DHL celebrated forward-thinking pioneers in the logistics arena at its annual DHL Innovation Day. This year’s event highlighted various industry dynamics and challenges from both a social and technological perspective, such as the growing demand for new sustainable solutions as well as the dominant role of automation in future supply chains.
It also marked the final stage of DHL’s worldwide call for innovative solutions. Anne Gross, a 5th semester student of Product Design at the Bauhaus University Weimar, and Effidence, a start-up company from France, were awarded for their ideas in the field of fair & responsible logistics and robotics respectively. Smart was awarded for the most innovative customer solution.
During the past months, DHL placed a worldwide call for innovative sustainable business concepts and robotics prototypes. Out of over 80 submissions from 33 different countries for the Fair & Responsible Logistics challenge, three finalists from Germany, Chile and Singapore pitched their ideas to the audience. Anne Gross’ concept of an innovative packaging solution called ‘Air Parcel’ won the 5,000 Euro prize-money and the commitment from DHL to pilot the concept with her.
DHL had challenged the world’s leading research institutes and start-ups to build a prototype of a self-driving delivery cart. At the Innovation Day, the chosen finalists put their prototypes to the test through an outdoor circuit, navigating different scenarios ranging from pedestrians to obstacles and different weather conditions. The prototype from French company Effidence won the DHL Robotics Challenge with votes from an expert jury and the audience. The winning team was awarded 10,000 Euro and the opportunity to test and develop the prototype further jointly with DHL.
“We put a lot of passion into our prototype and are proud that it successfully completed the circuit and won the challenge,” said Robotics Challenge winner Eric Ploujoux, Effidence.
Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group, awarded Smart for the most innovative customer solution for the ‘Smart Ready to Drop’ last mile delivery solution. Smart partnered with DHL Parcel to jointly develop a service that enables Smart car owners to have their parcels delivered to their car trunk. Beta tests are currently run in Stuttgart, with the next test-phase to be rolled out in Cologne and Berlin.
“I congratulate all our winners for their innovative ideas and effort to influence the future of logistics. The quality of the ideas and solutions presented during the Innovation Day demonstrates the importance of bringing bright minds together and recognizing them for their hard work,” said Bill Meahl, DHL Chief Commercial Officer.
