UNIKAT ideas competition: Foldable bicycle trailer awarded as best idea

The UNIKAT ideas competition at Kassel University has been running for 10 years. Employees, students and alumni from all departments of the University of Kassel and members of the Student Research Center North Hesse  were called upon to send in their ideas by July 31. In the anniversary year of the competition for the best ideas, a new participation record was reached, a total of 78 idea sketches were submitted.

The most convincing idea in this round of the competition was "INST.ant". Idea creator Andreas Munk, a former product design student at the art academy, picks up on the current trend towards this environmentally friendly mobility option with his foldable bicycle trailer. INST.ant offers its users the possibility to carry loads of up to 50 kg by bike. There is no longer any need to move a car for transporting beverage crates, weekend shopping and waste paper collections. In addition, the practical trailer can be used as a shopping trolley and easily folded to a handy luggage rack size.  

The jury awarded the second prize of 2,000 euros to Lena Kemper, Luisa Gagalik and Gyulten Mangova. The three women who came up with the idea are members of the Schülerforschungszentrum Nordhessen (North Hesse Student Research Center), where they conduct research in the field of nanoparticles, among other things. With their idea of "nano-catalysts" they want to reduce the exhaust emissions of vehicle catalytic converters; an innovative process is to optimize the catalytic effect. Catalysts are not only present in every motor vehicle, but can also be found in ships or motorcycles, the market seems huge.

Due to an exactly equal score, two 3rd places were awarded with 1,500 euros each this year. Ulrike Wilczek accepted the prize for the idea "Load securing control". The idea was developed together with several colleagues at the departmentEcological Agricultural Sciences. Accidents on the road are often caused, among other things, by slipped or lost cargo during the transport of goods. Using a real-time monitoring system for tensioning belts with the help of through acoustic sensors, software detects the looseness and sends a warning signal to the driver. An idea that can save human lives. The second 3rd prize went to the idea "Media Education" by Julia Metzler, a student in the Department of Human Sciences. The Media Education project is a comprehensive advisory and training concept for media competence in general education schools. Target groups are children, teachers and parents.

The prizes were made possible and ceremoniously presented by Mr. Helge Förster, Hübner GmbH & Co. KG (1st place), Mr. Marc Finke, Kasseler Sparkasse (2nd place) and Mr. Michael Gribner, Unternehmerverband Nordhessen e.V. (3rd place). Gabriele Hennemuth-Tilschner and Jörg Froharth, both UniKasselTransfer, presented this year's second 3rd place award.

This year's audience award went to the seed confetti idea. Hannah Hartmann and Philip Weyer, both studying product design at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, developed a compostable confetti that can be used as a carrier of native seeds to help spread various plant species.

The UNIKAT ideas competition serves to support the ideas and start-up culture at the University of Kassel. Each year, an expert network of company representatives from the region evaluates the submitted idea sketches. In addition to sound feedback, participants receive access to the Kassel start-up network and advice from UniKasselTransfer Incubator, the university's start-up support service.

Yesterday's closing event was attended by around 200 guests. The award ceremony was opened by Dr. Oliver Fromm, Chancellor of the University of Kassel. The top ten ideas of this year's competition pitched live on stage for the audience award.

Two former participants of the ideas competition reported on their development following their participation in the competition. Christopher Neumann, prosumergy GmbH (winner of the special prize "Building and Environment" in 2014) and Sven Leygraf, who won 1st place with his idea Pseudobox in 2017.

The award ceremony was accompanied by the opening of a poster exhibition presenting this year's idea sketches in short form. In addition, an anniversary publication was distributed, offering a retrospective of 10 years of idea competition at the University of Kassel.

The event took place at Science Park Kassel, the start-up and innovation center on the university campus. Following the official program, participants and attendees had the opportunity to exchange ideas with experienced founders.

Contact:
Sandra Wilhelm
University of Kassel
UniKasselTransfer | Incubator
Tel.: 0561 804-7252
E-mail: sandra.wilhelm[at]uni-kassel[dot]de