The North Texas Innovation Alliance’s international pitch competition—the Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge—is returning for the second year at the 2025 Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona on November 5. Presented in partnership with the cities of Frisco and McKinney, Plug and Play, and Georgia-based Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners, the competition aims to support international innovation and economic development—with a range of prizes attracting international startups to opportunities in North Texas and Georgia.

Within a month after announcing the competition’s return, NTXIA and its partners received dozens of submissions from startups worldwide, with a nearly 70% increase in applications compared to last year.

NTXIA recently announced the final five startups that will be competing in this year’s Global Startup challenge at SCEWC 2025. Here are the companies that will be competing at the NTXIA booth in Barcelona to win funding and pilot opportunities in the United States:

Advanced Services in Mobility
Based in Spain, Advanced Services in Mobility (ASIMOB) aims to improve safety for road users and AVs by connecting road managers with their infrastructure for an inside look of what is happening on the road on a daily basis. Using on-board equipment like sensors and cameras, cloud services, and web applications, ASIMOB’s solution can be connected to smart city or traffic platforms to analyze real data to best improve roadway safety across interurban and urban infrastructures.  

Helpful Places
This Canadian startup offers a solution to close the gap between technology governance and public understanding by providing transparency into smart cities. Helpful Places provides a proven planning framework and governance infrastructure to engage, plan, and share consistent, publicly legible information on digital technologies in public spaces – leveraging the open-source standard Digital Trust for Places and Routines (DTPR). This allows public and private entities to raise awareness and foster community and trust in new AI and IoT technologies to empower communities to put people’s needs at the center of responsible technology. 

Latitudo 40
Headquartered in Italy, Latitudo 40 simplifies the use of comprehensive geospatial data and actionable insights by using satellite technology with high-resolution imagery and AI to drive transformative change and environmental resilience. By analyzing data on land surface temperature, vegetation cover, and urban heat islands, this technology enables cities and industries to proactively manage climate impacts and optimize decisions for enhanced sustainability.  Latitudo 40’s goal is to empower communities and industries to make sustainable decisions with real-time data that helps fight climate change, helps to conserve resources, and protects biodiversity.

Omniflow
Headquartered in Portugal, Omniflow provides carbon neutral smart IoT applications powered by wind and solar with integrated energy storage and grid connection that enables multiple integrated applications. Omniflow’s solutions enable cities to transform utilities like a streetlight or even city bench into a carbon neutral object that can be used for multiple IoT purposes. This solution continues to support cities in integrating new technologies to improve their residents’ daily lives while also helping cities meet their sustainability goals and cost savings across energy spending. 

Tiami Networks, Inc.
Headquartered in Sacramento, California, Tiami Networks, Inc. is pioneering cutting-edge solutions at the intersection of wireless, sensing, machine learning, and AI by building AI-native 5G/6G networks with integrated sensing and communications. The company’s AI hardware extracts radar sensing information from ambient 5G and WiFi wireless signals with the capability to create a digital twin of an entire city with real-time information on pedestrians, traffic, and building occupancy flows without relying on cameras or by deploying new infrastructure. This solution works to continue to improve safety and efficiency of cities by providing real-time data. 

Each finalist will have seven minutes to present their solutions and deliver their pitch to a panel of judges, with three minutes of Q&A. Winners will be announced shortly after the pitches, with the winners receiving a range of travel, pilot, and funding prizes. 

From hot desks in Frisco and McKinney to office space, high-level meetings, and more

And just what are those prizes? Here’s the list:

:: Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners will commit $5,000 in funding towards a pilot, one year of office space at Curiosity Lab that includes the use of campus infrastructure and space in the Innovation Center, and access to a global partner network for additional market support.

:: The cities of Frisco and McKinney will provide travel and accommodations to the U.S. in Texas and Georgia for senior leadership, not to exceed $10,000.00. This includes airfare, hotel, ground transportation, food, and office or co-working space in McKinney and Curiosity Lab for the initial visit.

:: Plug and Play will provide four hot desk spaces in Frisco or McKinney for one year.

:: NTXIA, Frisco and McKinney, Texas, and Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners will create a curated itinerary of high-level meetings with decision makers in city departments to explore pilot implementation, as well as corporate innovation and R&D centers where dual-use technology is of interest to corporate innovation leadership.

:: Winners will also be introduced to high-level executives at University of North Texas, the Dallas College system, major healthcare institutions in Texas like Baylor Scott & White Health, Fortune 500 corporations, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Chambers of Commerce, and major sporting and entertainment venues in Texas.

:: Winners will also receive global exposure through various media channels.

The Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge was created to support international innovation and economic development, while showcasing the importance of cross-collaborations in smart cities and solutions across the U.S.