From insect meal to musical interludes: this is how brilliant the final of the 2023 ideas competition was
On 7 December, founders, creative minds and interested parties came together for the eventful pitch final of the 2023 Ideas Competition, which is held annually by the Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the University of Bayreuth. Innovators from the region were invited to submit their promising business idea and win up to 1,000 euros.
It was an exciting evening in front of a fully booked room at the Iwalewahaus on Thursday evening. Many of the visitors were already there last year, partly as interested parties and partly as finalists in the 2023 ideas competition organised by the Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (IEI) at the University of Bayreuth, where creative minds from Franconia and the Upper Palatinate region submit innovative business models that represent a feasible solution to a social problem. A total of eight teams competed in the pitch final.
After the opening speech by Prof. Dr Rodrigo Isidor (Chair of Human Resource Management & Intrapreneurship and Director of the IEI) and Leonie Gärtner (research associate at the IEI and organiser of the ideas competition), the teams competed against each other with their five-minute pitches in order to achieve one of the coveted top places and show the four-member jury how innovative a world of tomorrow can look.
The jury members Dr Petra Beermann (Managing Director and Director of the IEI), Andreas Herlitz (member of the Wirtschaftsjunioren Bayreuth and self-employed district director at Continentale Versicherung), Dr Sophia Strunz (Business Development LAMILUX) and Stefan Fleischmann (Executive Entrepreneur Client Advisor, Entrepreneur Client Advisory Centre Bayreuth, Commerzbank AG) were quite astonished and so the decision was not so easy for them in the end.
"A total of eight very good business ideas were presented to us," says Dr Petra Beermann, "but one idea particularly impressed us all. We also made the decision based on the consideration of which models are easier to implement, scalable and innovative at the same time. We are very satisfied with the result. We wish the teams every success and if they need help in their further development, the entire institute and in particular the university's start-up counselling service will always be at their side."
The audience had to wait a little longer to find out who would walk away as the winner that day. Before the award ceremony, Simon Debade, social entrepreneur and well-known founder from the Lion's Den, took to the microphone. The Benin-born founder hit the audience right in the heart and shared his founding story, characterised by success, failure and an enduring vision. The computer science graduate has long been asking himself why tonnes of cashew fruit end up in the bin in his home country, even though it could be used to produce a tasty juice. However, consumers are not familiar with the juice and only want to buy the familiar cashew nuts.
His idea was to press a juice from the fruit, boost the income of the farmers in Benin with the second product and at the same time bring the vitamin bomb, whose flavour is reminiscent of an apple, onto the market. Akoua was born. His vision worked: Although he didn't get a deal when he appeared on "Höhle der Löwen", the cashew juice sold out immediately. He has now quit his job and will be focussing entirely on his start-up Akoua from 2024. That's how it can go, sometimes you come away empty-handed at first and then have the success you hoped for later.
"This story should encourage all our participants," says Leonie Gärtner, organiser of the ideas competition. "Not all teams can win today, which is not to say that these ideas have no potential. On the contrary, this year the pre-selection was already very difficult for us." And so this is perhaps a small consolation for those who were not among the best this year.
The three winning teams were finally received with great applause. And who won the race? First-semester student Pirmin Hinderling, whose performance will be remembered for a long time to come thanks to a musical interlude. Without further ado, he stood in front of the audience during his pitch and started trumpeting, repeatedly interrupted by the turning of the sheet music. This initially irritated the audience, but the passionate amateur musician later explained: "Turning pages with annoying pauses is no longer necessary thanks to his invention, the TapTurner: a small ring that allows you to turn the pages of music on your iPad with a single click. The audience liked it, as did the jury, and so the young inventor won the 2023 ideas competition and was delighted to receive the prize money of 1,000 euros, sponsored by the Bayreuth Wirtschaftsjunioren.
The other prizes went to:
2nd place: RetroFoam - Nicolas Drack (Master's student D&E) and Rouven Kerner (Master's student Business Administration), idea developed as part of the "Technopreneurship" module. Problem: Hardly any spare parts available for classic and vintage cars. Idea: Use of moulded foam for the digitalisation of components, which are then produced using the 3D printing process. Prize: 750 euros, sponsored by LAMILUX.
3rd place: ReFeed - Maximilian Stolze (5th semester Business Administration Bachelor), Christopher Pögl (9th semester, Industrial Engineering Bachelor), Christina Peter (5th semester Food and Health Sciences Bachelor), Henric Förster (7th semester Business Administration Bachelor), Felix Kroiß (7th semester Business Administration Bachelor). The idea was developed as part of the "Impact Entrepreneurship Ideas" course. Goal: To do something about food waste. Solution: Impact start-up that produces high-quality insect meal from food waste as a sustainable source of protein for animal feed. Prize: 500 euros sponsored by Commerzbank.
Thekla LuitzInstitut für Entrepreneurship & Innovation
E-Mail: thekla.luitz@uni-bayreuth.de