In response to our call for entries for this year’s Tech Champions project, nearly 300 submissions were received from FT readers, identifying European companies using technology to meet today’s business challenges.
FT journalists reviewed them, researched the nominated companies and helped compile shortlists.
We sought nominations in ten categories this year and replaced the ‘Hospitality’ sector – which featured in 2021 following the pandemic shutdowns – with ‘Energy’, which has been the focus of innovators’ attention this year :
For each sector category, a pre-selection of four or five companies was established and submitted to our jury for examination. The winners will be announced here, and in a magazine included with the FT newspaper, on November 21.
The Jury
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Kate McGinn, Analyst, Seedcamp — an investor in pan-European start-ups
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Clare Hickie, Chief Technology Officer Emea, Workday
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Malcolm Moore, Editor, FT Edit
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Matthew Vincent, Editor, FT Project Publishing
IT and software
Adaptive systems
Through the use of AI, smart sensors and radar, Adaptiv enables customers to map the use of their buildings and improve their energy efficiency.
Benivo
Benivo’s employee relocation management platform has enabled greater mobility for its clients’ staff when managing moves around the world.
carbon chain
CarbonChain’s AI-powered carbon accounting platform tracks emissions in global supply chains, giving logistics companies and financial institutions insight into the impact of their activities.
Kayros
By analyzing satellite images of the Earth, Kayrros helps spot climate and environmental trends and tracks energy sector activity, including pipeline leaks.
synthesized
The company’s digital experimentation platform enables scientists in fields as diverse as virology and climate science to test hypotheses faster and innovate.
Markets & Financial Services
ComplianceAdvantage
ComplyAdvantage Sanctions Tracking Technology Helped Banks and Financial Services Groups Comply with Rules on Transactions Involving Russia
Consulting in economics for the environment — EFTEC
EFTEC’s development of “natural capital accounting” translates businesses’ reliance on nature into an digestible balance sheet format, enabling proactive decision-making.
KPMG Climate IQ
Climate IQ is a platform for clients to assess their climate risk and make strategic decisions based on the likely impacts they face.
NovaFori
The B2B operator builds digital marketplace and auction platforms for its clients and embeds data science into every layer.
Plan A
The Berlin-based SaaS operator offers a platform for businesses to track their carbon footprint over time, report on that trend, and set targets to work towards the Paris Climate Agreement.
Professional services
Beamery
Beamery’s AI-powered platform removes bias from the recruitment process and can help clients combat high employee turnover by providing personalized plans for employee development.
Play. AI
By applying AI and blockchain technologies to talent attraction and retention processes, Gigged. AI helps minimize hiring costs and cut out middlemen.
KPMG
Through its ESG IQ platform, the company enables companies to have a holistic view of ESG performance and avoid greenwashing.
Nurola
Founded by a former headhunter, Nurole is transforming the way board-level talent is recruited, combining smart technology and years of expertise to find qualified, diverse candidates.
Risk Register
As the conflict in Ukraine strains supply chains, the Risk Ledger platform shows organizations how well protected their suppliers are.
Shipping and transport
Power Ceres
A leader in fuel cell technology and electrochemistry, Ceres’ green hydrogen solutions can reduce carbon emissions in the marine sector by up to 47%.
xChange Container
The company helps businesses navigate the complexities of international supply chains by tapping into a marketplace to source containers, pay for them, and simplify their movement.
Einride
Sweden-based Einride seeks to transform the global logistics industry and reduce its massive carbon footprint with autonomous, electric cargo fleets.
Ev.energy
Its vehicle charging software makes using an electric car cheaper and turns thousands of car batteries into storage assets.
Vector robotics
Vector aims to tackle the growing problem of wildfires by using autonomous, solar-powered drones to monitor hotspots, helping with the early detection and containment of wildfires.
Energy
Geosophy
The energy innovator’s geothermal temperature control offering has become increasingly attractive thanks to its strong green credentials and the rising cost of conventional alternatives.
HiiROC
The British start-up is developing a way to produce low-cost, zero-emission hydrogen, from micro to industrial scale.
Multiverse Computing
Quantum computing enables Multiverse to help customers in the energy sector predict future supply and demand, ensuring efficiency and a reduced carbon footprint.
Nyobolt
By revolutionizing the performance of lithium-ion batteries, Nybolt is transforming the use of electric vehicles, medical devices and robotics.
octopus energy
The utility company’s new scalable platform, Kraken, uses advanced data and machine learning to optimize energy assets, improve efficiency and reduce consumer costs.
Manufacturing
Coolbrook
The Finnish group’s Roto Dynamic Heater can achieve the extreme heat needed for chemical and steel processes using only renewable energy.
Building automation
With its patented brick-laying robot, the company aims to improve productivity and safety in the home construction industry.
Garden
The company uses optoelectronics and machine learning to monitor and track plant growth in indoor agriculture – growers can use these analytics to increase yield and nutrient density in crops.
Kebony
With its patented wood modification technology, Kebony makes it possible to use softwood where hardwood was once only suitable, helping to preserve hardwood forests as a carbon sink.
Spinnova
The Finnish textile innovator has developed a process by which any cellulosic raw material, such as food waste, can be sustainably converted into ready-to-spin textile fiber.
Health care
Kooth
The UK’s oldest digital mental health provider is drawing on its 20 years of experience to advance mental wellbeing during the cost of living crisis.
Lifting treatment
The home care platform enables caregivers to connect with users and provide personalized and seamless care; a 2022 government grant will allow Lifted to expand its offering.
London Borough of Newham, Connect for Health (Warwickshire) and the Young Offenders Institution, Cookham Wood, in collaboration with Thomson Screening
The contestants developed a digital solution allowing schools to quickly screen children for vision and hearing problems, identify trends and communicate with parents.
Oxehheath
The Oxford University spin-out has found a way to remotely monitor mental health patients via infrared detectors and alert nurses to those who need help.
ShiftPartner
Shift’s digital platform aims to ease NHS enrollment challenges by using AI and machine learning to better understand staffing needs.
Media
Disguise
Its extended reality software has enabled wider audiences to enjoy immersive concerts and events, even in the midst of a pandemic.
No isolation
Founded in 2015, No Isolation began developing “warm technology” to help sick children get into classrooms, long before remote learning became the norm. He now helps various groups reduce the risk of isolation.
Seen this
The company’s ad streaming solution enables brands to reduce the data needed to reach target audiences by 40%, an effective way to reduce energy consumption for carbon-conscious brands.
The garden
The London-based streaming platform was launched in the wake of the pandemic, offering interactive talks from experts in various fields, to facilitate the exchange of ideas.
Zero density
Delivering real-time visual effects to broadcast, live event and esports clients, Zero Density creates immersive stories across all types of media.
Detail
Flowering & Wild
Flower delivery pioneer Bloom & Wild leads the industry in sustainable practices – it can now calculate the environmental cost of a bouquet and reduce it over time.
KeyNest
As town centers return from lockdown-induced crises, KeyNest is enabling high street shops to take on a new role as ‘key concierges’ for Airbnb hosts.
Unlimited
The London-based company enables brand advocates to find work as customer service agents for the businesses they love.
Miracle
The Company’s enterprise marketplace platform enables sellers to quickly establish a broader online presence through a network of resellers.
satatland
The sustainable fashion company makes clothes from recyclable materials and rents them out, as an alternative to the buy-and-throw model.
Banking and Payments
Clim8 Invest
The London-based platform enables mass market access to bona fide green investment opportunities.
Stenn Technologies
Stenn has found a way to make trade credit available, via invoice financing, to the smallest businesses in more than 70 countries.
Wise
The digital payments group responded quickly to the Ukraine crisis to get money flowing for those fleeing the conflict and those left behind.
Nothing
Zilch’s buy now, pay later offer has found favor with those looking to spread the rising cost of energy bills over 6 weeks at zero interest rates.
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