“The pitches we are looking forward to tonight are initial ideas that are waiting to be realized in the future,” said Sandra Speer, head of the enaCom Transfer Center, welcoming the audience and the jury in the packed hall of the Digitalhub at Bonn's main train station: “And we, too, are now looking to the future, because here at the University of Bonn, we are building something unique for start-ups with the Visual Computing Incubator (VCI).” She then handed over to the head of the VCI, Prof. Dr. Matthias Hullin, who gave a preview of the incubator.
Exclusive insights into the Visual Computing Incubator
“Here in Bonn, we are building a globally unique, state-of-the-art hardware facility for a capture stage and setting up a virtual production studio. As a core facility, the Visual Computing Incubator will strengthen start-up activities in the field of visual computing,” said Prof. Hullin, explaining the ongoing project. Next year, in 2025, the incubator will move into its new premises at Probsthof and be officially opened.
A fireworks display of ideas
This year, the eight best ideas were once again nominated for the final pitches. And they were impressive: the topics ranged from an AI solution for craft businesses to a personalized skin cream, a novel recruiting platform, an app for multilingual families, and improved detection of deepfakes. The teams from a wide variety of disciplines and fields of interest offered a colorful array of inspiration. Each team had three minutes to convince the jury consisting of Prof. Dr. Denise Fischer-Kreer (Professor of Entrepreneurial Behavior), Dr. Andrej Fischer (Executive Manager for Consulting at Comma Soft AG), Prof. Dr. Matthias Hullin (Professor of Digital Material Appearance and Head of the Visual Computing Incubator at the University of Bonn), Antonia Ohl (Accelerator Manager at DIGITALHUB.DE), and Dr. Anke Peters (Managing Director of the Bonn University Foundation). While the jury withdrew for deliberation, last year's winners gave a preview of where and how quickly the other start-up teams could go.
Fabian Mantsch and Lars Pfleider from the start-up “Taxpeer,” which won the 2023 ideas competition under the name “Inspired by Learning,” have already gotten off to a flying start with their idea. They offer a digital learning platform to help prepare for the tax advisor exam, which has an extremely high failure rate. They had secured several grants last year and ultimately decided on the EXIST start-up grant. This enabled them to launch their start-up very quickly in August – at a strategically favorable time for the tax advisor exam, which quickly paid off. "Have the courage to make quick decisions and validate your idea quickly with customers. Otherwise, you'll spend years working away in a hidden corner and end up realizing that your idea doesn't work in the market," Fabian Mantsch advised the start-up teams.
The winners think big and with a lot of AI
The University Foundation's prize of €1,000 went to the “Hoya Institut NRW” project by Helena Miles and Victor Boldt. They want to produce products from the Hoya plant, which is mostly found in tropical regions. “This idea has so much future potential, so much passion, so much creativity, and so much ‘think big’!” said Dr. Anke Peters, explaining the jury's decision.
Yaroslav Zaplatnikov was delighted to receive the Comma Soft AG prize, also worth €1,000, for his idea “Cytosphere X.” Four experts are already involved in the project, developing a ‘mini lab’ for preclinical studies. “This idea supports a very important issue in which a lot of money and time is invested every year. Above all, it helps bring more good ideas to patients,” emphasized Dr. Andrej Fischer.
With a focus on digital ideas that are still in their infancy, the jury selected the project “Parnox – Pioneering AI-based medical coding” by Michael Kalz and Christian Hölzer. “We see enormous market potential in this idea. The project is exactly at the stage where our accelerator program can provide perfect support,” said Antonia Ohl, explaining the decision for the Digital Startup Award.
Intensive networking and making contacts
All the happy winners, the jury, participants, and audience members stayed behind for a long and lively discussion at the closing reception. The start-up and innovation consultants from the Transfer Center were also in attendance, because, as Sandra Speer explains: “Intensive networking is already a tradition at our finals. Here, the pitchers meet potential investors, co-founders, or advisors and mentors directly, and the ideas can immediately gain momentum toward becoming a start-up.”
The ideas competition is an annual event for members of the University of Bonn to consider how they can apply their knowledge in practice. The next call for entries will take place in fall 2025.
