Innovative business ideas awarded – promotion Northern Hesse presented the winners
There are a number of policy instruments supporting the innovation of SMEs in Hesse, one of them being the business and startup competition promotion Nordhessen. This initiative awards new foundings and entrepreneurial activities as well as promotes and awards specific innovation prizes such as the mobility solutions prize. Scale ups in Northern Hesse are sponsored and thereby link up with new players in the industry. At the same time, they are connected to crucial stakeholders in the Northern Hesse innovation ecosystem.
7 out of 42
The winners of the business plan competition promotion Nordhessen have been awarded. Twenty years after its foundation, promotion Nordhessen has lost none of its appeal. On the contrary, this year business plans from all over Germany were submitted. The jury had to award the best out of a total of 42 entries. They were spoilt for choice from a wealth of technical high-tech and creative top ideas.
The first place in the category “innovative founding” remains in the region. The company JOKER Tech from Söhrewald is on the way to raise photovoltaics to a new level. Thanks to their high-frequency inverters, this type of energy generation will be significantly more powerful, durable, compact and easier to install. The managing director of Regionalmanagement Nordhessen GmbH - Dr. Astrid Szogs – happily handed over the check of € 12,000. Even more: the environmental prize of € 2,000 donated by the company Sera, also went to JOKER Tech.
Second place went to Aigora from Munich, whose data form the basis for systems with artificial intelligence in the health care segment. They were delighted to receive €9,000 just as Zazmo from Kassel and SprayPatternator from Griesheim, who shared third place with €3,000 each; The Kassel founders of Zazmo presented an innovative and exciting concept for group payments in the B2B area, while SprayPatternator made spraying processes in the industry more environmentally friendly and cost efficient. Other finalists were Flick it and Nambus from Kassel, IMMO 362° from Niedenstein, Elfgabe from Alheim and Viermann from Witzenhausen.
Not only is the impulse for innovative start-ups valuable, but also start-ups dealing with everyday needs. For example, the price of €3,000 was awarded to Nachfüllbar from Kassel in the “Livelihoods” category. Their unpackaged shop fits perfectly into the current trend towards more sustainable and environmentally conscious shopping.
Finally, the winners in the “Mobility Solutions” area: both, the first prize worth €7,000 and the second prize worth €3,000, was awarded to South Hesse. The first place was taken by Darmstadt's Compredict, ahead of Convercycle from Frankfurt. In Darmstadt, sensors and smart high-tech get to the bottom of the loads of automotive parts in real time, while the people of Frankfurt concentrate on two wheels - their clever, convertible bike is outstanding in everyday life as well as when it comes to load transport. The finalists in this area also came from the south. Three companies from Munich were there: Majot, TerraLoupe and ChargeX. Also the Qounts GmbH from Göttingen.
Michael Schapiro from Regionalmanagement Nordhessen GmbH commented that “it was an excellent twentieth round of competition, again with great ideas and implementation at the highest technical level. Together with our many committed sponsors, we see this as the basis for the coming years and many other rounds of competition. With promotion Nordhessen, we are giving the entire region a valuable economic boost.”
Promotion Nordhessen
The nationwide competition promotion Nordhessen was launched in 1999 with the aim of rewarding innovative business ideas, supporting the budding entrepreneurs in implementing these ideas and ultimately strengthening the business location of Northern Hesse. Originally initiated by Volkswagen AG and the State of Hesse, the competition is now the responsibility of Regionalmanagement Nordhessen GmbH. Promotion Nordhessen is supported by the Städtische Werke, Kasseler Sparkasse, EAM, Volkswagen AG, Science Park GmbH and FiDT as well as the companies Hübner, Wikus, sera, teamnext und neue Formen. There are also 100 volunteer coaches who advise the founders free of charge. In addition, more than 25 seminars, workshops and coaching events are offered in each round of the competition.
520 companies have already been created nationwide through the North Hessian initiative, of which over 300 are in Northern Hesse. More than 2,280 jobs were created in these newly founded companies. A total of around 3,800 prospective companies have been supported in all of the competition rounds until today, even in the last competition round 147 alone.
For more information, visit the webpage: www.promotion-nordhessen.de
