGER start-up supports SMEs in their search for workers. Pre-qualification and matching are carried out with the help of digital tools and AI. Administrative processes are also supported.
The jury particularly liked the fact that WORKINGER seeks to enable international newcomers to prepare for the local labour market at a very early stage – sometimes even before they arrive. At the same time, Munich-based businesses can benefit from improved access to international talent and optimised initial contact.
CHOOSE GREEN - PROMOTING ENERGY-SUFFICIENT MOBILITY ROUTINES FOR MUNICH
UTurn Mobilitätswende
Mobility plays an important role when it comes to stopping climate change. Above all, this includes a profound change in our everyday behaviour. Promoting behaviour that uses as little energy as possible in mobility is no easy task.
With its "Choose Green – Communicating energy-sufficient mobility routines for Munich" challenge, the Department for Climate and Environmental Protection is therefore looking for a tool to help inform Munich residents how they can change their mobility-related habits in favour of energy-efficient everyday routines and a climate-friendly lifestyle.
This is exactly where the UTurn Mobilitätswende (Mobility Transition) team comes in. In a playful and appealing way, citizens are to be encouraged to question their mobility habits critically and to simultaneously find creative alternatives. The approach utilises the energy and emotions of a game. The tool can also be used in other important areas such as nutrition, consumption or energy and thus promotes a sustainable lifestyle in all aspects of everyday life.
THE COOL SIDE OF MUNICH - FINDING SHADED ROUTES FOR PEDESTRIANS
SE3 Labs GmbH
Redesigning public spaces with construction measures that protect pedestrians from the heat is costly. The Communal Services Department wants to make an innovative contribution to heat protection through smart optimisation of the walking routes in the city. It is particularly important for the health of heat-sensitive pedestriansto find a target-group-oriented solution. In addition to the shade cast by buildings, structures and vegetation, which depends on the time of day and the season, the cooling effect of green spaces also plays a decisive role in route planning.
With the "The cool side of Munich – Finding shaded routes for pedestrians" challenge, the Geodata Services of the Communal Services Department hoped to develop an advanced route planning system based on the spatial (geo)data from the Munich Digital Twin that can generate a georeferenced route which can be displayed in a digital map application.
The project "SpatialGPT Urban Shade Guide: Cool routes through Munich" by SE3 Labs GmbH uses Munich's digital twin to navigate pedestrians along cool routes. The technology integrates real-time data such as construction sites and barrier-free paths, enriched by an up-to-the-minute AI-based analysis of the shadows cast by buildings and vegetation, to plan the routes.
The jury was particularly impressed by the innovative use of the data from Munich's digital twin, the user-friendly and barrier-free management via an AI-supported voice assistant and the high degree of flexibility in the proposed solution.