UIP receives top DOGA award for Oslo City Bike
By: Ariana Hendrix
Tags: Mobility, Bikes, Smart Cities, Design, Architecture

DOGA, the organization that facilitates and celebrates innovative design in Norway, has honored Urban Infrastructure Partner (UIP) with their Honorary Award, Norway’s top prize for excellence in design, architecture and urban development.

Photo credit: DOGA

UIP, along with collaborators Heydays, Tight, and Zeros & Ones, was recognized with the award at DOGA’s ceremony on 15 November. Oslo City Bike, UIP’s largest urban mobility platform, was honored for its forward-thinking designs and larger contributions to sustainability and improved quality of life in Oslo.

Handed out by Norway’s Minister of Trade and Industry, UIP accepted the Honorary Award as one of six nominees for the prestigious prize. The DOGA Honorary Award is the highest level of recognition among the DOGA awards. It is a recognition conferred to projects in which design and/or architecture has played a significant role in achieving the results. The jury selects projects with an especially significant social, environmental and economic effect. These projects serve as guiding stars that inspire and create value in the business community and public sector. Urban Infrastructure Partner and its diverse team of developers and creatives was recognized for its collaborative strategies, cutting-edge technology, and overall accomplishments in making cities smarter and more accessible.

“It’s so good to receive recognition for this major interdisciplinary effort that’s needed to make something like Oslo City Bike,” says Mathias Hovet, managing partner of Heydays.

Nominees for the the Honorary Award are chosen from recipients of the DOGA award for design and architecture, honoring both established players and newcomers. This year there were a total of 289 applications for the DOGA award, and 49 of them received the award. Oslo City Bike was recognized as an outstanding nominee due to its contributions in all criteria: environment, society, economy, form, function, and innovation.

Award-winning designs for Oslo City Bike by Heydays.

“Oslo City Bicycle is a good example of interdisciplinary cooperation, contributing to creating innovative solutions that provide social, environmental, and economic values,” said Thea Mehl, Project Manager for DOGA Awards.

DOGA’s jury statement about Oslo City Bike’s win reads: “Everything here is right. From the playful and friendly visual identity to the smart interaction design, to the seamless service design, which allows you to check your status and unlock your bike with your mobile phone, Oslo City Bike is a unique product that really proves what can be achieved through cross-disciplinary collaboration. It is dynamic, flexible, and fun, and, perhaps most important in this context: Oslo City Bike works.”

DOGA’s Honorary Award follows seven other awards that Urban Infrastructure Partner has received this year. The company operates and finances future-oriented platforms for shared urban infrastructure that are built with a flexibility to adapt to changes in user behavior, the urban environment, and developments in technology. The success of Oslo City Bike — which in only two seasons has seen nearly 5 million rides — is just the beginning for the young, fast-growing company. Bringing with it the same innovative strategies that made Oslo City Bike a success, UIP’s bike share platform will hit the streets of new cities next year.

“Oslo City Bike is just the first leg of a long journey,” says Johan Høgåsen-Hallesby, Urban Infrastructure Partner’s CTO. “Our goal is to see that all cities of a certain size have a good city bike system. Both because it is good for the city itself that people ride more, but also because it is a flexible and future-oriented way to build new infrastructure.”