Urban mobility app wins students international innovation award

Daniel Palacios Maycotte and Omar Ruíz Sarmiento, students at Tec de Monterrey in Saltillo and Querétaro respectively, developed the application which won an international innovation award.

The award was given by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), as part of its Strategic Innovation Agenda for 2021-2027.

“Dumob” is the name of the app they created at Esslingen University in Germany together with their teammate Ahmed Zawad.

The app focuses on urban mobility and is designed to encourage people to use public transport.

The Mexicans competed against 50 teams from 8 different countries in the European Union and Canada.

Dumob: the urban mobility application

It’s an urban mobility application that differs from others by having, among other things, a live location feature for the bus and metro.

The app can recommend a route and transport to a particular destination. Additionally, utilizing the service allows users to earn rewards such as discounts at affiliated businesses.

Although these benefits will only be available to those who have subscribed to the app, it will also be available in a free version which will allow you to use the main mobility functions.

“Our biggest differentiator is the points system; not only does it tell you how to get to a place, but it also rewards you for using sustainable means of transport,” explained Daniel Palacios.

How it works

The application wants to make people use public transport more frequently, and specifically sustainable transport.

D-coins can be earned in virtual currencies by using the app. They provide the user with discounts at affiliated businesses and on transport itself.

Users only have to select their destination and the application will show possible routes and transportation, as well as the number of points that can be earned by using each one.

“We surveyed more than 70 people. The problems we found were that public transport was expensive and that there weren’t enough routes, so the bus took a long time to pass by again,” said Omar Ruiz.

International winners

While on their exchange in Germany, Daniel and Omar decided to visit the university’s incubator, where they learned about EIT’s HEI Initiative competition.

To the surprise of the students, the contest wasn’t regional, which meant competing against more than 50 teams from 8 different countries from the European Union and Canada.

The countries they competed against included: Greece, Bulgaria, Scotland, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Bosnia, and Germany.

“What surprised us the most wasn’t that we won, but that we will now be able to make the project happen; we’re looking for investors to help establish the platform in the EU, specifically in Germany,” they added.

The next step

In addition to a financial prize, the students won the right to participate in a development process, in which they will receive expert mentoring to help develop their prototype.

Their next aim is to get it in front of investors who can push their business idea forward.

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