Urbio Wins German Innovationsforum Award for Second Consecutive Year
- sebastiencajot
- Jun 4, 2023
- 3 min read
Double Recognition at Vedec's Innovation Forum: Vedec has awarded Urbio for the second consecutive year at Innovation Forum Vol. 7. Urbio's CTO and co-founder Nils Schüler presented how the Urbio platform is shaping the future of district heating network planning – and why generative AI is the decisive factor.
About the Innovationsforum Online award
The Innovationsforum is an established digital event organized by vedec (German Association for Energy Services, Efficiency, and Contracting). It provides a platform for innovative companies to showcase their newest technologies—like generative AI—directly to an audience of experts in the energy service, contracting, and district heating industries, who evaluate the potential of these innovations to advance the German and European heat transition.
How Urbio stood out...twice
The heat transition is stalling. While European countries are missing their decarbonization targets for existing building stock, energy planners are struggling with fragmented data and the sheer complexity of spatial energy planning. This is exactly where the Urbio platform comes in. In the last Innovationforum Vol 6, Urbio stood out with it's one-stop-shop Google Maps for Energy (read about it here). This year, Urbio convinced the jury of experts with it's breakthrough in generative AI, transforming tedious spreadsheet work into new AI-powered planning – with measurable success in Germany, Switzerland and Belgium.
Overcoming the Black Box in Energy Planning
Urbio's approach is based on three components that deliberately prioritize transparency over opaque AI.
The Data Factory aggregates building data using machine learning algorithms that automatically identify roof materials and obstacles. Since the last Vedec award, Urbio tripled its data science team to provide users with the most precise data across three countries.
The Digital Twin visualizes this data spatially. Instead of Excel sheets, planners see their planning areas as an interactive 3D model – with all energy data at a glance.
Generative Design solves the complex optimization problem of district heating network planning algorithmically: Where should district heating pipelines run optimally? Which buildings get connected? Which decarbonization scenarios are economically viable? Urbio filed a patent for this unique technology based on years of R&D grounded in science. The developments give users "an unprecedented level of control over AI-generated scenarios."
The critical difference: complete data transparency. No black box, but traceable planning steps.
Measurable Customer Success
As of 2023, dozens of active users are already working with the Urbio platform. The results speak for themselves:
Romande Energie saves 95% in time and costs when qualifying customers for their energy services – with a 10% higher response rate.
CKW identifies promising district heating sites five times faster and expects significantly better project profitability.
Intep demonstrated the advantages for a municipality with 1,500 buildings: drastically accelerated data collection and visualization. "District heating planning is a major topic in Germany and Europe, and Urbio is helping multiple clients respond better to such contracts," explains Nils Schüler.
Why Now? The German Market Under Time Pressure
Urbio's popularity in Germany isn't coincidental. Municipal heat planning has been legally mandated since 2024. Municipalities must act, planning firms must deliver – fast.
Traditional methods aren't built for this pace. The complexity of heat networks requires software for district heating planning that combines speed with precision. This is exactly where the Urbio platform positions itself: solving complex spatial problems in hours instead of weeks.
The Heat Transition Needs Better Tools
Europe's decarbonization goals are ambitious – and calls for equaly ambitious and innovative planning tools. The recognition from Vedec underscores that digitizing district heating network planning isn't just technological novelty, it's a market necessity.
The Urbio platform demonstrates how generative AI can accelerate this process: transparent, controllable, measurably successful. The heat transition won't be won only through better policies – but through better tools.