It was not an easy evening for the jury at the final pitch for the third round of the startup your idea Competition for founding ideas of the Gateway Excellence Start-up Center and the WiSo Faculty of the University of Cologne. In the close final, the team cell imAIging around Bernhard Röck and Pavana Lakshmi Vaddavalli, from the CECAD Research Center at the University of Cologne, finally won.
The idea of the two doctoral students: To improve image analysis of cancer cells with the help of artificial intelligence. In the end, this was worth €5,000 in 1st place to the five-member panel of founding experts around WiSo-Professors Rainer Minz and Christian Schwens (Endowed Chair for Interdisciplinary Management Science).
Five teams had made it to the final. On 27 January, they presented their ideas in five-minute pitches and then answered questions from the expert jury. The audience was streamed live and voted for their favourite for the audience award, while the jury decided on the first three places in the start-up ideas competition.
An evening with impact for the audience as well, as WiSo alumnus Tim Schumacher gave insights into the work behind a Climate Tech Fund. In conversation with moderator Andreas Klein, he had some valuable tips for founders of sustainable start-ups and those who want to become one.
Winners:
- 1st place (benefits in kind worth € 5,000) - cell imAIging
- 2nd place (benefits in kind worth € 3,000) - RAYNY
- 3rd place (benefits in kind worth 1.000 €) - VitrofluidiX
- Audience Award (benefits in kind worth 1.000 €) - RAYNY
The competition was organised for the third time by Gateway ESC and the WiSo Faculty of the University of Cologne. The best start-up ideas were sought among students from all disciplines at the University of Cologne and the TH Köln.