The OTH Start-up Centre brought the summer term to a close with the final of the 5-Euro Business Competition and the traditional summer barbecue. Students presented their business ideas, founders exchanged views with the network, and the community looked back together on a successful first half of the year.
The highlight of the evening was the final of this year’s 5-Euro Business Competition. In a five-minute pitch and at their exhibition stand, Valon Binaku (Industrial Design) and Fedor Seiler (Computer Engineering) presented their business idea to the invited guests at the summer barbecue and to a panel of judges. The two students had met on the AW module ‘5-Euro Business Competition’ and had worked together over the course of a semester to further develop and implement their idea.
The starting point for their business idea was the observation of a current trend: in an increasingly digital working world, more and more young people are consciously seeking analogue alternatives. At the same time, tactile ways of working are regaining importance.
Space-saving home office solution
The student team took up this idea with a smart home office solution. The result is a fold-away pinboard that combines functionality, aesthetics and sustainability. At the heart of the concept is a 3D-printed module with an integrated retraction mechanism, which allows pinned-up to-do lists to simply disappear from view at the end of the working day. In addition, the roll, complete with the notes, can be removed and transported. This creates a space-saving work solution for people with limited living space, such as students or residents of urban areas, who are consciously seeking an analogue counterbalance to the digital world of work.
The numerous questions from the audience and the jury demonstrated the great interest in the idea. Particular praise was given to the creative approach and the well-thought-out combination of practicality and design.
Discussions and a review of a successful first half of the year
At the summer barbecue that followed, students, start-up teams and supporters from the community took the opportunity to chat in person. At the same time, the guests, together with Prof. Dr Sean-Patrick Saßmannshausen, Head of the OTH Start-up Centre at OTH Regensburg, and Prof. Dr Sevim Süzeroglu-Melchiors, Deputy Head of the Start-up Centre and Head of the OTH Regensburg Female Founders Programme, to look back on numerous milestones from the past few months.
These included, amongst other things, record numbers at the Healthcare Hackathon, a visit from Markus Blume, Bavarian Minister of State for Science and the Arts, and the successes of various start-up teams. Particularly noteworthy are the EXIST start-up grant awarded to the Prinity team and the strong performances of Regensburg teams at the Danube Cup.
The positive development of the Start-up Centre is primarily down to the people who breathe life into the start-up community: committed students, courageous founders, the university’s support structures, and the many helping hands behind the scenes. Together, they shape the listed premises of the Start-up Lab into a place where ideas flourish, creativity is nurtured and innovations become reality.
People make start-up culture possible
Prof. Dr Sean-Patrick Saßmannshausen took the opportunity to thank everyone involved within the university: “Without the administration and central departments, without the buildings and technical facilities, without the Finance Department handling all our procurement and third-party funding accounts, without the Human Resources Department, the Student Affairs Department, University Communications, the ZFT, the ZIL, the AW Course Secretariat and many other supporters, our work would not be possible. The same applies to our colleagues and the lecturers who support us in our teaching. Looking back on the first half of the year is therefore, above all, an opportunity to say thank you.”
Among the guests were students, start-up teams and representatives of the regional start-up ecosystem, as well as members of the university management.
