Start-up-Cup @ H-BRS: Ideenwettbewerb 2024

The awarding of the special prizes is optional and subject to the respective entry requirements.

► Special prize DIGITALHUB.DE: The DIGITALHUB.DE honours digitally-oriented ideas that have developed either an innovative product or an innovative service. The special prize includes acceptance into the ‘HubGrade’ accelerator programme worth over EUR 30,000.

Included in the package: 6 months premium coworking membership; support from professional coaches & experienced mentors; weekly meetups & workshops; invitations to exclusive events and access to the network; professional photos, videos & premium promotion; option to receive €14,400 NRW founder grant per founder; high chance of five- to six-figure seed funding; intros to business angels, VC's & institutional investors; 20,000+ in cloud credits & perks.

The package may not be passed on to third parties and the cash value cannot be paid out. The special prize is linked to the entry requirements of the Digital Hub in Bonn: You are a start-up with a digital business model; not yet founded or 2 years after founding; from Bonn or the surrounding area; motivated and ready to take off.

► Special Innovation Prize: The award of the scholarship is subject to final funding and is separate from the main competition. 

The prize is a 100% scholarship in the form of free participation in the Start-up Development (MBA) further education programme at H-BRS for one person for the standard period of study. The scholarship may not be passed on to third parties and the monetary value cannot be paid out. To participate in the continuing education programme starting in summer semester 2025, the admission requirements of the degree programme must be met.

Further information on the programme and the admission requirements can be found on the following website:  Start-up Development (MBA)

The scholarship is awarded subject to conditions: Applicants must fulfil the study requirements (first professionally qualifying university degree with at least 180 ECTS credit points with a minimum average grade of 3.0 and at least two years of relevant professional activity in accordance with Section 62 (3) HG NRW) by the start of the course in the summer semester 2025 at the latest and, for formal reasons, must also apply online via the H-BRS application portal between 15 November 2024 and 15 March 2025.

The following aspects should be addressed in your pitch deck. Depending on the stage of development of your idea, it may not yet be possible to describe the individual points in detail. Nevertheless, try to be as specific as possible (without exaggerating).

• Problem: What challenge are customers and users currently facing?
• Solution: How can the challenge be overcome
• Product/service: What is being sold? What is the customer benefit?
• Target group: Who is the target group and what are their characteristics?
• Market and competition: What is the market like for the product/service? Who are the competitors? What are the barriers to entry?
• USP: Why is the idea unique? What is your biggest advantage over your competitors?
• Business model and financing: How and when will revenue be generated? What is the ratio between costs and turnover? When will the project be profitable?
• Marketing and sales: What is the pricing model? What communication measures should be used? How will the product be brought to the customer group?
• Team: Who is part of the team and what skills and experience does the team have?
• Sustainability: How is the topic of sustainability taken into account in the business model? What sustainability goals are being pursued? (Take a look at the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG))
• Milestones and outlook: What is the current status and what are the next steps? Which goals should be achieved in the short and medium term?
• Contact details: Name, e-mail address, telephone number

Pitch deck (1st selection stage)

• Feasibility: Can the idea also be realised in practice? Are there real chances of founding the company?
• Customer benefit: Who is the customer group? What needs/problems does the customer group have? What benefits does the start-up project offer the customer group?
• Market potential: Is there a real market and target group for the idea? Are there potential competitors? Does the idea have a unique selling point?
• Viable and sustainable business model: Can money be earned with the business model? What does the revenue model look like? Has reference been made to the sustainability strategy?
• Competences of the founding team: What are the strengths of the team? What knowledge and qualifications does the team have?
• Innovation and originality of the project: To what extent is the idea unique and innovative? What problem can the idea solve?
• Overall impression: Is the pitch deck logically and comprehensibly structured and attractively designed? Were the specifications adhered to?

Evaluation of the presentation (2nd selection stage)

as part of the final on 10 October 2024 in Sankt Augustin:

• Overall impression of presentation: adherence to time limit, presentation skills, creativity and ability to work in a team
• Answering the questions/discussion

• Eligible to participate are students (currently enrolled or starting their studies in winter semester 2024/2025 or, in the special case of the Special Innovation Prize, starting their studies in summer semester 2025), employees and alumni (graduation may not be more than ten years ago) of Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences with a start-up idea and also those university members who have already founded a start-up. The company must not have been founded before June 2023. The date of business registration is decisive. Participation is possible for both individuals and start-up teams. (In the case of start-up teams, at least one person must be a student, employee or alumni of H-BRS. In the event of a win, the prize will only be awarded to this person)
• All start-up ideas formally received in full by 23:59 on 19 August 2024 will be considered. Documents that are submitted in addition to the pitch deck and the associated explanation via the notes function cannot be taken into account in the evaluation.
• The idea must have been developed independently by the founding team and must not infringe the rights of third parties.
• Ideas that have already been presented in the final in previous years cannot be submitted again.

• The organisers reserve the right to change the advertised prizes for organisational reasons. There is no entitlement to a specific prize. In the absence of prize-worthy ideas and contributions, no prizes will be awarded.
• The organiser reserves the right to change the conditions of participation or to terminate the competition at any time, even without prior notice.
• Participants shall indemnify the organiser against all conceivable claims by third parties that could be derived from any infringement of copyrights, statutory property rights, business secrets and other rights by the submitted documents.

Protection of ideas and data privacy

• H-BRS and CENTIM will not pass on participants' personal data to unauthorised third parties. The following personal data will be processed for the ideas competition and can only be viewed and processed by authorised persons:
  • Surname, first name
  • e-mail address
  • Telephone number
  • Relationship to the university
  • Date of business registration/name of the company, if applicable
• The start-up ideas submitted are subject to copyright protection. Documents provided by the participants will be treated confidentially by H-BRS, in particular by all jury members involved, and used exclusively for the organisation of the start-up competition. They will be deleted at the end of the competition. There is no right to return the submitted documents.

• By submitting their entry, participating start-up teams that qualify for the final agree to present their idea at the final event and consent to the organiser creating and reproducing image and video recordings of the participants for information and documentation purposes and publishing them in print and audiovisual media. Specifically, publication on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, on the university website and in the university newsletter is planned.
• By taking part in the competition, participants expressly agree to the conditions of participation.

Further information on data protection
We hereby inform you about the processing of your personal data. We also inform you about your rights and who you can contact if you have any questions. This data protection information applies in addition to the data protection declaration of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences: https://www.h-brs.de/de/datenschutz.

Who is responsible for data processing?
Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (CENTIM), Grantham-Allee 20, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany, represented by the Praesident, is responsible for data processing for the ideas competition. The following contact details are available: Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Grantham-Allee 20, 53757 Sankt Augustin, e-mail: praesident@h-brs.de, phone: +49 2241 865 0, fax: +49 2241 865 609

Who can you contact if you have questions about data protection?
If you have any questions about data processing, you can contact the university's data protection officer. The following contact options are available: Data Protection Officer of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Grantham-Allee 20, 53757 Sankt Augustin, e-mail: datenschutzbeauftragte@h-brs.de.

What data is processed?
The following personal data will be processed for the ideas competition:
Surname, first name, e-mail address, telephone number, relationship to the university, date of business registration/name of company if applicable.

For what purposes do we process your data and what is the legal basis?
The data is processed for participation in the ideas competition. Specifically, this means that we collect your data for the purpose of organising the ideas competition and notifying the winners and store it for the duration of the ideas competition. The legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a-c of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) if the data subject has consented to data processing or a contract or legal obligation (voluntary participation in the ideas competition) is to be fulfilled. Consent can be withdrawn at any time.

How long will the data be stored?
We generally only store your data for as long as we need it for the respective processing purposes, i.e. the data you provide will be deleted as soon as the purpose for which it was stored no longer applies.

What rights do data subjects have?
As a data subject, you have the right (1) to information about the personal data stored about you in accordance with the provisions of Article 15 GDPR; (2) to rectification of incorrect or incomplete data in accordance with Article 16 GDPR; (3) to erasure of your personal data in accordance with Article 17 GDPR; (4) to object to the processing of your data; (5) to restriction of the processing of your data in accordance with Article 18 GDPR; (6) to data portability in accordance with Article 20 GDPR; (7) to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection supervisory authority (LDI NRW (nrw. de); (8) Right to revoke the declaration of consent.

Further information can be found in our privacy policy: https://www.h-brs.de/de/datenschutz