• 07 — 10 — 2020
  • Science Park Graz
Start-up Idea Competition 2020 – and the winners are…

New challenges call for new approaches. A guiding principle, that became even more important at the beginning of 2020 when the coronavirus started to shake every area of the economy – including the event industry. 

Not even our Start-up Idea Competition was spared by the consequences of the COVID-19 restrictions. But – as every start-up knows – obstacles are there to be removed. Thus, we decided to go for an online solution.

Given the extraordinary quality of applications we received, selecting the finalists was not an easy task. Together with our top-notch jury on 06. October the winners amongst the finalists were announced, followed by an after-awards-ceremony-online-party.

  • more than 150 applications
  • 18 finalists
  • 9 jury members
  • 6 categories
  • 12,000 EUR prize money
  • 1 objective: find the best business idea

And the winners are:

Mobility

Project: ReFuel Solutions
Presented by: Adriano Cordisco

ReFuel Solutions is a start-up project with a mobility vision based on the concept of the biofuel potential, which is totally exploited by an innovative conversion kit for diesel vehicles. This technology promotes a circular-economy and ecological approach to replace petroleum-based fuels.

Energy & Environment

Project:  aeroSQAIR
Presented by: Esther Hummel

aeroSQAIR combines the benefits of technical air filters and green walls - we offer modular moss panels to improve indoor air quality.
Our long-term goal is to enhance the quality of life in cities by improving the health and well-being of citizens with nature-based solutions.

Health

Project:  Mitral Butterfly – a minimally invasive cardiac device
Presented by: DI Johanna Maria Ticar, MSc & Matthäus Mensdorff Pouilly, BSc

AVVie (Angel Valve Vienna) develops novel minimally invasive repair systems addressing mitral insufficiency, a clinically unmet need correcting heart valve dysfunction, affecting millions worldwide. AVVie’s core product and present innovation is the Mitral Butterfly 3c device.

Special Societal Impact

Project:  Tablescope 
Presented by: Leonardo Alese, Emanuele Santellani

We got used to play board games on grids and maps but till now game designers could not access a very natural resource: the position of the objects on the table. Measuring distances and checking lines of sight by hand are slow and imprecise tasks. The goal of Tablescope is to use computer vision to enable a new class of disruptive tabletop games designs, without sacrificing but rather enhancing their analog nature. 

Digital Economy & ICT

Project: rotable – simplifying medical careers
Presented by: Lisa Holzgruber & Yannick Dues

In line with their slogan - simplifying medical careers – rotable’s expert-team aims to optimize and streamline the administration of doctors in training and simplify the complexity of cross-hospital clinical-rotation-scheduling through intelligent automation. rotable is the first solution that enables hospitals and highly qualified doctors to minimize time spend on these administrative tasks and gain more time for patient-related tasks.

Space

Project: STYRIAM METALS
Presented by: Mateusz Skalon

 The main idea consists of smart powders of metallic alloys dedicated for Laser Power Bed Fusion Process that extend users’ freedom of design by eliminating need of using supporting structures. 

By using the smart powders one, can finally fully utilise the freedom of design offered by additive manufacturing and produce parts of nearly unlimited geometry.  


Congrats to all winners and thank you to all finalists and applicants! You were great! Looking forward to next year's Start-up Idea Competition!

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