International Startup Challenge 2024

From Idea to Impact

With the International Startup Innovation Challenge, we've established a successful format to co-create innovative solutions for the energy future together with startups. Through a multi-stage selection process, we identify promising young companies each year and invite them to work on real-world challenges from within our organization. Over the course of several weeks, they collaborate closely with internal experts to develop tangible prototypes or pilot projects – with real implementation potential.

Recap: 1st International Startup Innovation Challenge

In 2024, Energie AG launched its first international Startup Innovation Challenge. 137 startups from all over the world applied with their solution ideas for three specific challenges facing the Group. At the Pitching Day on February 13, the best teams presented their approaches to a jury of internal experts and external innovation partners. After intensive workshops and a successful nine-week collaboration, the challenge culminated in the Demo Day on 7 May 2024, where the results were presented in the PowerCenter and via livestream.

Over just nine weeks, three selected startups developed their solutions for clearly defined challenges in collaboration with our internal units:

Future-proof prediction of electricity consumption
(Startup: OmegaLambdaTec – together with the Sales unit)
Development of an AI-based forecasting model for electricity consumption.
Automated procurement and evaluation of suppliers with a focus on ESG criteria
(Startup: Thinkers.ai – together with the Purchasing unit)
A data-driven solution for supplier evaluation based on ESG metrics.
Autonomous inspection solution for low-voltage lines
Startup: LINIA (bought by Axpo ) – together with the Network Operator)
Creation of an autonomous system for the inspection of low-voltage infrastructure.

All three teams delivered impressive results and laid the foundation for further collaboration. The developed prototypes are now being continued and refined within the respective departments – with the goal of integrating them into operational processes.