Micro-fitness studio to audio walk: five Hessen Ideas grants go to Kassel
The "RhönReisen ohne Footprint" project by Dorothea Griep, Anne Mack and Olga Turiel Dorofeeva (Kunsthochschule Kassel) has been awarded a Hessen Ideas Grant.
Five new Hessen Ideas Scholarships have been awarded to the University of Kassel - this program supports innovative start-up ideas from Hessian universities. The Kassel teams are competing with projects ranging from micro fitness studios and audible local history to AR systems for production in companies.
"Our society needs many clever and creative minds who can provide solutions to the challenges of our time with fresh ideas and innovative products, services and business models. With ideas from Hesse, we motivate potential founders from universities to embark on the path to self-employment and support them in the transition from an entrepreneurial idea to a convincing business concept. In this way, together we are shaping a society that is resilient, capable of change and fit for the future. I congratulate the teams on their successful application for the Hessen Ideas Scholarship and wish them courage and perseverance on their entrepreneurial path," said patron Angela Dorn, Hesse's Minister of Science and the Arts.
The Hessen Ideas Scholarship is a six-month scholarship program for university members and graduates with an affinity for start-ups who are in the early stages of developing an innovative, knowledge-based, entrepreneurial business idea. A total of 14 scholarships will be awarded to teams from six universities in this round.
The winners from Kassel were
historyHYPE (Lukas Ferber, Marvin Kinkele, Josephine Prkno): historyHYPE aims to make the history of parks, cities and other places tangible with individual audio stations and audio walks.
RhönReisen ohne Footprint (Dorothea Griep, Anne Mack, Olga Turiel Dorofeeva): RhönReisen supports the trend towards sustainable vacations in local recreation areas with new types of accommodation and toilets in the immediate vicinity of hiking trails.
Representation Alliance (Mehmet Eren Aslan, Kay Clobes, Alejandra Lukas): The Substitute Alliance creates a pool of student teachers who are available for substitute work and supervision.
Fortis Studios (Jan Poguntke): Fully automated micro-fitness studios are installed in small commercial and office spaces, which athletes or personal trainers can book by the hour.
CoARTec (Johannes Pfleging): CoARTec develops digital assistance systems for manufacturing in companies. With the help of AR technology, functions such as remote support, assembly instructions, ergonomics monitoring and robot collaboration are possible.
Background: The grant consists of two elements: financial support and an accompanying accelerator program. The monetary support of up to 2,000 euros per month per scholarship holder is intended to give the start-up teams the freedom to focus on developing their idea. At the same time, they are supported in developing their business idea with the Ideas Accelerator, a comprehensively organized coaching and workshop programme.
Hessen Ideen is an initiative of the state of Hesse, Hessian universities and Hessian companies. The Hessen Ideen Scholarship, Hessen Ideen Competition, Hessen Ideen Crowdfunding and the Hessen Ideen University Network are designed to discover and promote entrepreneurial ideas at universities. The initiative is coordinated by UniKasselTransfer at the University of Kassel in cooperation with HIGHEST at the Technical University of Darmstadt. The state of Hesse is supporting the Hessen Ideen initiative with 5.4 million euros until 2025 as part of the Hessian Higher Education Pact. Further information:www.hessen-ideen.de