Swiss IoT (Internet of Things) company Nexxiot has been awarded first prize in the annual Swisscom IoT Climate Awards for its innovative approach to reducing emissions in cargo transportation. Nexxiot Founder, Daniel MacGregor created the ETHZ spinoff in 2015 to address inefficiencies in the 1 Trillion dollars a year global supply chain industry. The deep-tech company focuses on monitoring cargo assets that do not have their own power, such as railcars and intermodal containers that are constantly moving around the world. Thanks to greater transparency about the locations and routes, it is possible to significantly increase the efficiency and capacity utilization of the trains and to transport more goods by rail in a climate-friendly way with the same number of wagons.

Nexxiot creates integrated data-driven applications using its own IoT hardware devices, together with its own purpose-built intelligent cloud platform. These applications enable clients to reduce the number of empty assets and optimize routes and cargo services. “By monitoring an assets location and usage, Nexxiot supports its clients both in their commercial objectives and their sustainability goals at the same time”, said CEO Stefan Kalmund. “By increasing efficiency and reducing energy consumption and therefore CO2, it’s possible to address big problems with our technology which we built to scale”, he added.

The prize, which consists of a trophy and a cash component of CHF 20,000, is based on four criteria and is audited by an independent jury which includes MyClimate.org as subject experts, as well as last year’s winners, Cadec. The judging criteria include the quantity of emissions saved, the intensity of emissions saved per IoT equipped asset, the level of innovation and the overall quality of the client experience. “From the start Nexxiot built the technology and product portfolio around the needs of our clients and their clients, the cargo owners”, Kalmund said. “By listening carefully to the industries objectives, we found traction with rail and intermodal clients like VTG, SBB, Bertschi and Hupac.”

Visionary Founder Daniel MacGregor makes it his personal career mission to create a real impact in reducing CO2 to avert the climate crisis we face together. “Daniel understands the need to enable businesses to maximize progress by creating commercial value and sustainable practices at the same time”, Kalmund emphasized and went on, “It’s inspiring to see how much he has achieved already with Nexxiot, to reduce emissions by optimizing an industry that spans the globe and is the foundation of our modern lives. We perhaps don’t think too much about how dependent we are on cargo transportation and the carbon it produces. By optimizing this, we make significant steps to contain the rise in global temperatures and avert the calamity that will affect us all.”

The Nexxiot approach is unique in that everything a client needs is integrated in the product, from sensors to IoT gateways, to connectivity, applications, and services. This means value is easily generated around innovative new business models and automated business processes. With Swiss quality guaranteed, from hardware to data security, the value chain is fully supported, and clients are confident to scale their deployment. “As pioneers, we are happy to take on the role of thought leaders and provide consultative expertise to deliver sustainable impact”, Kalmund went on to say. With over 120K IoT devices already deployed, the company looks forward to further its reach into emerging markets and continue its growth strategy whilst expanding around the world.