Just a fixed idea or real potential for a company of the future? - The local ideas competition "inspired" helped university members and graduates to clarify this question for themselves and their vision. 8 applicants qualified and were able to pitch their ideas to a jury of HOST experts at the Management Innovation Lab (MIL) at Stralsund University of Applied Sciences on 16 June.
"I took part because it's a wonderful opportunity to present your idea to others and get feedback from experts," says HOST student Manja Fölster, "an idea can only grow if you receive constructive feedback and continue to work on it". The dialogue with the jury is therefore very valuable for the next steps. And Manja Fölster will be doing just that.
The first prize
She was able to convince the jury and won the first prize of the ideas competition, endowed with 500 euros from Sparkasse Vorpommern. The 28-year-old is studying Management of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) in her 4th semester at HOST. Her choice of study programme is no coincidence. Manja Fölster comes from the largest blueberry farm in Schleswig-Holstein. Her grandfather started planting the first blueberry bushes with his three sons in 1986, and her father took over the farm two years later. Today, the farm is being handed over to her brother. As Manja also discovered her passion for blueberries at a young age, blueberries as a superfood should be at the centre of her regional café. She wants to capitalise on the potential of the high demand - this year coffee consumption has broken the record and imports of blueberries have increased dramatically in recent years. Her hope is to create a growing café concept that has the potential to become a regional coffee house chain in northern Germany. "Now is exactly the right time to tackle this."
Other award winners
Second place, endowed with 350 euros from the Stralsund SME Association, went to Hanseatenkogge and thus to Leon Sievert and Stefanie Jockschat. The two HOST graduates presented their concept for a mobile drinks stand with an innovative marketing concept and branding. A special prize from MakerPort for coworking and coaching sessions went to sailAIssist and thus to Marcus Ott, who is studying business informatics at HOST. SailAIssist is set to revolutionise the sailing world as a sailing assistant. A special prize from Founders Bay for a workation start-up package went to Besurema and thus to electrical engineering and computer science student Benedikt Wohlers and his supermarket comparison portal.
The first two winners have qualified for the state-wide ideas competition on 12 July 2023 in Wismar and thus also for the popular further development formats Rockit Week (30 August to 3 September) and Berlin Valley Tour (27 to 29 September).
The jury of the local competition
is made up of representatives from science and industry. The project is headed by Prof. Dr Petra Maier and the jury is chaired by Prof. Dr Heiko Auerbach. Other members of the jury were Prof. Dr rer. pol. Dipl.-Ing. Oliver Lüth, Prof. Dr. Ing.Jens Ladisch, Dr Maren Kopp, Daniela Freier (Sparkasse Vorpommern in Stralsund), Uwe Becker (Stralsunder Mittelstandsvereinigung e.V.), Anne Liedtke (MakerPort), Hannes Trettin (Founders Bay), Martin Priesel (Forschungsverbund MV e.V.), Paul Richter (Intero Technologies) and Sven Olsen (IHK zu Rostock).
"Inspired - The ideas competition. In MV." is a joint project of the University of Rostock, the University of Greifswald, the Wismar University of Applied Sciences, the Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences, the Stralsund University of Applied Sciences, the University of Applied Sciences for SMEs and various non-university research institutions under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Health. The ideas competition is funded by the ESF.
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