Smart Ideas for Kassel" crowdfunding campaign ends with five special prizes

Kassel can look forward to a robot for schools, automated vegetable cultivation and a multifunctional pavilion, among other things, as part of the crowdfunding. All of the campaign's projects were presented and awarded prizes at the closing event on September 23 at Science Park Kassel. The Chancellor of the University, Dr. Oliver Fromm, and Lord Mayor Christian Geselle, patron of the campaign, were also present. Lord Mayor Christian Geselle: "I was thrilled by the smart ideas submitted. Innovations are presented here that have sprung from the creative minds of our urban society. Thanks to crowdfunding, these projects can be realized. The campaign is thus both a smart participation tool and an impetus for more participation."

Ten projects reached their funding goal, and the jury honored five of them in particular for their ideas and awarded them special prizes: In the "Work and Education" category, the student team Wetterdienst Wolkenschloss won with their idea to independently build a weather station for schools. In the "Mobility" category, solarVeload was honored with their solar-powered cargo bike. Smart Education was selected by the jury for the special "Energy and Environment" award. The project easily displays energy data at schools and makes resource consumption visible. Two projects were honored in the "Housing, Life and Culture" category: Fernassistenz, a companion app for visually impaired people, and ELAS, a map for migrant women that provides all useful information for their arrival in the region.

In the funding phase of the UNIKAT crowdfunding campaign, the initiators of the projects had one month to reach their self-chosen funding goal. Within the next two years, the projects are to be put into action. The funding was accompanied by 1:1 co-funding. This means that for every euro raised, the project received one euro from the cofunding, which was provided by local companies. Even starters who did not make their funding goal were able to learn a lot, make new contacts and sharpen their projects in the process.

The crowdfunding campaign was initiated by UniKasselTransfer of the University of Kassel, the Kassel Region Economic Development Corporation and the City of Kassel. Numerous companies were recruited for the implementation, and we would like to thank them for their active support! Among those making the crowdfunding campaign possible are Micromata GmbH, Flavia IT-Management GmbH, Kasseler Sparkasse, Städtische Werke AG, Starke + Reichert GmbH & Co. KG, Yatta Solutions GmbH, Techniker Krankenkasse, IT-Netzwerk e.V., Science Park Kassel GmbH and the Smart City office of the city of Kassel.

This is the third time that such a thematic crowdfunding campaign has been carried out in Kassel by UNIKAT Crowdfunding. In 2017, the campaign "Kultur macht schön" (Culture makes beautiful) saw over 50,000 euros invested in cultural projects. With "Social is sexy", seven social projects were supported with over 60,000 euros in 2019. UNIKAT Crowdfunding is part of the UniKasselTransfer department of the University of Kassel, whose mission is to actively make knowledge and competencies of the university usable for society.

An overview of all projects and the possibility to support them can be found here.

General information about UNIKAT Crowdfunding can be found here.

Info:

Hannes Holtermann
UniKasselTransfer
Tel: 0561 804-1984
Mail: holtermann[at]uni-kassel[dot]de
Web: www.unikat-crowdfunding.de