Events database

Discover several ideation techniques that can help you to create, develop and enhance your start-up idea.

Pitch & poster presentations of students from the degree program International Business Administration, pitching their start-up ideas in front of an expert jury.

Watch the pitch & poster presentations of international students from the degree program Sustainable Development Management, pitching their start-up ideas focused on social entrepreneurship.

Reserve a time slot for a one-to-one meeting with a business expert from the Startercenter NRW/Chamber of Commerce and get valuable advice/feedback on your start-up idea. We are going to assign you a 30 minute time-slot after your registration for the event.

Get to know the Enspire program of the HSRW and learn about its different projects. Prof. Dr. William M Megill will introduce you to the various projects such as the electric car racing, the submarine team, the autonomous driving roboboat and much more!

Get ideas and inspiration to boost your business idea and advance in your career. Learn, how to build a brand using social media.

Get to know your customers and improve their satisfaction. It’s not just about designing the user interface of your website, but rather about the additional value that you offer to your customer.

Learn, how to define and analyse the target market for your start-up and how to segmentate your customers with the start-up founder and scout Claudio Abels.

Learn, what aspects are important, when designing a logo for your start-up business. Get valuable insights into colour psychology, typography, shapes, margins and logo styles.

Learn, how to protect your business idea and what kind of patents/intellectual property rights exist.

Learn, how to develop the business model for your start-up with the popular Business Model Canvas tool. Master this very first essential step on your start-up journey.

Learn, how to create advertising spots for social media and target your customers in a very special way. Start-up scout Thilo Schwedmann, who has designed several ads and TV formats for the TV channels such as VOX, RTL, ntv and NITRO, is going to lead you through the workshop.

Join this interactive workshop, during which interdisciplinary student teams develop solutions for a challenge defined by a local company. A creativity coach and a mentor/CEO from the company will accompany the student groups throughout the day. The aim of the day will be to create the best solution for this particular company challenge. At the end, the solutions will be pitched in front of a jury and the team with the best idea will be awarded.

After the whole week of workshops, we all deserve a relaxing event full of chilling atmosphere. Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and join us for our international story evening. Feel free to bring your personal story with you, e.g. about yourself, your country, favourite foods and dishes or maybe even about starting your own business. If you have some favourite specials from your country (e.g. food and drinks) you can also show them to us on the camera. Expand your contact networks and get know our amazing international student community.

Are you a female student thinking about starting up a business? Then discover with us, if entrepreneurship could be a possible career path for you!

Within the workshop “Your Purpose” we will present you different methods that will support you to find your “Why” - let’s try them! Define your individual values ​​as well as your vision and goals for the coming months and years and realise what possibilities you have.

You don’t need anything more than yourself and about 2 hours to take part in the workshop. Get to know yourself better and exchange ideas with others who are facing the same challenge: What is actually my why?

Find your way - develop your strengths

This event is a cooperation of the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences and the project Women Entrepreneurs in Science. The project is a network for female students, female employees and female graduates of universities of North Rhine-Westphalia. This offer is primarily aimed at women, but men are not excluded!

Start-ups in different founding stages speak about their personal experiences, challenges and a life as a founder. Moreover, they are happy to answer your curious questions.

In the next talk, which takes place in the context of the Social Entrepreneurship Week at the Faculty of Society and Economics, Hanno Weimer will present you his start-up GROME. His business idea focuses on an integral health promotion combined with an experience of nature for employees. With its training programme for mental, physical and social well-being for companies, the offer is like a breath of fresh air for companies. What makes them special? The “green seminar room”, a vegetable patch in a permacultural urban garden, which is the basis of collective gardening, seminars and cooking workshops. Join our digital talk and learn more about the founders and their business story. Also, Hanno will answer your questions in an interactive Q&A session.

All students, alumni and employees of the university as well as guests are warmly welcome.

Gain intercultural skills for your start-up business in Germany!

The business etiquette, entrepreneurial behavior and professional life in your home-country could be sometimes quite different to those in Germany. These can often cause misunderstandings and challenges, when starting up a company as an international student/alumni/employee in Germany.

Our workshop is going to prepare you for the smooth cooperation with customers and business partners in Germany. Moreover, you will experience a general cultural sensibilisation and gain specific information about measures and rules, which have to be observed in the interaction with partners, authorities and banks in German business context.

The number of participants is limited to 15 international students/alumni/employees.

Create the best solution for a real challenge of a local company!

Challenge: Lack of new singers - How can choirs recruit young people?
Company: Sängerkreis Wesel

Take part in this interactive workshop and get in contact with companies from the region. The aim of the Pressure Cooker Day is to find the best solution for a particular challenge of a local company, while working with other students in a team. You will gain know-how on creativity and innovative thinking and learn about tools for the development of innovative solutions for the challenge.
At the end of the day, solutions of each student group will be pitched and presented in front of the StartGlocal Team and the company. The best idea will be awarded.

The number of participants is limited to 15 students, alumni and employees of the HSRW

How to find an internship or an entry level position in a social start-up?

Our guest speaker, Christin Heuer, has been working at Ashoka Germany and Impact Hub Berlin and will provide you with tipps for successful applications and networking. As former managing director of a foundation in the education sector and currently in a non-profit limited company for elderly care, Christin Heuer knows why it is so important for applicants to highlight their internests and skills and communicate them clearly.

If you would like to get an insider’s perspective about working in social start-ups or NGOs, this is your chance!

This event addresses primarily students of the Faculty for Society and Economics. However, all students of the Rhine-Waal University are welcome.

Get to know a founder of a social tourism enterprise who studied at HSRW!

Matteo Bierschneider graduated in 2015 with a degree in Sustainable Tourism. In 2017, he founded the social start-up Wise Steps Travel in Indonesia together with his wife.
In our Alumni Entrepreneur Talk, Matteo will talk about his entrepreneurial experience and the challenges of social entrepreneurship in the tourism industry from his perspective. Join the talk, get inspired by Matteo’s career path, and use the opportunity to ask him all your questions.

This event addresses primarily students of the Faculty for Society and Economics. However, all students of the Rhine-Waal University are welcome.

You keep wondering what Social Entrepreneurship exactly means? In this session, you’ll get some cutting-edge examples!

Jonas Dinger, Social Impact Award Coordinator for Germany, will provide you with insights about the diversity of social entrepreneurship. Therefore, he will showcase concrete examples from 3 different perspectives: ACTION – INNOVATION - BUSINESS
As a former Development Lead of Social Impact Award International, Jonas Dinger will also inform about start ups in 14 countries worldwide that have been supported during the last years by creating awareness, providing education and community support.

This event addresses primarily students of the Faculty for Society and Economics. However, all students of the Rhine-Waal University are welcome.

The meaning of choosing legal structures for social start-ups

Choosing the right legal structure is essential when it comes to founding a social start-up. Therefore, it is discussed on federal level, if non-profit-orientated entrepreneurs should be able to choose another specific legal structure, the so-called “Gesellschaft für Verantwortungseigentum” (VE-Gesellschaft). However, existing alternatives next to the incorporated association (German: eingetragener Verein/ e.V.) are often not discussed sufficiently.
In this event, Professor Merbecks from the Rhine-Waal University, will present you an overview of important criteria for choosing a legal structure, which are for example costs and consequences for accounting, especially for tax implications. Learn more about the right legal structure for your business idea, especially for social start-ups, and what you should keep in mind when choosing a legal structure.

This event addresses primarily students of the Faculty for Society and Economics. However, all students of the Rhine-Waal University are welcome.

Which sources of finance do social start-ups have? What are the differences and which aspects should founders pay attention to?

You will get all the answers in this exciting event with a Q&A-session at the end of the presentation.
Our speaker Jasper Schlump is Head of Investor Relations at capacura, an impact-investor. As he has built a start-up before, Jasper knows the founder´s point of view, also when it comes to looking for a reliable investor. At the same time, in his position at capacura, he can speak from an investor´s point of view and can tell more about what really matters to investors when looking for promising investments. Moreover, Jasper will present capacura and its impact investment philosophy.

This event addresses primarily students of the Faculty for Society and Economics. However, all students of the Rhine-Waal University are welcome.

Create the best solution for a real challenge of a local company!

Challenge: Find virtual alternatives for the classic press trip
Company: MediaMixx GmbH

Take part in this interactive workshop and get in contact with companies from the region. The aim of the Pressure Cooker Day is to find the best solution for a particular challenge of a local company, while working with other students in a team. You will gain know-how on creativity and innovative thinking and learn about tools for the development of innovative solutions for the challenge.
At the end of the day, solutions of each student group will be pitched and presented in front of the StartGlocal Team and the company. The best idea will be awarded.

The number of participants is limited to 15 students, alumni and employees of the HSRW

StartGlocal Stammtisch #3

Topic: Purpose Economy

Our informal StartGlocal Stammtisch is a regular monthly meeting! It offers you the opportunity to share your start-up experience, answer questions and connect with fellow students, who are interested in start-ups. With or without a start-up idea - everybody is welcome at our StartGlocal Stammtisch!

All students, alumni and employees of the university as well as guests are welcome.

WES CIRCLE meets HS Rhein-Waal

Exchange ideas with other female founders and women interested in founding a company and get inspired by our speakers!

The Women Entrepreneurs in Science (WES) Circle is your chance to network and exchange ideas with experienced female founders and like-minded women interested in founding a company. In the Digitalk, speakers talk about their motivation, current challenges in their start-ups and give you tips and tricks for your own start into self-employment. In addition, you can speed-date with other founders and women interested in founding a business and perhaps meet your future co-founder and convince her of your idea.

The event takes place in cooperation with the Women Entrepreneurs in Science project. The project Women Entrepreneurs in Science is a network for female students, employees and graduates from NRW universities. The offer is available free of charge and it is aimed primarily at women. However, men are also not excluded!

Create the best solution for a real challenge of a local company!

Challenge: What are the opportunities for new, sustainable business ideas for a former agricultural company?

Take part in this interactive workshop and get in contact with companies from the region. The aim of the Pressure Cooker Day is to find the best solution for a particular challenge of a local company, while working with other students in a team. You will gain know-how on creativity and innovative thinking and learn about tools for the development of innovative solutions for the challenge.
At the end of the day, solutions of each student group will be pitched and presented in front of the StartGlocal Team and the company. The best idea will be awarded.

The number of participants is limited to 15 students, alumni and employees of the HSRW

Join Enactus Kleve and become part of the team of like-minded students of the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.

You have an idea for a start-up or would like to support one of our active projects?
As part of the Enactus network, we as Enactus Kleve e.V. work on entrepreneurial projects with sustainable and social aspects within the framework of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Join us and learn more about our current projects and how you can help us make them successful.

All students of the Rhine-Waal University are welcome.

Are you ready to be a start-up entrepreneur?

Get to know our StartGlocal team! We will talk about support possibilities at our university and show you how you can turn your innovative idea into a successful start-up company with our help!

• What is a start-up?
• What makes a promising idea?
• How can I get support for my start-up idea at Rhine-Waal University?

All students, alumni and employees of the university are warmly welcome.

Get to know founders and their innovative business ideas!

Start-ups in different founding stages speak about their personal experiences, challenges and a life as a founder. Moreover, they are happy to answer your curious questions.

Imagine you have a great business idea, but, where do you start? - Michael, co-founder of the app start-up Legmon, gives a presentation about his entrepreneurial experience. Thereby he will not only talk about the typical start-up mentality, but will also openly discuss his own mistakes and provide the participants with actionable insights. Finally, your questions can be answered in an interactive Q&A session.

All students, alumni and employees of the university as well as guests are warmly welcome.

Get to know founders and their innovative business ideas!

Start-ups in different founding stages speak about their personal experiences, challenges and a life as a founder. Moreover, they are happy to answer your curious questions.

Our next guest is the start-up GreenTrax from Cleve, which specializes on support of e-mobility. GreenTrax is committed to a sustainable energy supply that enables a fair, livable and self-determined life for all people. In doing so, the value is placed especially on sustainability, transparency and fairness.

All students and employees of the university as well as alumni are warmly welcome.

DEMO DAY PITCH BATCH#1 - students of the StartGlocal Academy present their innovative start-up ideas!

A mystery travel agency, environmentally friendly worm box or a modular car – within ten online workshops of our first StartGlocal Academy, 21 students from all faculties of the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences have developed their own start-up ideas and gained many new insights about starting up a business. Now it’s time for these 12 start-up teams to present their ideas in an online pitch!

Join our event and vote live for your favourite pitch! The three best start-up ideas will be awarded a prize.

Become a sciencepreneur!
A workshop only for employees of the HSRW.

This workshop offers you an opportunity to test, how your expertise in teaching and research can lead to innovation and potentially a start-up activitiy. You will get a chance talk to entrepreneurs, get to know design thinking methods and work in a team in order to develop a start-up idea. The workshop covers following topics:

• Rolemodel Talk: Exchange ideas with founders on the topic of entrepreneurship
• Idea generation: Develop solution ideas for a problem
• Prototyping: Make an idea tangible by developing easy prototypes
• Business Model Canvas: flesh out the idea with a value proposition and business model
• Pitch training: Learn, how to convince people about your innovative idea

This is the right course for you if you have no previous knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation methods or if you want to repeat and deepen your knowledge in these fields. With or without a start-up idea, everybody is welcome.

The number of participants is limited to 15 employees of the HSRW.

Efficient Organization and Time Management for Founders

Did you know that one in three start-up companies is being overhelmed by bureacratic requirements? Especially in the initial phase, entrepreneurs need support in organizational matters, otherwise they are facing the risk of an early end of their entrepreneurial activities.

Join our interactive workshop that will teach you, how to set up a basic organizational structure in your start-up and will give you tips on effective, time-saving and legally compliant organizational tools.

Workshop content:

• Organization analog or digital?
• Structure for your start-up office
• Optimizing workflows
• Effective appointment and task management
• Legally compliant storage of documents

The number of participants is limited to 20 students/alumni/employees.

Take part in the Entrepeneur Talk and get to know founders and their innovate business ideas.

Start-ups in different founding phases speak about their personal experiences, challenges and their lifes as a founder.

Socialbnb marks the beginning of our new series “Entrepreneur Talk“ . The start-up, which is located in Cologne, is an online platform that connects travelers with aid organizations from all around the world. It is an innovative approach to help local aid organizations become financially independent from donations. At the same time, Socialbnb gives travelers the chance of experiencing locals and their culture up close.

All students and employees of the university as well as alumni are welcome.

Dive into the world of a start-up entrepreneur!

Get a feeling of how start-up functions! TOPSIM-Startup, is a start-up business simulation game, which simulates a surfboard manufacturing company.

Learn step by step about processes, which are going on in almost every start-up company:

• Idea generation and development of a business model
• Creation of a business plan
• Negotiation with investors about financing
• Company management after market entry

With different tools you will go through the start-up process. Finally you will have to survive with your company on the market.

The number of participants is limited to 20 students/alumni/employees.

Let’s empower female entrepreneurs!

In this interactive workshop, our expert is going to show you not only requirements and challenges, but also potentials of the self-employment. She will also help you to find out, if founding of a start-up would be in line with your own personal vision and give you tips of how to make it real.

The workshop is offering space for all topics regarding female entrepreneurship and offers you a platform to exchange your start-up with each other and with our experts. Overcome your uncertainties and become stronger for your own self-employment.

The number of participants is limited to 20 female students/alumni/employees.

Create the best solution for a real challenge of a local company!

Take part in this interactive workshop and get in contact with companies from the region. The aim of the Pressure Cooker Day is to find the best solution for a particular challenge of a local company, while working with other students in a team. To achieve this aim, a creativity and innovation coach is going to cheer all teams up throughout the day. The coach will also give you several tips and tools for the development of innovative ideas and solutions for the challenge. Moreover, each team will be accompanied by the CEO or a manger from the company.
At the end of the day, solutions of each student group will be pitched and presented in front of the StartGlocal Team and the company. The best idea will be awarded.

The number of participants is limited to 12 participants/alumni and 2 employees of the HSRW.

Gain intercultural skills for your start-up business in Germany!

The business etiquette, entrepreneurial behavior and professional life in your home-country could be sometimes quite different to those in Germany. These can often cause misunderstandings and challenges, when starting up a company as an international student/alumni/employee in Germany.

Our workshop is going to prepare you for the smooth cooperation with customers and business partners in Germany. Moreover, you will experience a general cultural sensibilisation and gain specific information about measures and rules, which have to be observed in the interaction with partners, authorities and banks in German business context.

The number of participants is limited to 15 international students/alumni/employees.

Shaping our future sustainably. Through team spirit, innovation and entrepreneurship.

In cooperation between the StartGlocal team and students of the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, we are planning to launch our own Enactus Team at our university.

As an international organization, Enactus pursues the realization of the 17 goals for sustainable development defined by the United Nations. Enactus is about students who want to contribute to a more sustainable world through entrepreneurial activity.
At universities all around the world are Enactus teams working on innovative and social solutions for the future. Over 1700 students at 35 universities in Germany are already part of the network.
Now, by forming our own team, we also want to become part of this worldwide movement and realize successful social entrepreneurship projects.
For the realization of our own team we need motivated students who are interested in entrepreneurial activities and who can bring their individual knowledge into our own Enactus projects.

Join our event and learn about Enactus in more detail. Adriana Boldisova from the StartGlocal team and a student initiator of our university´s Enactus team Max Erwig are looking forward to meeting you!

The participation is only for students of the HSRW .

Think Big, Start Lean:
7 ways to get funding for your start-up idea

Would you like to found your own start-up, but lacking the necessary capital? There are numerous funding programs for founders in Germany, which can help you to facilitate the start of your self-employment.

Our expert and start-up founder Philipp Winkmann will explain you possibilities to finance your start-up idea. Get to know about self-financing, crowdfunding, accelerator programs and funding programs such as the “Gründerstipendium NRW” and “EXIST Gründerstipendium”. Find out, what is really important when applying for these grants and how to successfully prepare for that!

The number of participants is limited to 25 students/alumni/employees.

Make your dreams turn into plans

• Gain insight into how a working business model is built by looking at real examples of working business models
• Develop a functioning business model out of your business ideas by using business model canvas
• Receive feedback from an expert for your business models and use this feedback to develop your business idea
• Find potential ways of how to make your ideas fly

Build a professional plan for your business!

• Get to know the relevance and the essential components of a business plan
• Practice working on the business plan under supervision using your own business idea
• Receive feedback and valuable tips for the successful business planning of your business start-up

Build a professional plan for your business!

• Practice creating a financial plan for your own business idea, as a part of the business plan
• Find out, what financing and funding opportunities are available for you as a start-up founder

Pitch your start-up idea at our final event DEMO DAY!

Present your start-up idea to an audience consisting of fellow students and interested parties from the university, economy and society.

The audience votes for the 3 best start-up ideas!

What it means to be a real entrepreneur

• Get to know your personality profile and get personally prepared for being an entrepreneur
• Reflect on you entrepreneurial skills and find out what may be your strengths and weakneses building your own business
• Learn how to build a high-performance team that rocks its business

How to protect your start-up idea

• Learn about the most important ways to protect your own startup idea
• Gain insight into patent law, copyright law, etc.
• Practice how to check already protected ideas to prevent infringements
• Get tips & tricks on how to choose the appropriate protection for your own start-up idea
• Develop an appropriate protection strategy for your idea

Develop wild ideas that fascinate you AND the world

• Get to know how to create innovative start-up ideas that the world really wants
• Learn about the criteria you will need for a sucessful business idea
• Practice how to develop your idea (further)
• Get to know eachother and network in interdisciplinary teams

Trust, that you can do it!

Legal information that your start-up REALLY needs!

• Get to know all relevant legal basics for setting up your start-up business
• Our expert will help you to choose the legal form that suits your business idea
• Get to know all tax-law basics and regulations relevant for students starting up a company
• Practise filling out forms such as questionnaire for the tax registration
• Receive tips on bookkeeping and learn how to fill in a tax declaration as a business start-up founder on practical examples

Determine the right market for your idea

• Get to know market research tools to analyze the (relevant) market
• Apply techniques to validate your own start-up idea
• Gain skills in dealing with customer feedback in order to use it for improvements of your own idea

No budget for marketing? No problem!

• Gain the necessary skills for the development of strategies for an optimal approach to customers and cooperation partners
• Find the right offline and online PR and communication strategies for your start-up
• Brain beats budget: Learn about guerrilla marketing, low-budget marketing and zero-budget marketing
• Experience a novel online collaboration board for optimal communication in your team

Ready, steady, pitch!

• Prepare for the pitch of your start up idea on the DEMO DAY
• Learn about the most important presentation methods, do’s and don’ts and choose the method that best suits your start-up idea
• Gain more confidence in your presentation through practical exercises
• Take important tips for your future investor meetings

Let´s prototype! Give your wild ideas a shape

• Give your business idea a physical shape: Develop a draft of your product, which you can show to potential investors or customers
• Learn, how to build a prototype that shows your business idea but doesn´t reveal too much
• Learn, how to deal with customer feedback and use the feedback loop for possible improvements of your product
• Have fun building your own prototype!
• Special: Virtual live tour through the FabLab in Kamp-Lintfort

How to really excite your customers for your product

• Define your target group using the “persona” concept and understand the wishes and needs of your customers
• Learn, how to generate a targeted customer approach for your start-up company
• Find out, how to communicate the value of your product and how to “sell” it to potential customers

Coffee, Cookies and Talk!

• Present yourself to the StartGlocal Team in a relaxed atmosphere
• Discuss your successes in the StartGlocal Academy with us and give us a feedback
• Use our Wrap-up Session to get feedback on your start-up idea and as a great preparation for your pitch on the DEMO DAY!