The Road to SCEWC 2025 Continues: 2025 Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge Finalists Announced
The Road to SCEWC 2025 Continues: 2025 Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge Finalists Announced
As the road to Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) 2025 continues, NTXIA, members, and partners are gearing up for the global event. Just one month ago, NTXIA and partners Frisco EDC, Mckinney EDC, Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners, and Plug and Play, announced the Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge was returning for the second year at SCEWC in Barcelona. Within four weeks of opening the applications, NTXIA received dozens of submissions from startups across the globe, with nearly a 70% increase in applications as compared to last year.
NTXIA, our partners, and our judges are truly honored and inspired to see such incredible talent and innovation from applicants for this year’s Global Startup Challenge. This competition embodies NTXIA’s goal of encouraging and supporting international innovation and economic development, and it is exciting to see such a positive response to our efforts.
We are thrilled to present the final five startups that will be joining us at SCEWC 2025 in Barcelona who will compete to win funding and pilot opportunities in the United States! Our final five finalists include: Advanced Services in Mobility, Helpful Places, Omniflow, Tiami Networks, Inc., and Latitudo 40.
Based in Spain, Advanced Services in Mobility (ASIMOB) aims to improve safety for road users and AVs by connecting road managers with their infrastructure for an inside look of what is happening on the road on a daily basis. Using on-board equipment like sensors and cameras, cloud services, and web applications, ASIMOB’s solution can be connected to smart city or traffic platforms to analyze real data to best improve roadway safety across interurban and urban infrastructures.
This Canadian startup offers a solution to close the gap between technology governance and public understanding by providing transparency into smart cities. Helpful Places provides a proven planning framework and governance infrastructure to engage, plan, and share consistent, publicly legible information on digital technologies in public spaces – leveraging the open-source standard Digital Trust for Places and Routines (DTPR). This allows public and private entities to raise awareness and foster community and trust in new AI and IoT technologies to empower communities to put people’s needs at the center of responsible technology.
Latitudo 40
Headquartered in Italy, Latitudo 40 simplifies the use of comprehensive geospatial data and actionable insights by using satellite technology with high-resolution imagery and AI to drive transformative change and environmental resilience. By analyzing data on land surface temperature, vegetation cover, and urban heat islands, this technology enables cities and industries to proactively manage climate impacts and optimize decisions for enhanced sustainability. Latitudo 40’s goal is to empower communities and industries to make sustainable decisions with real-time data that helps fight climate change, helps to conserve resources, and protects biodiversity.
Omniflow provides carbon neutral smart IoT applications powered by wind and solar with integrated energy storage and grid connection that enables multiple integrated applications. Headquartered in Portugal, Omniflow’s solutions enable cities to transform utilities like a streetlight or even city bench into a carbon neutral object that can be used for multiple IoT purposes. This solution continues to support cities in integrating new technologies to improve their residents’ daily lives while also helping cities meet their sustainability goals and cost savings across energy spending.
Tiami Networks, Inc. is pioneering cutting-edge solutions at the intersection of wireless, sensing, machine learning, and AI by building AI-native 5G/6G networks with integrated sensing and communications. The U.S. based company’s AI hardware extracts radar sensing information from ambient 5G and WiFi wireless signals with the capability to create a digital twin of an entire city with real-time information on pedestrians, traffic, and building occupancy flows without relying on cameras or by deploying new infrastructure. This solution works to continue to improve safety and efficiency of cities by providing real-time data.
Next Stop for Our Finalists: The Final Pitch Competition
All of these well-deserving finalists will join us at SCEWC in Barcelona this November for the final round of the pitch competition on Wednesday, November 5th at 3:00pm in the North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA) booth (Hall 2 B161). Each finalist will have seven minutes to present their solutions and deliver their pitch to an esteemed panel of judges with three minutes of Q&A. Winners of the competition will be announced shortly after the pitches, with the winners receiving travel, pilot, and funding prizes. Immediately following, congratulate the finalists with a whisky tasting at the booth. Following the final competition, the winner will be invited to present their solution on the Human First Stage at 2:20pm, alongside NTXIA and additional speakers, members, and partners.
This year’s prizes include:
Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners will commit $5,000.00 in funding towards a pilot, one year of office space at Curiosity Lab that includes the use of campus infrastructure and space in the Innovation Center, and access to a global partner network for additional market support.
Frisco and McKinney, Texas will provide travel and accommodations to the U.S. in Texas and Georgia for senior leadership, not to exceed $10,000.00. This includes airfare, hotel, ground transportation, food, and office or co-working space in McKinney and Curiosity Lab for the initial visit.
Plug and Play will provide four hot desk spaces in Frisco or McKinney for one year.
NTXIA, Frisco and McKinney, Texas, and Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners will create a curated itinerary of high-level meetings with decision makers in City Departments to explore pilot implementation, as well as corporate innovation and R&D centers where dual-use technology is of interest to corporate innovation leadership.
Winners will also be introduced to high-level executives at University of North Texas, the Dallas College system, major healthcare institutions in Texas like Baylor Scott & White Health, Fortune 500 corporations, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Chambers of Commerce, and major sporting and entertainment venues in Texas.
Winners will receive global exposure through various media channels.
As SCEWC 2025 approaches, we wish all of our finalists good luck, and we cannot wait to see you in Barcelona! If you or your colleagues are attending SCEWC, please stop by the NTXIA booth and join us in cheering on our finalists for the final round of our international pitch competition.