With ideas from the crisis: Unikat competition because of Corona with special price

This year, for the 12th time, the University of Kassel is calling for the UNIKAT Ideas Competition. Surprising products, innovative services, the creative utilization of research results or simply an idea - all kinds of contributions are welcome in the competition. Over 500 idea sketches have been submitted in the last eleven years of the competition. In the 2019 and 2018 competitions, a participation record was set in two consecutive years. Still, a university ideas competition in Corona times, does it make sense? "We think it makes sense," says Sandra Wilhelm, a member of the start-up consulting team at the University of Kassel , "because right now it needs the creativity of our participants."

Nevertheless, the UNIKAT ideas competition will not ignore the Corona crisis either, because it has shown the scope of how important regional cohesion, regional resources and regional creativity are in times of global crises. Therefore, this year the University of Kassel has offered the special prize "Social Entrepreneurship - Your ideas for our region" in the amount of 2,000 euros. "The Corona pandemic is just showing us what social challenges can suddenly arise from crises in social, economic, ecological and cultural terms," says Jörg Froharth (Head of UniKasselTransfer), "With this year's special prize, "Social Entrepreneurship - Your Ideas for our Region," we would like to additionally motivate participants in the UNIKAT Ideas Competition to develop ideas that will make our region more crisis-proof for the future and thus, above all, also offer added value for society as a whole." These can be ideas in the areas of education, social services, regional economy or ecology, for example.

Our region is permeated with ideas, projects, companies and initiatives that have emerged from the University of Kassel. STRAFFR GmbH (1st place, 2014), for example, distributes intelligent fitness bands from Kassel all over the world. The startup Zazmo GmbH (participant 2017), together with its pilot customer, Städtische Werke AG, offers a system for a group payment method that splits the housing costs among several people directly in the booking process. Katharina and Konstantin, the team from K & K Stauden (3rd place 2013) have been successfully running a nursery for many years, which, in addition to common herbs, perennials and ornamental plants, also has a large range of plants that were already used in the Middle Ages. The idea, Seed Confetti, which won the 2018 Audience Award, has evolved into a team that makes compostable confetti for weddings, festivals and other celebrations.

Employees, students and alumni of the University of Kassel and the students of the Student Research Center North Hesse are eligible to participate. A network of experts consisting of regional company representatives will evaluate the submitted sketches of ideas. Three independent reviews result in an individual written feedback with many tips and experiences from entrepreneurial practice. Participants will also receive access to the Kassel start-up network and advice from the UniKasselTransfer Incubator, the university's start-up support service.

Ideas can be submitted as of now. The deadline for this year's UNIKAT ideas competition is July 31, 2020.
 

Information about the competition, the UNIKAT start-up consultancy  and examples of ideas, www.unikat-ideenwettbewerb.de.

Contact:

Sandra Wilhelm

UniKasselTransfer

Tel.: 0561 / 804 7252

ideenwettbewerb@uni-kassel.de