10 years of "Hessen Ideas"

For the tenth time, outstanding start-up ideas from students, researchers and alumni from universities in Hesse have been honored in the "Hessen Ideen" competition. The format is organized by the University of Kassel. This year's award ceremony on Tuesday (16.9.) in Marburg was therefore embedded in a colorful celebration with a start-up fair and panel discussion.

Group picture. — Participants of the evening in Marburg.

"Ten years of the 'Hessen Ideen' competition - that means ten years of creativity, courage and innovation at our universities," said Science Minister Timon Gremmels. "As patron of the initiative, I am particularly proud of the great success, the ongoing structural improvement of the Hessian start-up ecosystem and of every start-up that has emerged from it so far. In ten years, Hessen Ideen has become an important foundation of start-up support in Hessen. Hessen Ideen' is an offer to all disciplines - from computer science to nursing, from biochemistry to social work. Many ideas solve real, often local problems - and that is precisely what makes a society strong and the future possible."

"Hessen Ideen" is an initiative of the state of Hesse and Hessian universities, supported by Hessian companies. The "Hessen Ideas" competition (first award ceremony in 2016), Hessen Ideas Scholarship, Hessen Ideas University Network and Hessen Ideas Crowdfunding are designed to discover and promote entrepreneurial ideas at universities. Since its foundation in 2016, "Hessen Ideen" has developed into a central platform for the promotion of university start-ups. Almost 500 start-up teams have benefited from it since then. The Hessen Ideen initiative is coordinated by UniKasselTransfer at the University of Kassel in cooperation with HIGHEST at the Technical University of Darmstadt. The state of Hesse is supporting the "Hessen Ideen" initiative with 5.4 million euros until 2025 through the Hessian Higher Education Pact.

This year, ideas from the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (2), TU Darmstadt, Goethe University and Philipps University Marburg were honored.