{"id":64450,"date":"2026-05-13T03:29:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/64450\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T03:29:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:29:36","slug":"abb-startup-challenge-winners-drive-ai-powered-energy-innovation-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/64450\/","title":{"rendered":"ABB Startup Challenge winners drive AI-powered energy innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

ABB<\/a> is putting the spotlight on the next wave of AI-powered technologies with the announcement of its 2026 Startup Challenge winners. The program seeks to recognize and elevate a new cohort of startups around the world who are developing innovative AI-powered solutions to improve energy efficiency, resilience, and sustainability across industries, buildings, and power grids.<\/p>\n

In its seventh year, the global program brings together startups and ABB experts to co-develop technologies that address some of the most pressing challenges in the energy transition. The challenges include solutions to transform smart homes, reinvent circuit breaker technology, advance DC power grids, develop industrial planning tools to cut Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, optimize electrical motors and drives, and enable smarter and faster system engineering and integration across industrial systems. From more than 200 applications in 39 countries, ABB selected 18 finalists to compete in the final competition at the Energy Tech Summit in Bilbao, Spain.<\/p>\n

The six winning startups each receive $30,000 in collaboration funding to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with ABB over a six-month period:<\/p>\n

S.-based Sesame Sustainability\u2019s Meridian platform helps industrial companies cut carbon emissions faster and more cost effectively. Replacing expensive traditional audits, it analyzes a company\u2019s facilities in days and recommends a decarbonization plan for lowest-cost electrification, microgrid, battery storage and demand-response opportunities. By quickly identifying the most cost-effective solutions, Meridian enables ABB\u2019s Navigate advisors to move faster from customer uncertainty to actionable decarbonization investment.
\nNYC and London-based MorphoAI automates circuit breaker design, cutting months of manual work down to hours.\u00a0Engineers input their requirements \u2013 like opening time, force, stroke, and voltage class \u2013 and the software generates and tests hundreds of possible designs using real components. Each design is ready to manufacture with no extra steps. This catches design problems early, eliminates costly rework, and gets products to market much faster.
\nBisly from Estonia developed a digital twin-based building automation platform that simplifies the deployment of smart building systems by completing engineering and commissioning work before the on-site phase. It reduces manual work, eliminates duplicate data entry and decreases dependency on specialist on-site engineers. The result: projects cost up to 35% less, take less time, and have fewer installation errors.\u00a0This makes advanced building automation more affordable and scalable across homes and businesses.
\neRoots Analytics from Barcelona automated the creation of digital twins for power electronics converters, cutting work from weeks to hours. Engineers feed the software measurement data and component specs, and it builds accurate simulation models that work with any testing software \u2013 avoiding costly vendor lock-in. The software uses plain English commands, making it easy for any engineer to use. Models are 7.4 times more accurate than data-sheet-only models, speeding up testing and validation \u2013 critical amid regulatory pressures and grid complexity.\u00a0
\nForgis from Europe won with an AI platform that connects engineering and operations across factory systems. Using AI trained on industrial data, Forgis automates tasks that usually require specialists \u2013 programming, configuration, commissioning, and diagnostics. The platform diagnoses failures early and optimizes setup time, uptime, throughput, quality, and energy efficiency. By helping manufacturers compete on intelligence rather than labor cost, Forgis supports industrial reshoring and resilience.
\nUsing only voltage and current signals, Faraday Predictive\u2019s sensorless, physics-based technology monitors entire motor systems for predictive maintenance \u2013 no extra hardware needed. By embedding their patented algorithms directly into ABB drives, the Cambridge startup turns motors into a condition-monitoring device, detecting mechanical faults, anomalies, and energy waste. Operators get early failure warnings, enabling proactive maintenance and near-zero unplanned outages. It also integrates into ABB\u2019s drive ecosystem at no added complexity or cost.<\/p>\n

Each winner will pilot their solutions with ABB customers to validate performance in real-world environments and accelerate the path to commercialization. Winning teams will gain access to ABB\u2019s global network of experts, shared lab environments, and customer ecosystems, alongside eligibility for up to $150,000 in Microsoft Azure credits, and mentorship from Microsoft advisors and SynerLeap, one of ABB\u2019s open innovation platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cInnovation doesn\u2019t happen in isolation. This year\u2019s Startup Challenge highlights the power of collaboration to accelerate the development of new approaches to meet the growing demand for energy,\u201d said Massimo Muzzi, Head of Strategy, Business Development & Sustainability for ABB\u2019s Electrification business. \u201cBy working closely with startups from around the world, we can transform new ideas into practical solutions that address real-world challenges.<\/p>\n

The quality and diversity of this year\u2019s participants demonstrate the critical role startups play in shaping a more resource and energy efficient future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since its launch in 2020, the Startup Challenge has become a key platform for co-developing solutions that advance innovation in the energy sector. ABB has invested $23 million in startups as a direct result of the program, supporting the development of 35 MVPs and the launch of eight solutions to market. More than 20 startups have progressed beyond the MVP stage, and seven have secured venture investment, reflecting the program\u2019s role in scaling promising technologies and fostering long-term collaboration.<\/p>\n

To learn more about the 2026 ABB Startup Challenge, click here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

For more articles like this, visit our Innovation<\/a> channel. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ABB is putting the spotlight on the next wave of AI-powered technologies with the announcement of its 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[130],"tags":[232,1101,987,990],"class_list":["post-64450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-abb","tag-abb","tag-innovation","tag-leadership","tag-skills"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116565152133964330","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}