This was Impact Day 2023

30 May 2023
published by hei_INNOVATION

Impact Fair

The IMPACT DAY began at 11 am with the Impact Fair. Here, booths were set up that presented transfer, impact, and startup ideas from members of the university. Furthermore, startups and spin-offs that have emerged from the university exhibited there. Institutions of the Ruperto Carola and its partners that support transfer in Heidelberg were also present, and food trucks catered to booth owners and fair visitors.

Ideas Competition

Last winter, the transfer agency hei_INNOVATION rolled out the first ideas competition at Heidelberg University. In the run-up to IMPACT DAY, an external jury of experts had already selected the best three ideas in the categories "Social Innovation", “Business Innovation” and "Science/Tech Innovation". The nine finalists presented their ideas at the time of the Impact Fair to this jury in 3-minute pitches, each followed by a question and answer session.

Finale as the closing event

The Impact Fair was followed by the official finale of the hei_INNOVATION ideas competition at 5 pm, where the nine finalists pitched their ideas to the audience and the winners in the three categories were announced. The program, moderated by Jan-Martin Wiarda, was complemented by a keynote speech by Prof. Stephan Urban and a panel on the topic of transfer at a Comprehensive Research University. In addition to the Vice-Rector for Innovation and Transfer, Prof. Matthias Weidemüller, and Prof. Urban, the panel included Prof. Silke Hertel and Prof. Barbara Mittler, thus representing the entire range of disciplines at Heidelberg University. Afterwards, the IMPACT DAY continued with a get-together at 7 pm.

Winners of the hei_INNOVATION Ideas Competition

In each of the three categories, awards were given to the ideas with the greatest impact and highest social relevance, which at the same time benefit a large target group.

The first place in the “Social Innovation” category was won by Dr. Corentin Gondrand and Estelle Bonedeau, who developed a blood test for people affected by chronic diseases. Their project, “QuantiLight,” promises to make life easier for people around the world by allowing them to take the necessary blood tests from home instead of traveling to a doctor's office.

In the “Business Innovation” category, the first place went to Stephan Lenert, Tim Langer and David Jährling. Their pocket AI personal trainer will take fitness for amateur athletes to a new level while making it safer by visually tracking users' fitness movements and providing live feedback from the app on whether the movements were performed correctly.

In the category "Science and Tech Innovation", the jury chose the team Junior Prof. Philipp Uhl, Dr. Florian Umstätter, Julia Werner, Eric Mühlberg, Tyra Christian, Prof. Walter Mier and their project to overcome antibiotic resistances. These are overcome by making already established antibiotics adaptable through modification and thus even previously resistant bacteria can be combated.

The audience award went to Maximilian Hammer's team, which is developing a hydrogel to replace the vitreous body inside the eye in the long term to significantly improve vision after vitrectomy surgery.