Rhine-Waal University of Applied SciencesProf. Dr Oliver Locker-Grütjen, PresidentMarie-Curie-Straße 1 | 47533 Kleve | Telephone: +49 2821 806 73 - 0 | Fax: +49 2821 80673 - 160 Friedrich-Heinrich-Allee 25 | 47475 Kamp-Lintfort | Telephone: +49 2842 908 25 - 0 Email: info(at)hochschule-rhein-waal.de or studienberatung(at)hochschule-rhein-waal.de
Around 80 visitors attended the event in Kleve, during which eleven teams presented their ideas. The following ideas were voted the top three:
1st place: ‘Your Outfit!’ by Christian Moreth, a student of Sustainable Development Management: calculating the environmental impact of clothing using life cycle assessments and presenting the results in a clear and simple format for consumers.
2nd place: ‘Kelp Karpet’ by Kazi Eham, a member of staff at the Faculty of Technology and Bionics: erosion control and the generation of renewable energy by slowing river currents using a canopy made of artificial seaweed.
Third place: ‘Bluetec Horizon’ by Deepanshu Pandey, a student of Industrial Engineering: harnessing the potential of wind energy in urban areas through the use of a vertical-axis wind turbine.
The jury, which this year comprised representatives from the alumni associations, the Kleve Technology Centre and regional business development agencies, and was chaired by Dr Oliver Locker-Grütjen, President of the University of Applied Sciences, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Kisters, Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer, and Dr Gerhard Heusipp, Head of ZFIT, was particularly impressed by the diversity of the proposals submitted and the creativity of the participants: “The potential of these ideas is enormous, even if not every idea will result in a successful start-up. A very large proportion of the entries reflect a desire to develop solutions for a more sustainable way of living and doing business, in order to tackle the challenges of our time, for example in the field of climate protection. This encourages us, as a university, to focus even more strongly on transformation and sustainability goals in research, teaching and knowledge transfer,” said Kisters.
Thanks to the Friends’ Associations
The top three places were awarded prizes of 2,000, 1,500 and 1,000 euros, along with a trophy and a certificate. The university would like to thank all participants in the StartGlocal Best Idea Cup, the mentors and experts, and in particular the three support associations – Campus Cleve e.V., Campus Camp-Lintfort e.V. and the university’s own support association – for providing the cash prizes.
The winning teams will continue to receive intensive support and guidance from the ‘StartGlocal’ project to develop their ideas to market readiness, design a prototype and connect them with the regional business community.
StartGlocal – Global Spirit for Local Start-ups
The ‘StartGlocal – Global Spirit for Local Start-ups’ project has been funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action since April 2020 as part of the EXIST programme. Sustainability is the project team’s top priority: for every milestone reached in a project, a tree is to be planted as part of a ‘StartGlocal Forest’. “The issue of sustainability is of great importance in our StartGlocal project. It is very important to us to establish the university as an innovation partner for sustainability issues in the region, whilst at the same time involving our students and thereby supporting their development,” said Dr Gerhard Heusipp, Head of the Centre for Research, Innovation and Transfer at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences.
