Startups driving the decarbonization of transport

The transport sector must address pressing challenges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet ambitious EU climate targets, including achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and banning new combustion-engine vehicles by 2035. As the sector responsible for 24% of Europe’s CO₂ emissions, its transformation is both urgent and complex.

The electric vehicle market is one of the keys to success, with the growth expectation of 23% between 2024 and 2030, driven by declining battery costs and increasing government incentives. However, strong challenges remain, including limited charging infrastructure, high upfront costs, and raw material shortages. 

Startups offering shared and multimodal transport solutions, such as MaaS (Mobility as a Service) platforms, are increasingly prominent. They tackle urban congestion and reduce emissions, but scaling such solutions requires supportive urban planning and collaboration with public transit operators.

Freight transport contributes significantly to CO₂ emissions. While solutions like electrified trucks, rail freight optimization, and AI-based route planning are emerging, adoption is slow due to high operational costs and legacy systems.

New energy as hydrogen is gaining traction as a potential solution for heavy-duty and long-haul transport. However, challenges include building a hydrogen refueling infrastructure and reducing production costs to make green hydrogen competitive.

Startups are developing solutions across these areas, including battery recycling, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies, and software for efficient fleet management. However, to achieve scalability, these startups require robust support systems. The challenge lies not only in innovation but also in implementation.  Startups face hurdles such as high R&D costs, infrastructure needs for emerging technologies, and the complexity of transitioning from pilot projects to widespread adoption.

The European Startup Prize for Mobility directly addresses these challenges by supporting innovative startups in sustainable mobility. Its mission is to bridge the gap between innovation and market adoption, ensuring startups can overcome these obstacles and contribute meaningfully to decarbonizing transport.

EUSP: the Europe’s largest acceleration programme for clean mobility startups

With the support of all major European political institutions (EU Parliament, EU Commission, European Investment Bank) as well as national governments and large corporations, and more than 700 candidatures every year, the EUSP is the largest continental contest for the startups in sustainable mobility.

Founded by Karima Delli, former Chairwoman of the European Parliament's Transport Committee, in partnership with BCG and Via ID, this one-of-a-kind public-private initiative has consistently championed excellence in sustainable mobility over the past six years. Since its inception in 2017, it has showcased over 250 startups, highlighting their transformative contributions.

The Prize welcomes a broad range of innovative topics, from clean vehicles and alternative energy sources to battery lifecycle management and maintenance. It also embraces advancements in mobility data, artificial intelligence applications, mobility platforms, and more. Specific domains will be particularly recognized through awards by the Prize's partners: rail mobility by Europe's Rail, river mobility by Voies Navigables de France, or shared mobility and travel tech by Europcar, among others. This actors provide the possibilities of pilot testing within their ecosystems, a precious opportunity to pass on another level of commercialization. 

The Prize will determine the TOP 50 startups, the new generation of mobility leaders and the best of the best - TOP 10. Every identified startup will benefit from the visibility on the European level and the access to the private Demo Day that reunites more than 100 VC’s from the continent. The TOP 10 startups will receive additional benefits, like the 3 months equity-free acceleration program focused on European expansion.

In collaboration with DG GROW and the Polish EU Presidency, the closing ceremony will take place during EU Industry Day in Rzeszów in 2025, allowing the winners to present their solutions to the political and economic leaders.

The new application period is now open until February 7, 2025 here : https://startupprize.eu

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