Joint event organized by the HWG LU start-up office, the City of Ludwigshafen, the IHK Pfalz and the R(h)eine Gründungssache initiative ends successfully with three innovative student business models receiving awards. Science Minister Clemens Hoch and Ludwigshafen's Lord Mayor Julia Steinruck underlined the importance of the hackathon by attending the launch event and award ceremony.
In cooperation with the City of Ludwigshafen, the IHK Pfalz and the R(h)eine Gründungssache initiative, the start-up office of the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society, headed by Prof. Dr. Christina Stadler, organized a three-day hackathon for students of all disciplines from 7 to 9 November on the topic of "Innovative business models for the digital future". With professional support and digital tools, student teams developed their innovative business model based on real challenges in a very practical way, which they pitched to an expert jury at the Degree. The three best business models were awarded €500, €300 and €200, donated by the IHK Pfalz: First place went to the "shopigator" team with Marvin Fritz (Innovation Management degree program), Sunny Bencec (Tax and Auditing), Anthony Schäfer (International Business Management, focus on China) and Yannick Ishimwe (Business Administration, focus on Finance) for their shopping planning app. The second prize went to team "GreenPlan" with Julius Niclas (International Business Management, specializing in Japan), Maximilian Polap and Saphira Seider (both International Business Management, specializing in China) under the motto of their business idea "For cities that can do more than just concrete!". The "ImmoLot" team with a focus on "compact, personalized and data-based real estate search" came third with Vincent Hohaus, Enes Hos, Plamedi Enamio (all Business Informatics) and Armin Zakys (Finance). Lord Mayor Jutta Steinruck and University President Prof. Dr. Gunther Piller presented the awards to the best business models at a small ceremony in the university's new building.
Rhineland-Palatinate Science Minister Clemens Hoch kicked off the three-day hackathon "Open Data for New Digital Business Models" on Thursday, November 7, 2024, at the hackathon kick-off event with a welcome address from the state government: "The hackathon shows how creative our students are when it comes to developing innovative business models. The HWG Ludwigshafen, with its practice-oriented degree programs in close cooperation with companies and research institutions, offers excellent conditions for training the skilled workers of tomorrow. Another success factor is the start-up offices, which support students at an early stage in developing their own ideas and setting up new companies from within the university," says Science Minister Clemens Hoch. This close integration strengthens the networking of students and stakeholders and familiarizes them with the work processes of the future. Excellently trained specialists, who are increasingly meeting higher requirement profiles from potential employers, are a central basis for the successful development of a society.
The university's start-up office was able to win over Ludwigshafen's Mayor Jutta Steinruck for the grand finale and award ceremony on Saturday, November 9, 2024. In her welcoming address, she emphasized the future potential of the event: "The hackathon impressively shows how much potential there is in the young minds of our city and region. This event is not just a competition, but an important impetus for Ludwigshafen as an industrial city that is increasingly focusing on forward-looking digital business models," said Mayor Steinruck.
Dr. Tibor Müller, Deputy Managing Director of the Palatinate Chamber of Industry and Commerce, who enriched the event both as a speaker and as a jury member, was also impressed by the format: "With our hackathon, we want to draw attention to 'open data initiatives': The public sector is gradually making a wide range of data available to everyone free of charge. Founders and start-ups shouldn't miss out on this - because this data can be used to develop successful digital business models."
The students involved were also visibly proud of what they had achieved: "It was a very cool experience and a lot of fun. I made good contacts, I can only recommend it to others!" said Marvin Fritz from the winning team.
But before the award ceremony and final evaluation of the event, there were busy days ahead - for the participating students as well as for the accompanying experts from business, city administration and academia: on day 1, after the welcome address, the agenda included keynote speeches on the topics of innovation, digital business models and open data by Christian Schwab, CEO of the Südpfalz Innovation Hub, Sven Korhummel from cyperfection GmbH, and Daniel Meyer, Chief Digital Officer of the City of Ludwigshafen, followed by an idea and group discovery phase for the student teams. Day 2 started with an introduction to the Business Model Canvas by Prof. Dr. Christina Stadler and the art of pitching by Dr. Tibor Müller from IHK Pfalz before the students returned to working on their business models, supported by the coaches and jury members. The last day started with a keynote speech on digital business models by Thomas Kessler from Genie Enterprises, followed by the finalization of the individual business cases by the teams. Then it was time for the presentations of the business models, which were developed under great time pressure, at 12.00 noon.
At the Degree, the jury - Dr. Tibor Müller (IHK Pfalz), Daniel Meyer (City of Ludwigshafen), Prof. Dr. Christina Stadler (HWG LU), Chrisa Papadopoulou (Gründungsbüro HWG LU), Alexander Thewalt (City of Ludwigshafen) and Thomas Kessler (Genie Enterprises GmbH) - evaluated the presented proposals according to criteria such as degree of innovation, feasibility and market potential.
"The aim of the hackathon was to develop practical solutions within approximately 42 hours in collaboration with experts from business, the city and the university and to present them to an expert jury. By working on real data and challenges, the students were able to gain valuable experience in an exciting way and put their theoretical knowledge to the test in practice," said organizer Prof. Dr. Christina Stadler from the university's start-up office, summing up the event with satisfaction at the end.
Specialist contact:
Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society
Start-up Office
Prof. Dr. Christina Stadler / Chrisa Papadopoulou
Tel. 0621/5203-278 or -342
Email: christina.stadler@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 hwg-lu.de / gruendung@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 hwg-lu.de
