Innovative business ideas wanted!
The Best Idea Cup is an annual competition for business ideas at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. It is organised by the Centre for Research, Innovation and Transfer as part of the StartGlocal project. Students and employees of the HSRW are given the opportunity to prove their creativity and innovative potential.
Look forward to the next Best Idea Cup! Who knows, maybe participation in the Best Idea Cup will open a whole new chapter in your life and mark the beginning of your own start-up journey.
Read more about the winners of the Best Idea Cup 2022 hereThese are the 3 winners of the Best Idea Cup 2022
1st place: "Your Outfit" by Christian Moreth
Calculating the environmental impact of clothing using lifecycle assessments and presenting the results in a clear and simple form for consumers.
2nd place: "Kelp Carpet" by Kazi Uddin Eham
Erosion control and renewable energy generation by attenuating river currents using a canopy of artificial kelp.
3rd place: "Bluetec Horizon" by Deepanshu Pandey
Harnessing the potential of wind energy in urban areas by using a vertical axis wind turbine.
Five reasons for your participation
1) Discover a new career path
Have you ever dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur or a start-up founder? The Best Idea Cup is a perfect chance to test, if self-employment could be a career option for you.
2) Expand your network
The Best Idea Cup enables you to connect with real entrepreneurs and stakeholders from the start-up scene and to get a feedback from the expert jury. Who knows, maybe there will be some potential investor in the jury as well.
3) Gain new key competencies
While preparing for the competition, the coaching will help you to develop your entrepreneurial skills and learn many new things, which can enhance your CV (Curriculum Vitae) in the future. Don’t forget about these long-term benefits!
4) Get start-up support from experts
The TOP 10 participants will receive a free start-up coaching, pitch training preparation and guidance for the preparation of a prototype from the StartGlocal team. An expert jury will provide feedback to the ideas at the final pitch presentation.
5) Win attractive prizes
1st place: money prize + certificate + trophy
2nd place: money prize + certificate + trophy
3rd place: money prize + certificate + trophy
Participation
All enrolled students and alumni of the Rhine-Waal University are entitled to participate in the Best Idea Cup 2022 competition alone or as a team.
Employees of Rhine-Waal University can only participate with a project or business idea of the university, not with a private idea.
The same applicant (team) may submit one or more ideas.
How to apply
Please fill in the application form until the 31.08.2022 in order to participate in the Best Idea Cup 2022.
Make sure that you described your business idea in a precise, clear and comprehensible way. The same applicant (team) can submit one or more ideas. You can add pictures and further descriptions of your idea at the end of the form.
Evaluation criteria
Submitted business ideas will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
Degree of innovation/originality (30 %)
The degree of innovation defines how "new" an idea is. It enables the classification of innovations in terms of their technical progress and novelty for the market.
Market potential (30 %)
The market potential refers to the theoretically possible sales volume or the maximum sales volume of a product on a given market. Is there sufficient demand for your idea on the market? Here, the added value for customers, customer benefits and attractiveness of the future product are important.
Feasibility (20 %)
What is the chance of your idea being implemented? Feasibility is represented by the following criteria: technical feasibility, market entry, economic feasibility, legal restrictions, internal barriers.
Social and environmental impact (20 %)
Ideas with a social and environmental focus want to make the world a little bit better. What impact does your idea have? Get inspired by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 goals.
Confidentiality and data protection
Your data and idea submission will be available only to the StartGlocal team and jury members, and will be treated as confidential. The data and the idea will not be forwarded to third parties without your previous consent. With respect to the patent rights and trademarks, the idea will be used for marketing purposes, only with your consent.