Resourcify honoured with the German Innovation Award 2023

Technical, economic and social innovations: German companies at all levels are developing solutions and products that will address the sustainable transformation of the industry as well as the opportunities offered by new technologies to create a future worth living in.
The German Innovation Award is one of the most recognised awards in the field of user-oriented innovation and is presented annually by the German Design Council. The Hamburg-based start-up Resourcify, a company which offers a platform for digital waste management, has been declared the winner of the German Innovation Awards 2023 in the category of Excellence in Business to Business - Information Technologies.

Resourcify’s goal is to make a waste-free future possible. We connect global companies with local waste management providers. Through the digitisation of daily processes, our platform empowers companies to centrally and transparently manage their resources. With data-driven optimisation, they can improve their recycling efforts and operational processes, driving the circular transformation forward. Companies benefit from reduced administrative effort and up to 30% lower costs when compared to conventional waste management. Leading companies such as Hornbach, Fraport AG, and the University Hospital Bonn rely on Resourcify on a daily basis.

"In order to become carbon neutral by 2050, there must be a greater focus on waste and the circular economy as part of this goal. That's why we are proud to have been awarded the German Innovation Award for our platform. We see that innovative and intuitive digital tools in the area of sustainability are becoming increasingly important and part of the general agenda. We want to further strengthen this awareness and support companies on their journey with Resourcify." - Gary Lewis, Co-Founder and CEO of Resourcify.

"Recycling valuable resources conserves materials and reduces CO2 emissions, benefiting the environment and the climate. With the digital solution developed by Resourcify, companies can optimize their waste management. The platform provides a clear, user-oriented interface that combines all essential tools for efficient management of waste and recycling data, while also offering a network of local waste management providers and processors. This saves time and costs and makes recycling even more attractive for companies. A great solution for achieving more sustainability in waste management," stated the jury.

Lutz Dietzold, CEO of the German Design Council, added: “The German Innovation Award demonstrates year after year that Germany knows how to successfully defend its reputation as a country for innovation. It gives visibility to the innovative strength of German SMEs across the board and shows how flexibly and quickly even smaller players are able to adapt to the rapidly changing demands of the market, politics and globally influential factors. We use the German Innovation Award to honour these outstanding projects.”

The 2023 Jurors:

• Prof. Dr. Sascha Friesike, Professor for Designing Digital Innovations at the Berlin University of the Arts and Director of the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society
• Timm Jäger, CEO of EintrachtTech
• Dr. Elias Knubben, Vice President and Head of Corporate Research and Innovation, Festo SE & CO. KG, Esslingen
• Michael Kruza, Team Lead Design / User Experience, Innovation Hub, Deutsche Telekom AG
• Anette Ströh, Innovation Manager, Charité
• Margarete Wies, Head of UX Strategy & Research, CARIAD

The Awards

The distinctions “Gold”, “Winner”, and “Special Mention” will be presented in both main categories. The German Innovation Award was able to generate a strong response in 2023, with 650 submissions from 22 countries.

Companies from all industries and areas of the economy, as well as non-commercial and government organizations, were eligible for entry. The German Design Council’s panel of experts determines admission to the award. Evaluation of the submissions was based on criteria such as level of innovation, user benefits, and cost-effectiveness. The innovation strategy encompasses aspects such as social, environmental and economic sustainability, and takes the use of energy and resources into account. Factors such as location and employment potential, durability, market-readiness, technical quality and function, materials and synergy effects also played a decisive role in the evaluation process.

The festive award ceremony took place on May 23rd, 2023 at the Futurium in Berlin.

German Design Council

The German Design Council has served as the leading international centre of excellence for communication and knowledge exchange in the fields of design, brand and innovation since 1953. It is a part of the global design community with its international services, support for young talents and memberships, and has always contributed to establishing communication and networks worldwide. The German Design Council provides networking opportunities to its members and numerous other international design and brand experts in the form of events, conferences, awards, jury meetings and expert panels while also promoting discourse and delivering important stimuli to the global economy. Its members currently include more than 350 companies.

Photo: Martin Diepold