Apply now: Startup-Impuls competition enters the next round!

Do you remember the Wingfield box that won the top prize in the Startup-Impuls start-up competition in 2017? The two ex-tennis pros Maik Burlage and Jaan Brunken founded Wingfield GmbH back then and have since really taken off with their innovation. The installation consisting of two cameras and a processor unit is revolutionizing the sport of tennis. With the help of artificial intelligence and innovative image processing software, the box is able to track and evaluate a wide range of data from a tennis match. Normal tennis courts thus become digital smart courts and the results are conveniently available via app. The award at the Startup-Impuls start-up competition not only provided the founders with advice and, with the prize money, seed capital, but also the broad publicity they needed to roll out the market from Hanover. Today, around 200 clubs and 15,000 players are already using this completely new type of coaching. This is just one of the many success stories that have been written in the start-up competition organized by hannoverimpuls and Sparkasse. The next round starts on October 20 and interested parties can apply until January 9, 2022!

The Startup-Impuls start-up competition, which is open to all sectors, offers those interested in setting up their own business the opportunity to test the marketability of their business idea and develop it into a business concept. With the help of a preparatory consulting program and personal start-up coaching, applicants are to be put on the path to self-employment. Startup-Impuls - one of the most highly endowed regional competitions - is about more than just prize money, as the example of Wingfield shows. The founders benefit from the know-how of experienced experts on their way to their own company. The competition takes the idea from concept to award and onto the market. The aim is to support applicants in designing and developing their business idea through to a marketable business model.

Startup-Impuls is the right place for anyone who has just founded a company or is in the starting blocks with a start-up idea. "Many a business idea has only gained essential impetus and the right polish for success on the market in the competition," reports Björn Höhne, Project Manager for Start-ups and Entrepreneurship at hannoverimpuls, who is responsible for the 19th Startup-Impuls start-up competition: "I am particularly pleased that many ideas are only implemented thanks to the start-up competition - and these start-ups are more successful on average thanks to the accompanying network of experts."

In 2022, participants can once again look forward to prizes worth more than 100,000 euros in three categories, high-quality consulting and coaching offers, feedback, image clips - and the publicity that is so important for success! A total of eleven teams or solo starters will be nominated for the various categories in the Startup Impulse competition.

At Team-Start, innovative, unusual or other promising ideas from team start-ups that have been implemented in the Hannover Region in 2021 or are to be implemented in the future can win 25,000 euros. This prize also focuses on the international potential of the business idea. The best team is selected from four nominated applications that have pitched their idea to the jury in person.

The "Solo-Start" award is aimed at anyone who is taking off on their own with their business idea. Many entrepreneurs start out as "solopreneurs", for example with design products, gastronomy concepts or online stores. Watch out: Solo in this case refers to the number of founders - not the number of employees. The "Best Female Founder" and the "Best Male Founder" will be selected from four nominations. The winner will receive prize money of 25,000 euros!

All ideas and start-ups from a scientific or research context are in good hands in the "Hochschul-Start" prize supported by Gehrke Econ. It is primarily aimed at start-up projects at an early idea stage. The Hochschul-Start award category is aimed at students, institutes and departments at universities and universities of applied sciences, non-university research institutions and academic staff in the Hannover Region. We are looking for scientific projects and (research) results that have a particularly high potential for founding a company. The three nominees pitch their idea to a jury. The 1st place winner will receive a prize of around 23,000 euros. In addition to 15,000 euros in prize money (earmarked for a specific purpose), this also includes individual support services worth up to 8,000 euros for the realization of the start-up and further development of the business idea, which are primarily provided by Gehrke Econ.

All nominees in the three award categories will receive a professional image clip and pitch training. In addition, HMTG will once again award a special marketing prize among the entries this year.

Application deadline for the 19th Startup-Impuls start-up competition:
09.01.2022. Interested parties can find all information at

www.startup-impuls.de