EIT Urban Mobility: Rewriting the Future of Cities in Europe

‍EIT Urban Mobility: A Mission Driving Europe Forward

From decarbonizing cities to accelerating startup adoption across infrastructure, public transport, micromobility, and logistics – EIT Urban Mobility is Europe’s engine room for urban transformation. This November, their mission came alive across three powerhouse events in Barcelona – each one building momentum for the next.

Startup-Investor Networking Day 🔥

The event gathered Europe’s sharpest mobility founders and investors at Norrsken House Barcelona for an afternoon that was simple on purpose: get the right people in the room, give the startups a real stage, and facilitate the connections that matter.

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The event started with a keynote from special guest, 🚀 Przemek Ben Pączek, CEO of Nevomo, who delivered an unfiltered speech on what it actually takes to build frontier mobility tech in Europe:

• Balancing market timing with deep engineering
• Surviving early scaling pain
• Leading through uncertainty
• Why European founders must build with conviction

Raw, honest, practical. Exactly what founders needed to hear.

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🔥 Pitching Contest: Europe’s Boldest Mobility Innovators on One Stage

Then we shifted into the Pitching Contest. Eleven startups, one after another, putting their vision on the table how their tech will shape the future of mobility. Tight pitches, sharper questions, a room that stayed locked in.

The top-ranked winners:

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🥇 Everimpact

France 🇫🇷

Everimpact measures CO₂ directly for ships, cities, ports, and forests using sensors, satellite data, and AI algorithms. They address the problem of 10%+ mistakes in standard emissions calculations, which cost shippers €100k-300k per year.

Scaling with major partners such as Wilhelmsen and Hitachi, supported by EU and Japanese government subsidies.

Mathieu Carlier | Alain Retière | Jan Mattsson

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🥈 Rhyde

Spain🇪🇸

Rhyde refurbishes e-scooters and e-bikes to reduce micro-mobility CO₂ emissions, increase vehicle lifetimes, and eliminate e-waste.

They manage a digital direct-to-consumer brand, a marketplace, and a buyback network of over 100 stores, delivering luxury refurbished vehicles at 20-60% off.

Erik Ojantakanen | Sartaaj Hussain

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🥉 PANTOhealth  

Germany 🇩🇪

Pantohealth supplies predictive maintenance for railway pantographs and overhead line systems. IoT sensors track acceleration, height, temperature, and alignment, while analytics identify issues early on. Rail operators utilize it to cut downtime, increase safety, and transition to condition-based maintenance.

Amir Bashari | Dr.Mina Kolagar | Dr. Ing. Farzad Vesali

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Selected by an A-list jury representing:

Eugenia Dunaeva  | DVC | CoreAngels Climate • Igor Milano | Forest Valley Catalyst • Markus Törstedt | Akka • Carlos Corominas | Grow VP • José Muñoz Trujillo | Encomenda • Pedro Gil | Bynd VC • Fernando Casado | Inclimo • Viktorija Trimbel | Coinvest Capital • Lucija Matic | Impact Shakers Ventures • Juan Chamarro | Amadeus IT Group

Past the podium, the entire lineup demonstrated why Europe is the global leader in urban mobility innovation. From EV grid balancing to inclusive navigation, AI-based traffic sensing, cycling safety, logistics emissions, active mobility, and more.

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And here’s the full lineup of the startups that shaped the contest:

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Arxax: smart hardware–software solutions for cleaner city logistics from sustainable fleet management to modern charging infrastructure. Elham Hassanzadeh

ASIMOB: AI-driven road condition and infrastructure monitoring for safer, more resilient cities. Ibon Arechalde

Asistobe: A data-driven platform that helps cities design smarter, cleaner, and more efficient public transport networks through advanced modelling and scenario simulations. Johan C. Haveland

Dreamwaves: audio-first navigation using spatial sound technology for confident movement in complex environments, including for users with visual impairments. Hugo Furtado

Inbalance Grid: scalable EV charging infrastructure with integrated energy management systems for businesses and public operators  Simonas Stankus

Neold: cycling circular hardware for safer and more efficient active mobility. Thibault Penicaut

VivaDrive: fleet electrification support  through data analytics, cost modelling, and sustainable mobility tooling. Mateusz Maj

Walk15: platform for healthier, more sustainable mobility habits, integrating walking into everyday urban life.‍ Vlada Musvydaite

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Mobility Startup Nexus: Scaling Impact Across Borders 🌐

The next day, we joined the Mobility Startup Nexus, EIT Urban Mobility’s platform designed to connect mobility founders with Policy makers, Corporates, Investors, Municipalities, and European accelerators.

The result? Founders walked away with new pilot opportunities, new leads, and new partners. Exactly what Europe needs to accelerate deployment – not just innovation.

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Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress: The Big Stage 🌍⚡️

And finally, the main event – Tomorrow.Mobility, Europe’s flagship gathering shaping the decades ahead. Across three days, thousands of attendees, global innovators, deep-tech founders, transportation leaders, and the public sector came together to answer one question: How do we build cities for the next billion people?

EIT Urban Mobility played a central role across panels, networking, startup showcases, and ecosystem activations – reinforcing their mission to accelerate solutions that truly transform urban life. This is where ideas meet policy, where pilots meet funding, and where mobility becomes a continental priority, not a niche sector.

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Europe’s Mobility Future: Cleaner. Smarter. Faster. Together.

About the Organiser:

EIT Urban Mobility is the EU’s flagship innovation community for urban mobility, created by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to accelerate the transition towards sustainable, liveable cities. It acts as a pan-European “operating system” for mobility innovation: connecting cities, startups, industry, universities, and research centers, and turning real urban challenges into testbeds for new solutions. Using European cities as living labs, EIT Urban Mobility helps deploy and scale technologies that decarbonize transport, reduce congestion, improve air quality, and reclaim public space for people – not cars. Its programs span the full stack of innovation support: from early-stage venture creation and investor matchmaking to pilot deployments in 185+ cities, to knowledge-sharing and education that equip the next generation of mobility leaders.

The mission is clear and ambitious at the same time: accelerate change towards a sustainable model of urban mobility for more liveable urban spaces – improving quality of life, supporting climate goals, and strengthening Europe’s mobility sector with new jobs, new ventures, and new technologies.

If this month proved anything, it’s this: Europe is not following global mobility trends – it’s setting them.

With EIT Urban Mobility at the helm, the continent is building real solutions with real adoption and real public value.

Stay tuned – the next wave is already in motion. 🚀

🌍 Learn more about the mission and programs of EIT Urban Mobility:

eiturbanmobility.eu

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