Mapillary wins the Smart Cities edition of the 4YFN Awards

• 4YFN rewards entrepreneurial talent in the field of smart cities with a first-ever competition at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2016 in Barcelona
• BreezoMeter (Haifa, Israel), DriveSmart (Madrid, Spain), SmartCityLink (Barcelona, Spain) and The City Game (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) were the contest’s other four finalists
• Mobile World Capital Barcelona brought together 28 startups from 9 countries at the 4YFN Village and organised two talks focused on the role of entrepreneurs and startups in the smart sector

November 19, 2015

4 Years From Now (4YFN), the Mobile World Capital Barcelona business platform for the growing community of global technology startups, recognised Mapillary (Malmo, Sweden) as the best mobile technology solution related to smart cities at the first Smart Cities edition of the 4YFN Awards.

Mapillary (Malmo, Sweden) is an application that allows users to capture, share and explore images from anywhere. Through the contributions of its community of users, Mapillary groups street-level images, making it possible to conduct virtual visits of different places. The contest’s final, held this afternoon at the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC), also featured three international startups: Israel’s BreezoMeter, a platform that uses Big Data to provide information on air quality in cities and the Netherlands’ The City Game, an application promoting the performance of good deeds in exchange for rewards offered by brands as part of their CSR strategies. Also participating in the competition was the Madrid startup DriveSmart, with an app that analyses and improves driving and behaviour behind the wheel by giving discounts and special offers to those exhibiting good practices; while Barcelona’s SmartCityLink features a management system that connects users, workers and managers of municipal services through mobiles and tablets.

Aleix Valls, director of Mobile World Capital Barcelona’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme, and of 4YFN, noted that “the more than 120 startups that applied for the competition illustrate mobile technology’s business potential in the area of smart cities.” He added that events like the 4YFN Awards promote “the convergence of entrepreneurs and industry, vital for the economic and social transformation of our area.”

The landmark event for mobile entrepreneurs

4YFN has also designed a first: an exclusive space for entrepreneurs and startups centring on smart urban solutions based on mobile technologies at SCEWC 2016. The 4YFN Village boasted 28 startups from Spain, Italy, the USA, Belgium, the UK, Denmark, Bulgaria and France.

In addition to having a space in the exhibition area, 4YFN also designed a specific line-up of activities for these startups, aimed at promoting interaction with potential investors and customers.

In parallel, 4YFN also scheduled two talks as part of the congress’s programme of activities designed to analyse the impact of entrepreneurs and startups on smart cities. Daniel Doctoroff, CEO and President of Sidewalk Labs; and Menny Barzilay, CEO and a Cybersecurity strategist at FortyTwo, analysed yesterday the transformative potential of new startups in the field of smart cities. Finally, today international acceleration programs, institutions and foundations discussed the challenges startups face and the role they play in this industry at the round table “How startups are innovating cities.”