INAUGURAL HITACHI CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CHALLENGE 2024 CROWNS THREE STARTUPS AS WINNERS

On November 20, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6305, President and Executive Officer: Masafumi Senzaki; "Hitachi Construction Machinery") and Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas Inc. (CEO: Al Quinn) hosted the inaugural Hitachi Construction Machinery Challenge 2024 pitch event at the Americas regional headquarters. The winners, Sodex Innovations, Teleo, and Veristart Technologies, will join the Hitachi Construction Machinery exhibition area at bauma 2025 (April 7-13, 2025) and explore the possibility of collaboration with the Hitachi Construction Machinery Group.

Traditionally, the development of construction machinery has focused on the machine itself, and development was carried out to produce high-performance and high-quality machinery. In recent years, the focus has shifted to improving safety and productivity at construction sites, reducing life cycle costs, and responding to ESG concerns. The demand for "connected construction machinery” that uses digital technology to link data acquired from workers, machines, and construction sites to external systems has grown. To develop solutions that improve user connectivity to machines, Hitachi Construction Machinery believes it is important to incorporate the innovations created by start-ups into the machinery and products of the future.

The Hitachi Construction Machinery Challenge 2024 solicited ideas from start-ups that fit within three themes; “Construction Planning”, “Revolutionize Equipment: Information, Interface & Autonomy”, and “Transform Fleet Management”. 127 start-ups submitted proposals, and nine start-ups pitched their ideas to a panel of judges in front of an audience made up of start-up CEOs, venture capitalists, and executives of construction companies. Sodex, Teleo, and Veristart Technologies pitched the ideas that impressed the judges the most. Guest judges included Cutler Knupp, Haskell (Dysruptek) VP Strategy & Technology Investment (Managing Director), Kaustubh Pandya, Brick & Mortar Ventures Partner, and Satish Padmanabhan, DIMAAG-AI CEO.

“Hitachi Construction Machinery is traditionally known as a company that provides mechanical items, but we are pivoting to also being a true technological solutions provider. For us, that means collaborating with innovative startups,” says Masahiro Yamada, Hitachi Construction Machinery Vice President of the New Business Creation Unit. “This event is very important to us because it will show the world that Hitachi Construction Machinery is more than just excavators, wheel loaders, and mining trucks. We are also a technology company that listens to their customers’ needs and provides wholistic solutions.”

Sodex Innovations won under the “Construction Planning” theme. Their product equips machines with a system that enables capturing terrain in real time. This allows job sites to keep track of their progress and report on it without the need to pause the job site for a survey. Essentially, they create digital twins of construction sites by equipping machines with laser scanners and cameras, giving construction machinery digital eyes. With Sodex Innovation’s winning solution, any machine operator can become a surveyor while getting the job done.

“The ability to move on with Hitachi Construction Machinery means a lot for us because the possibility of giving Hitachi machinery more eyes will make them more attractive,” says Ralf Pfefferkorn, Sodex Innovations CEO and Co-Founder. “At bauma 2025 we are hoping to show attendees a great solution that they have never seen before on a construction machine. We are from Austria so we are excited to show our German neighbors some really cool technology on amazing machinery.”

Teleo won under the “Revolutionize Equipment: Information, Interface & Autonomy” theme. Their supervised autonomous machine is a brand-agnostic solution that allows operators to operate multiple machines simultaneously from an office-like environment.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for us to work with a global leader like Hitachi Construction Machinery. We hope to work together to develop products and solutions that are going to innovate the construction and mining industries.” Mark Piotto, Teleo Vice President of Sales. “We want to focus on the operator experience and what the next generation of operators will be. Artificial intelligence and Large Language Models have made an impact in the world and we are excited to leverage that technology to help operators do their job.”

Veristart Technologies won under the “Transform Fleet Management” theme. Their solution is targeted at preventing machinery theft by providing fleet managers with better control of their machines. They presented a product that is a cloud application, a mobile application, and a hardware device that works together to give fleet managers precise control over who can operate their fleet. With this product, machine operators will receive an electronic key on their smartphone that allows them to start the vehicle.

“We are adding control to heavy machinery equipment. We want to make sure that when an operator is operating a machine they are both authorized and properly trained to use the machine,” says Craig Hannam, Veristart Technologies CEO and Co-Founder. “This win is huge for us. To have a partner like Hitachi Construction Machinery at this early stage in our start-up is amazing. At bauma 2025 we are excited to show attendees our prototype and the evolution of the solution.”

Hitachi Construction Machinery will continue to engage in open innovation with start-ups and aims to incorporate these innovations into their solutions at all points of contact with their customers. In addition to this, Hitachi Construction Machinery has been working on open technology and product development through investments and collaboration in venture capital funds and start-ups.