Innovation Challenge 2023 - these were the shortlisted ideas!

Along with Google Cloud, we were again looking for innovative ideas from Austrian companies as part of this year's Innovation Challenge. The result: we were bombarded with several great ideas out of which eleven companies were shortlisted for the 2023 grand finale, the Innovation Challenge Pitch Day.

On the final day, the companies will present their ideas to a top-class jury. We are very excited to see who the winner will be – with a proof of concept worth up to € 50,000 in their pocket. Whoever it is, we look forward to making the winning idea a reality! The Innovation Award ceremony will take place on June 19th, 2023, in Vienna.

The Innovation Challenge: Shortlisted ideas
(in alphabetical order)

A1 Telekom Austria AG 
The idea: Location instead of frustration. No address? No problem!
Customers' address quality varies, which means that the postal address stored in the systems do not always match the actual address. This can lead to incorrect information about our product availability at the location resulting in unnecessary expenses. If the address quality is insufficient, the additional use of geolocation data would provide more reliable information about the availability and feasibility of the products at a specific location.

Vienna Airport
The idea: BagPredictML
Passengers at Vienna Airport need to be served with an accurate prediction of when to expect their luggage at the baggage claim. This gives peace of mind while waiting and thus, significantly improves customer experience. Machine learning will be used to develop a forecasting model that includes all influencing factors.

Krone Multimedia
The idea: Holistic Content Discovery Service for Publishers
With the holistic Content Delivery Service for Publishers, a SaaS product for content recommendations is to be developed on the basis of the Google Media Recommendation Engine, which connects both sides – readers and editors.

REWE IAG
The idea: RouteFIVE
Based on the checkout data (products purchased, time of purchase, etc.), an algorithm in combination with the store layout calculates the customer routes through the store. The quantity of cash register receipts allows an accurate heat map that helps identify possible secondary locations, which can then be resold to suppliers. For customers, this results in a better shopping experience with products that are tailored to customers’ shopping preferences. The anonymity of the checkout data also ensures that customers’ personal rights are protected.

Rhomberg Holding GmbH
The idea: Q-tainer
The challenging environment of a construction site (dirt, weather conditions, location in a tunnel, etc.) makes it difficult to establish a strong foothold with digital means. Q-tainer brings high tech to the conventional construction site via plug-and-play. Packaged in a robust shell (20-foot container), mobile, and easy to move by crane at any time, Q-tainer provides speedy connectivity to the construction site. 5G campus network, WIFI, cameras coupled with AI algorithms and powerful EDGE computing infrastructure enable new, unimagined possibilities for construction site digitization.

Salzburg AG
The idea: ENOX.energy
The goal is to provide customers with a simple path to the energy transition for a conscious use of networked energy for our world of tomorrow. A platform that enables different target groups, tenants as well as house owners, to become part of the decentralized energy production as well as energy optimization.

Saubermacher Dienstleistungs AG
The idea: Driving successfully
Commitment to environmental and climate protection, social responsibility and future-oriented corporate management are essential cornerstones for a successful company on the road to zero waste. A central element for efficient and environmentally friendly waste disposal is, among other things, the route planning of the vehicle fleet of approx. 680 vehicles of Saubermacher AG, which currently comprises approx. 18 different vehicle types. The aim of the innovation project is to develop the next evolutionary stage of an AI-based route planning optimization of the Saubermacher truck fleet in the B2B/B2C sector.

Txture GmbH
The idea: Cloud-to-GCP Business Case Builder
Txture's Business Case Builder provides automatic cost calculations for cloud-to-GCP migrations for system integrators and GCP sales teams. The module automatically calculates migration scenarios from AWS or Azure to Google. It calculates costs, the carbon footprint, and optimization as well as modernization potentials. Time-consuming manual analysis is no longer necessary, competitive offers can be created more quickly, the sales pipeline becomes more transparent, and additional new customers can be acquired.

Techem Messtechnik GmbH
The idea: Techem's international customer portal - innovative residential monitoring
The project idea includes intelligent empty space and room monitoring, for example, the monitoring of flats where no residents are present, yet consumption is being supplied daily. On the other hand, energy-saving tips tailored to the user, are generated based on the appliance and room information (for example: set your radiator in room A to temperature B in time period X to achieve optimal consumption).

Unser JÖ-Bonus Club GmbH
The idea: My purchases with jö
To create even more additional benefits for jö members in the future, beyond discounts and coupons. For this, their own purchasing information is to be processed and made available digitally. The aim is to give members maximum transparency about their jö usage and their purchases in the jö partner ecosystem, and to give them the tools to control their purchasing behavior with the help of AI.

Wiener Städtische Versicherung AG
The idea: Voogle
The customized search engine delivers useful results. Currently, search results lead to a multitude of hits with a lot of irrelevant information. Sifting through them costs time and nerves. This is where Voogle offers the solution, as an AI-supported information platform for Wiener Städtische customers and employees. All insurance data and correspondence are searched and combined, with the required results being displayed within seconds.

Thanks to all the innovators who decided to share their ideas with us. Each of these has a lot of potential and we are glad to provide our support so that these ideas see the light of the day.