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05/26/2019 | Pressemitteilung

Diversity of ideas and start-up culture: UNIKAT ideas competition underway

This year, for the 11th time, the University of Kassel is calling for the UNIKAT ideas competition. The aim of the university-wide competition is to promote the development of extraordinary and, above all, innovative ideas from the university environment. The deadline for entries is July 31, 2019.

Image: Andreas Fischer.
The winners of the past year. In the middle, Andreas Munk.

447 ideas have been submitted in the last ten years of the competition. The diversity is great. Surprising products, innovative services, creative exploitation of research results or initiatives to solve social challenges. Technical, social, cultural, all types of ideas are welcome in the competition.

"Promoting a culture of ideas and supporting potential start-up projects has been of great importance at our university for many years," says Dr. Oliver Fromm, Chancellor of Kassel University.

"The UNIKAT ideas competition sees itself as an invitation to students, scientists, employees and graduates of the University of Kassel to outline their ideas in a short concept paper. First of all, it's important to have fun with the ideas, but then it's also important to get professional feedback from entrepreneurial practice, and it's not uncommon for a competition participation to be the  initial spark for participants to start their own company," says Jörg Froharth from UniKasselTransfer.

In fact, numerous successful start-ups have developed out of the competition. The Kassel region is permeated with ideas, projects, companies and initiatives that have emerged from the University of Kassel. For example, the brewery Steckenpferd, as an event platform with home-brewed beer, has been revitalizing the neighborhood at Pferdemarkt since 2015. As an independent tenant power provider, prosumergy GmbH brings solar power systems to the roofs of apartment buildings. Ackerwinde offers a patented kit for space-saving and ecological vertical vegetable cultivation.

Andreas Munk, a former product design student at the Academy of Art, picks up on the current mobility trend with his foldable bicycle trailer "INST.ant." Second prize in 2018 went to Lena Kemper, Luisa Gagalik and Gyulten Mangova from the Student Research Center North Hesse. With their idea "Nano-Catalysts" they want to reduce the exhaust gas development of vehicle catalysts. Due to an exactly equal score, two 3rd places were awarded in 2018. Ulrike Wilczek, a doctoral student at the Department of Ecological Agricultural Sciences, developed with colleagues at the department the idea "load securing control", a real-time monitoring system for tension belts. The second 3rd prize went to the idea "Media Education" by Julia Metzler, a student at the Department of Human Sciences, for a comprehensive advisory and training concept for media literacy in general education schools.

The deadline for this year's UNIKAT Ideas Competition is July 31, 2019.

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

Information on the competition, support services and examples of ideas from the last 10 years: www.unikat-ideenwettbewerb.de.

Contact:
Sandra Wilhelm
University of Kassel
UniKasselTransfer
Tel.: 0561 / 804 7252
E-mail: ideenwettbewerb[at]uni-kassel[dot]de