Two University of Bremen student teams are winners of the CAMPUSiDEEN 2015 competition. The business start-up support initiative BRIDGE awarded the prize for the outstanding business concepts submitted by students of the University. The prize money amounts to 14,000 euros. This year’s jury decided on the "Kaiak" paddle-bike concept, and the digital law-office assistant "edicted". The BRIDGE experts were full of praise for the high quality of this year’s entries.

The “Kaiak” paddle-bike kaiak

In the category “Business Ideas”, Kai Eggemann and Michael Meyer-Coors took first place with their “Kaiak” paddle-bike concept. The paddle bike is a kayak mounted on a three-wheel bicycle frame which is steered and propelled via a cable system powered only by the “driver’s” arm strength. Now kaiak enthusiasts can get out into the fresh air and continue training on paved surfaces instead of on the water. “I’ve been doing water sports for the past 18 years, and I’m constantly frustrated by the fact that training becomes so difficult in winter because of the cold and the waterways freezing over”, says Kai Eggemann. Then the 27-year-old hit on the idea of the “Kaiak”, which he designed together with fellow student, Michael Meyer-Coors. The paddle bike is causing quite a stir well-beyond Bremen. The idea has caught on not only with performance and recreational athletes: National teams of international water sports enthusiasts are also showing keen interest in the innovative idea.

Digital office assistant

In the category “Business Plans”, the jury was especially impressed by the concept put forward by students Marco Klock and Philipp Harsleben in their entry called “edicted GmbH”, which is based on innovative digital support for law-offices. The two law students developed an internet platform that helps law firms to subcontract orders to third parties. In the past, the two aspiring lawyers had themselves accepted work contracts from law offices, and then found themselves more and more often subcontracting to fellow students. Their online platform makes it easier for clients and contractors to get in touch with one another, is divided into different fields, and enables initial inspection of formal qualifications. edicted GmbH is therefore attractive for large numbers of law firms, and it is indeed already being marketed quite successfully.

BRIDGE received a total of 33 entries

Beside the prize winners, Holger Ruge and Anke Truscheit from BRIDGE, organizers of the competition, also had cause to be happy. BRIDGE is an initiative supported by the universities in the State of Bremen and Bremer Aufbau-Bank GmbH to support student start-up enterprises. They were deeply impressed by the high quality of this year’s 33 entries and, of course, the fact that the CAMPUSiDEEN competition is attracting so much interest.

Jury praised the presentations delivered by this year’s finalists

The presentations by this year’s finalists took place three weeks before the prize-giving ceremony, and were generally seen to be of exceedingly high quality – an assessment shared unanimously by the panel of judges. Jörn-Michael Gauss (Managing Director of Bremer Aufbau-Bank GmbH), Dr. Dennis Stockinger (Bremen Chamber of Commerce), Professor Uta Bohnebeck (Bremen University of Applied Sciences), Bea Engelmann (start-up entrepreneur) and Stefan Büssenschütt (Senator for the Economy, Labor, and the Ports) were invited to judge ten projects selected from the category “Business Ideas”. The three “Business Plans” finalists were judged by Professor Stefan Rill (Managing Director of SR Unternehmensbeteiligung GmbH), Ebru Ötztürk (Gründungsberatung RKW Bremen GmbH), Nils Götzel (Head of the Department Business Start-ups at Sparkasse Bremen), Detlef Hanke ( Joint Chairperson of Business Angels Weser Ems e.V.), Dr. Frank Thoss (Managing Director of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce) and Michael Görges (Project Manager R&D at BLG Logistics Group AG & Co. KG).

CAMPUSiDEEN competition – background

This is the 13th year the CAMPUSiDEEN competition has been held. Having so far chalked up a total of more than 500 submitted business proposals, it is among the most successful ideas competitions on the German university landscape. CAMPUSiDEEN is supported by Bremer Aufbau-Bank GmbH, the Sparkasse Bremen, the Bremen Chamber of Commerce, BLG LOGISTICS GROUP AG & Co. KG, neuland bremen GmbH, and the law firm Nachtwey IP.

If you would like to have more information on this topic, please contact:
University of Bremen
BRIDGE
Holger Ruge
Phone: +49 421 218 - 60 346
e-mail: holger.rugeprotect me ?!vw.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de

Bremen University of Applied Sciences
Anke Truscheit
Phone: +49 421 5905 - 20 19
e-mail: anke.truscheitprotect me ?!hs-bremenprotect me ?!.de