On Tuesday, 16 July 2024, the ASAP Final (powered by NXTGN) took place for the twelfth time. This year, the 26 best university-related teams from all over Baden-Württemberg pitched their ideas live in the Zoom stream and via YouTube. High-calibre prizes awaited the winners - the overall winner was "Schall-Dämm-Bolzen" from Biberach University of Applied Sciences.
This is the Academic Seed Accelerator Programme
The Academic Seed Accelerator Programme (ASAP for short), which has been running since 2018, is an offer from the innovation platform NXTGN. As part of ASAP, university-related teams from all over Baden-Württemberg develop numerous innovative business ideas each round, which they can then present to an audience at the ASAP final.
The twelfth final online from the ARENA2036
The twelfth final of the programme took place for the first time in the ARENA2036. The two hosts of the startup podcast "Spätzle Valley" Sebastian Demuth and Christian Veit moderated the exciting final live from the balcony for the fourth time and guided the audience through this year's programme. The finalists were able to pitch their business ideas in front of an audience consisting of numerous audience members, university and company representatives, investors and other players from Baden-Württemberg's startup ecosystem.
Between the various pitches and the award ceremony, Sebastian and Chris interviewed the startup Tabularis.AI (Richard Schreiber and Klara Prettl), last year's overall winner, who gave us exciting insights into startup life.
Before the jury, consisting of Eduard Sabelfeld, Laura Koch, Prof Dr Stephan Lengsfeld, Sarina Hötzel and Hannes Metzger, selected the winners, the networking partners and accelerators were introduced to the electronic sounds of DJ Clemens.
This year's winners of the final
"Schall-Dämm-Bolzen" from Biberach University of Applied Sciences was chosen by the jury as the Overall Winner of the current round. Schall-Dämm-Bolzen offers an easy-to-install solution for reducing sound in stairs, ceilings and other building components.
The Business Model Award was won this round by "Bauerngold". The team from Biberach University of Applied Sciences turns liquid manure into sustainable fertiliser pellets.
The Innovation Award went to "ecoPhalt", also from Biberach University of Applied Sciences. ecoPhalt is all about developing and marketing sustainable asphalt solutions.
The "RadarVision" team from Ulm University of Applied Sciences won the Impact Award in this round. RadarVision is developing a radar sensor that makes obstacles acoustically and haptically perceptible for visually impaired and blind people.
The Best Pitch Award went to "slash" from Ulm University of Applied Sciences, a platform that takes storytelling to a new level with personalised radio plays.
Once again, viewers voted for their favourite team in this round. Team SmartCart, whose AI-supported shopping trolley helps visually impaired people to identify products and find their way around the shop with ease, received the most votes and therefore the "Audience Darling" award.
Further information, an overview of the prizes, the jury and the recording of the final can be found on our Website to find.
More about NXTGN
NXTGN is the new innovation network of leading institutions in Baden-Württemberg. The goal: a successful, innovative and closely networked next generation of companies. To achieve this, NXTGN brings together start-ups, science and established companies in the economy.
