Grow up - Start up! The StartUp Night 2023 of the THI

The evening in the Kavalier Dalwigk transformer house under the motto "Grow Up - Start Up!" was all about innovative new business ideas. The event thus entered its second round after its inaugural event in the summer of 2022. The more than 100 guests expected award presentations, pitches and networking opportunities.

At the start of the event, the winners of the university's "THIdea" idea competition were announced. Katharina Golder, a research assistant at THI, won as the best idea. She developed "Scenic Flights 2.0," the idea of a "drone airport" that would allow virtual fly-alongs by renting drone equipment. This could serve as a sustainable and also cheaper alternative to classic sightseeing flights.

In the "THI Founders" program item, THI students and scientists presented their start-up ideas in an entertaining and to the point manner in just a few minutes - so-called "pitches". The audience then evaluated the ideas directly in a crowd vote. The winner was the student team Sabrina Kolbe, Anna Reuter and Anina Härtl with their platform "Smooch". This is a software that matches shelter dogs with their future new owners based on various criteria. As a prize, the three students received a wildcard for the founder festival Stromaufwärts 2024.

The most innovative "impact idea" was delivered by the duo Julia Pollin and Angela Montanaro. With "Love Lab", they presented a business idea that addresses social challenges in education. With their company, which has already been launched as a GbR, the two master's students want to revolutionize sex education in German schools. As a prize, they received start-up advice from the Social Entrepreneurship Academy in Munich, which supports young people in acting entrepreneurially and thinking socially at the same time. The prize for the "Impact" category was awarded by an external guest jury of people from business and education. They praised in particular the high social relevance and topicality of the business idea as well as the professional approach to integrating it into the education system.

New this year was the category "Junior Founders". Leonidas and Florian presented the app idea "TendanceHub": a social media platform to help rate outfits. The two students from the Apian Gymnasium developed the idea in their free time and received valuable tips at the event to help them get further off the ground. For their courage in presenting their idea in this setting, they were rewarded with a small gift and much applause.

After the program, the guests took the opportunity to exchange ideas, network and let new ideas grow while enjoying food and drinks on the roof terrace overlooking the Danube.

Those who now feel like actively tinkering with ideas themselves can network digitally: recently, the CoE launched a digital founders tool with a marketplace for ideas, team members and skills. The tool can be found at https://foundertool.thi.de/ .

CoE Foundertool