The Smart City Ideas Competition 2024/25 has now reached its grand finale with an inspiring finale at the digitalHUB Aachen. A total of four innovative projects were awarded prizes ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 euros by a jury of experts on this evening.

The competition, which had the motto "New paths for SmartCity Aachen", called for creative solutions to the challenges of a modern city. Over the course of several months, dedicated teams from civil society, science and business worked on projects in areas such as mobility, climate protection and digital technologies.

"We were impressed by the quality and diversity of the ideas submitted," emphasizes Nick Nowara, Smart City Manager of the City of Aachen. "From a platform for the real-time display of free learning spaces to a software assistant for smart electricity grids - the projects impressively demonstrate how we can work together to shape the path to a climate-neutral and smart city." Jakob Hülsmann from myCircle (1st place) added: "It was a great opportunity to present our idea and a very successful event in general."

The four award-winning teams are now entering the implementation phase, in which they will continue to develop their ideas - supported by mentors from the Smart City Think Tank network and access to resources such as coworking spaces and technological infrastructure. The results of the coming months will be presented to the public in mid-September 2025.

As the initiator, the municipal economic development agency and the Think Tank Smart City would like to thank all the partners and supporters involved - the municipal Department of Climate and Environment, the Department of Mobility and Transport, the Department of Geoinformation and Land Use Planning, the digitalHub Aachen e.V, Innoloft GmbH, STAWAG, regio iT gmbh, Regionetz GmbH, NetAachen GmbH and the AI Center of RWTH Aachen University - as well as the participants for their commitment and looks forward to accompanying the award-winning projects on their way to market maturity.