The stage is set, the spotlights bathe the presentation room in a sea of color and then it finally starts. The pitching contest takes place in two rounds, each with three teams.

Each team has five minutes to impress the audience, the jury and the company representatives. "We were so nervous and practiced until just before our pitch, but when we stood on stage, our nervousness was blown away," says Sindi Teqja, a student at the TUM Campus Heilbronn, after her presentation for the "Revolution" team. In this case, the client for the project was Porsche; the revolutionary team consists of three TUM students and one representative from Heilbronn University. This is Lissie Wiest: "The teamwork worked really well, we quickly found common ground," explains Wiest.

From 16 to 6

Johannes Schnabel from Campus Founders, who sits on the expert jury, explains what he pays particular attention to in the presentations: "When assessing the projects, I attach great importance to whether they are actually feasible." Alongside him, Andrea Diewald, Christine Ritter and Falk Uebernickel will decide on the jury prize. Schnabel’s opening words also stand for the motto of the entire project: "Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn."

At the start of the challenge, 16 teams competed in 4 business challenges, which were provided by Porsche, ebm-papst, the Dieter Schwarz Foundation and i2M. In the semi-finals the day before, four teams qualified directly, one per sponsor, as well as two wildcards selected by the Campus Founders.

The mix makes the difference

However, the winner of the jury prize that evening was a different team: "Bridge". A team that shows the diversity of educational institutions on the educational campus and beyond: Valeriia Sliusar from the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Aishwarya and Leonie Rieth from Heilbronn University, Florian Keitel from Network 42 and Shushant Sharma from the TUM Campus Heilbronn have developed a concept for the Dieter Schwarz Foundation on how the individual members of the ecosystem can build bridges to each other. "Everyone in the team had to find their role first," reports Valeriia. With success: the app prototype, which makes networking easy for users, won over the jury.

The mentors of the challenge include Julia Väth, Press Officer of the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, and Daniel Gottschald, Managing Director of TUM Campus Heilbronn gGmbH. Both are enthusiastic about the results and the commitment of the students: "They have made an enormous leap forward in their development and in some cases have hit exactly the sore spots," says Väth. One of the main tasks of the supervisors was to arrange contacts for the teams’ research. Daniel Gottschald adds: "We see ourselves as an integrative partner on the educational campus and will make use of the students’ impulses. Internationality plays a special role for us as TUM Campus Heilbronn; the motto for 2024 will be Europe Campus." 

A look into the future

TUM graduates Samuel Keitel, Tim Findeiss and Stael Wilfried Tchinda Kuete show where participation in the Corporate Campus Challenge can lead. Having just been in Silicon Valley for research purposes, the three of them will be on stage this evening to tell the story of their start-up Senior Consultant. The start-up aims to enable employees over the age of 60 to remain attractive in the job market. Given the much-discussed issue of skills shortages, this is more than useful. They already have contacts with companies, and in Silicon Valley, they were able to get expertise from one of the best-known accelerator programs. After a year of experience in the start-up cosmos, what advice do the three of them have for new challengers? "Start with sales as early as possible. A good idea alone is not enough for a successful business."    

Three further prizes will be awarded, including the Audience Award. The attendees choose "Fantastic" as the winner for their creative performance. At the end of the evening, award winners, mentors and coaches celebrate together at a big party with a cold drink or two. By now, even the last person has realized that there are no losers here. The future will show which projects will be pursued further. Perhaps this event will be the starting signal for the next successful start-up.