Working at full power for 54 hours: About 100 students of economics, engineering, and design from various universities in Baden-Württemberg will develop and implement business models at the first “STARTup Live RhineValley” from September 23 to 25, 2011 in Karlsruhe. The startup weekend under the heading of “Mentor Driven. Expert Rated” is a successful European concept that will now be implemented for the first time in the region of Karlsruhe by the KIT students group PionierGarage. Journalists are cordially invited to the event.
The group of participants from KIT has already selected a topic from five research areas and developed a corresponding business model. During the competition, this model will be implemented. “At the competition, young entrepreneurs have ideal prerequisites to develop their ideas, find new team members, establish contacts to mentors, and obtain a first feedback from investors,” says Philipp Richter from the STARTup organization team.
First, the teams will have to find supporters of their idea during a presentation of 90 seconds. Then, experienced entrepreneurs from all over Europe will act as business mentors, give advice as to how the teams of young entrepreneurs can implement their business idea, and finally evaluate all ideas. KIT employees will also be among the mentors. One of them is Andreas Neus from the Karlsruhe Service Research Institute (KSRI).
The first STARTup Live RhineValley in Germany is organized by the KIT students group PionierGarage. This platform gives KIT students, who think like entrepreneurs, the opportunity to develop and implement their ideas in a team. For the organization of the competition, PionierGarage cooperates with many partner university groups from Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Friedrichshafen, Tübingen, and Stuttgart as well as with partners from the Cyberforum.
KIT’s contribution to the competition is a result of the project “Research to Business Live” of KIT, Cyberforum, and PionierGarage. By an association of researchers, students, and experienced entrepreneurs, it wishes to close the gap between technology and market. Interdisciplinary teams of students conceived business models for technologies developed by KIT researchers.
The best teams of the STARTup weekend will be given the possibility to take part in the STARTup weekend in Vienna from Monday, October 3 to Friday, October 7. For ideas in the energy sector, the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) InnoEnergy will grant a special award.
The event will take place in the rooms of Vollack GmbH, Am Heegwald 26, Karlsruhe.
Information on the program and registration:
http://www.starteurope.at/event/startup-live-rhinevalley-1/
Information on PionierGarage:
www.pioniergarage.de
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.