ERTICO announces its startup plans at the European Start-up Prize

On 11 April, the 10 winners of the Second European Start-up Prize for Mobility (EUSP) were finally unveiled. Launched in 2018 by the Chair of the Transport and Tourism Committee of the European Parliament Karima Delli, this year’s edition saw Cargoroo, OpenAirlines, Blickfeld, Einride, Shotl, Karhoo, Cityscoot, Geovelo and K-Ryole triumph among the over 500 applicants from around Europe. For the second year in a row, the EUSP teamed up with ERTICO.

The historical cars exhibited at Autoworld back-dropped the ceremony, a stark contrast with the innovative solutions presented by the 10 finalists, giving a sense of pride in seeing how far the automotive industry has come.

Today’s mobility is in fact interconnected with technology, with Intelligent Transport Systems playing a key role towards achieving the European goals of cleaner, safer and more inclusive transport. From the rule of law when it comes to access and sharing of data, to European regulations, Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and the importance of resources and training when it comes to helping scaling start-ups in Europe, discussions explored the world of transport far and wide with key experts from the European institutions, the private sector and with a special guest of honour, HSH the Prince of Monaco.

Throughout the event, speakers stressed the fact that start-ups deserve more visibility vis-à-vis the industry, key players and investors, and that Europe needs to ensure start-ups collaborate with larger corporations to provide new services for the consumers and lay the groundwork for new businesses to build alliances with the private sector and public authorities.

In this regard, ERTICO’s CEO Jacob Bangsgaard revealed the plans of ERTICO to further the collaboration of its Partners with the start-up community, an action which will be launched at the ITS European Congress in Eindhoven in June this year.

“The innovation that we see coming from the start-up community will play a key role in forming the mobility sector of the future and we want to bring this innovation closer to our activities in ERTICO. Our Partners are forming the mobility services of tomorrow and we need to tap into bright ideas and solutions so we can co-create the future mobility system and together tackle the challenges ahead. Our ERTICO Partners are looking with great interest at the vibrant start-up community and how this brings new products, services and ideas to the market. At ERTICO we have been working on bringing start-ups closer to our Partnership and will launch this at the ITS European Congress this June in Eindhoven, so stay tuned!”

But why should start-ups look at ERTICO? “ERTICO has data, experience and resources, but above all, the willingness to embrace innovation, and therefore we would be very happy to work together on driving mobility to the next level”, concluded Mr. Bangsgaard.

Of course, this is not the first time that ERTICO involves start-ups in its work, as shown during the previous ITS European and World Congress, which both had start-up areas.

On the same topic, Joël Hazan, Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group, discussed the perspective of start-ups in Europe and around the world and highlighted throughout the event that “We need to change the collaboration between start-ups and the public authorities. Every successful start-up managed through working in full transparency and cooperation with the decision makers, thus creating the conditions to reach scale”.

The EUSP Prize Ceremony was a clear signal of intent that Europe has all the potential to compete with China and America when it comes to start-ups and innovations in the mobility sector.

“I believe that the next decade will decide whether this century will be Chinese, American or European” said in his speech the Vice President of the European Commission’s Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič, adding that “I very much rely on our young generation, on our research institutes, on our start-ups, on our industry to lead the way, because I think that we will all benefit”.

Mobility is at the heart of the future development of every city. Thanks to the EUSP, Europe has another chance to place the European ecosystem among the leading ones in the world.

So what are the next steps for the 10 winners? While the four Gold Award winners will benefit from business and legal monitoring, all finalists will have the unique chance to tour Europe’s most important mobility events, including the ITS European Congress organised by ERTICO, taking place from 3 to 6 June in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Don’t miss the chance to meet the 10 winners of this unique prize and to discover what ERTICO has in the pipeline for start-ups.

In the meantime, start-ups can learn more about ERTICO’s Start-up Hub here.