The virtual kick-off event for the German Mobility Award 2024 took place on 16 July 2024 with around 60 interested parties from the mobility and digitalization industry.
Federal Minister for Digital and Transport, Dr. Volker Wissing, opened the event with a digital welcome address. In his speech, he emphasized the importance of digital solutions for overcoming the challenges in mobility and encouraged companies, start-ups, networks and initiatives to participate with their digital ideas and projects.
A highlight of the kick-off event was the review of the German Mobility Award 2023 and the presentation of two award-winning projects from the previous year. A representative of the “Sprinti” project reported that the on-demand service now transports over 5,000 passengers a day in twelve municipalities around Hanover with 120 vehicles. He called for participation in the German Mobility Award, as the award offers the opportunity to significantly increase the positive image and public interest in the submitted projects.
Also present was a representative of the “MobileCityGame” project, which won an award last year for its “MobileCity App”. She emphasized her vision for using the app to make the impact of urban traffic on the climate visible and to promote climate protection plans. She sees participation in the DMP and the award as valuable support in raising awareness of projects.
The examples from the previous year not only served as inspiration, but also as motivation for this year’s applicants. The prize categories of this year’s competition were then presented and the associated focus of the new competition round on pioneering approaches to digital systems, networking, digitalization and artificial intelligence was emphasized.
Next, the jury for the 2024 competition was presented, which is made up of leading experts from the fields of digital and mobility. Prof. Dr. Angela Francke, Professor of Cycling and Local Mobility at the University of Kassel, kicked things off. Enthusiastic about the variety of projects last year, she is looking forward to once again turning the spotlight on bicycle mobility and innovative projects that open up new user groups and improve quality of life through sustainable mobility.
Dr. Bernhard Kalkbrenner, Head of the Digital Hub Mobility of UnternehmerTUM at the Technical University of Munich, highlighted the award ceremony as an ideal platform for exchange and networking. For him, it is important to learn more quickly from the experiences of the projects. He called on mobility enthusiasts to apply with unconventional and smart innovations.
Christiane Möller, legal advisor to the German Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, emphasized how important it is to consider inclusive mobility and accessibility in all projects right from the start. This year, she is particularly excited about projects that deal with digitalization and artificial intelligence in mobility and take inclusion into account.
Dr. Bernhard Rohleder, Managing Director of the digital association Bitkom and member of the Agora Verkehrswende Council, has been involved with the topic of mobility for many years, not only professionally, but also privately as a passionate cyclist. His main focus is on topics such as the digitalization of the transport sector and greater safety.
Finally, further jury members were introduced: Dr. Daniela Gerd tom Markotten, Board Member for Digitalization and Technology at Deutsche Bahn, Prof. Dr. Meike Jipp, Member of the Executive Board for Energy and Transport at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Anna-Theresa Korbutt, Managing Director of Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (hvv), Christina Lang, Founder and Managing Director of DigitalService GmbH des Bundes and Dr. Olga Nevska, Managing Director of Telekom MobilitySolutions.
The expertise and commitment of these jurors are crucial to the selection process. It was pointed out that there is still a place available on the jury for a member of the public and that applications can be submitted until August 18, 2024.
In the second part of the kick-off event, the content of the competition was explored in greater depth in themed rooms attended by numerous experts from the digital and mobility sectors. In interactive sessions, the participants discussed current developments and challenges in the transport and digital sector with members of the jury and other people interested in mobility. The discussions provided a deeper insight into various aspects of mobility, encouraged the exchange of ideas and offered the opportunity to think together about sustainable solutions.
The event ended with a summary and an outlook on the next steps of the competition. Applications were invited to submit digital mobility projects by August 18, 2024. Two application coaching sessions were also announced, which will take place on July 31 and August 12, 2024. All interested parties will have the opportunity to ask questions about their application.