Bio
- Age of business: Two Years
- Name of business: Green City Solutions GmbH & Co. KG
- Location: Dresden, Saxony, Germany
- Team: Co-founders Dénes Honus (CEO), Peter Sänger (CFO), Zhengliang Wu (CIO) and Victor Splittgerber (CTO)
- ODINE funding: €100,000
What does Green City Solutions do?
We make clean urban air profitable! Our vision is to mitigate climate change and fight air pollution through a highly intelligent and profitable climate infrastructure for sustainable and livable cities of tomorrow.
How did you meet?
Our founders are four friends, called the “impossible team” by Fast Company magazine, with some of the friendships lasting over 15 years. Their interdisciplinary backgrounds, expertise and different views on entrepreneurial challenges have assured the success of the company to date.
Where did the business idea come from?
The idea was initiated during our founders’ travels to Asia and South Europe where they experienced dramatic air pollution while learning about the remarkable impact specific moos cultures have on local air pollution levels. First sketches of the CityTree’s core technologies have been drawn soon after these travels.
Are you working with any other partners?
Since the beginning of our venture, we have participated in a number of programmes such as Climate-KIC EIT and the Nest Accelerator sponsored by Infiniti, which helped us to gain the support of global players like Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Samsung. Currently we are also taking part in the Swire Properties Blueprint Accelerator in Hong Kong.
How has ODINE helped you so far?
Collaboration with ODINE allowed us to significantly escalate our business by development of an open data tool for visualisation of the CityTree’s effectiveness and impact as an air purification measure. Moreover, the programme created a number of opportunities for us in the area of smart cities.
What advice would you give to other companies pitching to ODINE?
If you already have a physical product like ours, make sure that the open data is the most crucial element of your success story. The open data has to create value, be the foundation of your business model and enable your company to get to the next level.
How would you encourage big business to buy into the open data movement?
Open data allows big businesses to contribute to the society and engage their customers in the creation of a platform for a better connected world built on transparency and trust.
What’s the key trend in open data at the moment?
Allowing the unconstrained connectivity of the urban environment, Open Data plays an increasingly important role in the creation of smart, sustainable and livable cities of tomorrow.
(This story first appeared on the Guardian)
