KI Innovation Award 2026 recognises #trstd’s work on verifiable digital trust.
The award recognises AI solutions that stand out through innovation, measurable impact and a compelling perspective for future development.
The KI Innovation Award, presented by the KI Bundesverband and the F.A.Z. Institut, recognises pioneering achievements in the field of artificial intelligence.
It is aimed at companies that use AI technologies to create a positive impact on their own or another business, their industry, and society as a whole. The award is open to both emerging start-ups and established companies and celebrates success stories, innovative applications and a strong commitment to advancing artificial intelligence.
Trusted Shops has won the KI Innovation Award 2026 in the Heavyweight category with the #trstd <protocol> – an open trust protocol designed to make trust signals standardised, machine-readable and cryptographically verifiable.
For #trstd, this recognition is an important milestone. It acknowledges the work behind building a trust infrastructure for a digital world increasingly shaped by AI – and the idea that trust should no longer have to be inferred when it can be verified.
Why #trstd was recognised
As AI agents increasingly search, recommend, decide and transact on behalf of people, they need more than websites, ratings and reputation signals that merely look trustworthy.
They need proof.
The #trstd <protocol> translates trust into a machine-readable infrastructure. Verified trust signals can be consumed directly by AI agents, platforms and applications and checked deterministically rather than inferred probabilistically from text, design, traffic or other indirect indicators.
The approach goes beyond verifying businesses. AI agents themselves can participate in the trust infrastructure, with identity, evidence, behavioural standing and controls that allow access to be granted, limited or revoked depending on the context.
This creates the foundation for mutual verification between brands and AI agents – and for trusted interactions in an increasingly agentic economy.
The KI Innovation Award 2026 is an important recognition of the work behind #trstd. It strengthens our conviction that, in an increasingly AI-driven world, trust between people, businesses and AI cannot simply be claimed. It has to be proven.
Sabrina Engling
Head of AI Solutions, Trusted Shops
The criteria behind the award
In advance, the jury, made up of representatives from business, academia and society, had agreed on three key criteria for assessing the candidates:
Innovation
To what extent did the AI solution differ from existing approaches in the respective industry at the time of the award?
For #trstd, the innovation lies in moving from trust as an interpreted signal to trust as verifiable infrastructure. Instead of asking AI systems to decide whether something appears trustworthy, the #trstd <protocol> enables them to verify evidence directly.
Impact
What contribution did the AI solution make to optimising processes, increasing efficiency, or creating economic, environmental or societal value?
Machine-readable trust can reduce uncertainty in automated interactions. Brands can make their identity and trust signals verifiable, while AI systems gain a more reliable basis for recommendations, access decisions and transactions.
The potential impact goes beyond efficiency: it addresses a fundamental challenge of the AI era – how people, businesses and machines can know what is real.
Perspective
What perspective was outlined for the further development of the AI solution?
The #trstd <protocol> is designed as an open, standards-first trust layer for AI interactions. Its role can grow as AI agents take on more responsibility – from accessing information to conducting transactions and acting autonomously across digital services.
The long-term perspective is mutual verification at scale: businesses proving who they are, AI agents proving who they are and how they behave, and both sides being able to rely on verifiable trust signals.
The 2026 winners
The KI Innovation Award 2026 recognised solutions across five categories, reflecting very different applications of artificial intelligence.
Super Lightweight — OpenAdvo
OpenAdvo was recognised for an AI-powered application assistant for social benefits. The solution is designed to guide people through eligibility checks and application processes in a multilingual and accessible way, while reducing errors and administrative workload.
Lightweight — KIREAP Technologies Germany GmbH
KIREAP turns satellite, drone, weather and sensor data into actionable recommendations for agriculture. Its technology helps farmers identify issues such as crop stress, soil moisture or nutrient deficiencies and respond more precisely.
Middleweight — IANUS Simulation GmbH
IANUS was recognised for ECOTWIN, a platform that generates training data using digital twins and physical simulations. The approach makes specialised AI models more accessible for technical and urban applications, including resilience planning for cities.
Heavyweight — Trusted Shops SE
Trusted Shops won the Heavyweight category with the #trstd <protocol>.
The protocol makes trust signals standardised, machine-readable and cryptographically verifiable, allowing AI agents and platforms to verify trust rather than merely infer it.
It also introduces a mutual model of trust: businesses can be verified, while AI agents can build evidence-based standing and be subject to monitoring and access controls.
Trust isn’t claimed. It’s proven.
Super Heavyweight — Omexom Deutschland
Omexom was recognised for an AI-supported solution for monitoring bird nests on high-voltage power lines. Autonomous drone flights, image recognition and cloud-based documentation help reduce manual inspections while supporting regulatory and environmental requirements.
