Successful Make an Impact! Day!
Written by StartGlocal on .
The biggest event of the project “StartGlocal - Global Spirit for Local Start-ups” so far took place at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. Together with the Career Service of the Faculty of Society and Economics, a whole day of events was organized around the topics of sustainability and start-ups with sustainable and social impact.
While the Kleve campus showed its rainy side, building 1 was bustling with activity. Around 200 visitors took part in the diverse events of the "Make an Impact! Day" and visited the 20 booths of the "Sustainability Fair".
Dr. Gerhard Heusipp, Head of the Center for Research, Innovation and Transfer and Imke Hans from the Career Service of the Faculty of Society and Economics welcomed the visitors before the event continued with a lecture on innovative business approaches and social entrepreneurship by Ulrike Trenz. Ulrike Trenz, co-founder and managing director of the Impact Hub Ruhr, also led the three-hour workshop "Solutions for a Better World". Divided into five groups, the participants were able to learn about and try out the Lean Start-up method for early-stage start-ups, among other things. Ulrike Trenz is enthusiastic about her first visit to Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences: "I am impressed by the internationality of the students. It's also nice to see how much interest there is in startup-related topics."
Things got particularly interesting at the Start-up Talk with Antonia Cox from Pottburri. The entrepreneur from Straelen talked about her start-up story and her deal with Ralf Dümmel on the TV show "Die Höhle der Löwen."
A deeper insight into internal university projects and start-ups on the topics of sustainability was provided by the booths at the "Sustainability Fair". In addition to various projects, student initiatives such as the Fairtrade Group and the AStA of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences could also be found here. The houseboat "AnnaSpoy" also participated with a workshop and built bee hotels with the participants.
At the final networking event, visitors were able to talk to students and employees of the university and end the day with donuts, drinks, and music.
It was a successful and impactful day. The StartGlocal team and the Career Service of the Faculty of Society and Economics are pleased with the great response to the events. We hope that the participants were able to take away inspiration and motivation for the step into self-employment and generate a sustainable impact in the region and beyond
The "StartGlocal - Global Spirit for Local Start-ups" project has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection since April 2020 as part of the EXIST program. Sustainability is a top priority for the project team: thus, for every milestone in a project, a tree is to be planted towards a "StartGlocal Forest". "The topic of sustainability has a high priority in our StartGlocal project. It is very important to us to establish the university as an innovation partner for sustainability topics in the region and at the same time to involve our students and thus promote them," says Dr. Gerhard Heusipp, head of the Center for Research, Innovation and Transfer at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.
