See you in Vienna for Danube Cup 2022!
Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU)
Hungary’s top universities - Corvinus University of Budapest and Budapest University of Technology and Economics - have joined forces to create the Danube Cup International Pitch Competition for students of universities along the Danube.
The mission of the competition is to bring start-ups to international success, while bringing together the most motivated university startups from both sides of the Danube. This year, the fifth cup was organized in the region, the final which was organized on 21 April within the framework of Startup Safari Budapest.
Smart homes, mental well-being, air pollution and DNA recognition - such ideas competed with each other at Danube Cup 2021 Finals, one of the region’s top university startup competitions.The Six startup teams who made it to the finals had four minutes per team to convince the international jury that their startup idea was the most viable.
Members of the Jury were Prof. Emeritus Derek F. Abell (founder of Berlin’s European School of Management, professor emeritus at ETH Zurich), Laura Egg (CEO of Austrian Angel Investors Association), István Lám (CEO of Tresorit), Prof. Dr. Mladen Cudanov (professor at the University of Belgrade, startup advisor) and Prof. Dr. Sean Sassmannshausen (professor at OTH Regensburg, director of OTH Regensburg’s Startup Center)
First place went to Perun Laboratory, a startup team delegated by University of Belgrade.
They are developing a portable DNA recognition technology. the work of police officers in criminal locations is often complicated and prolonged by the fact that the recorded DNA samples have to be returned to a laboratory. The Perun solution provides an opportunity for on-the-spot DNA analysis, thus revolutionizing this field by increasing accuracy and reducing time and cost.
In second place were Vienna-based Caire Solutions , who presented their innovative solution for reducing indoor air pollution.
In third place were the team of Mentalead from Regensburg , who are working on the development of a comprehensive application for mental well-being.
Fourth place went to a Corvinus startup, EduFund, a FinTech platform that focuses on supporting students to continue their higher education by offering funding opportunities along the way.
Fifth place was taken by Co-Writers at BME , who created an interface where online role players can meet and create new stories.
Finishing in sixth place is Pionize, a team delegated by University of Passau, the team is bringing an innovation to the smart home area. An application that was developed to simplify the management of smart homes.
Danube Cup provides business concepts that have already gained market validation locally with an international platform. It offers a chance to be seen on possible new markets, and to be validated internationally by receiving feedback by experts and other teams before the prototype is finalized.
For the winners of the Hungarian pre-selection in December 2020: in cooperation with Startit@K&H and Demola Innovation Lab.
We will award the best ideas with generous prize money and mentorship option.
Participants, entrepreneurs, mentors, sponsors and investors will find the opportunity of meeting each other during the conference sessions, coffee breaks, and other activities.
Selected startup teams may receive invitation to investment talks from distinguished angel and VC investors.
Prizes were won by every startup team from tickets to Europe's most prestigious Summits to Amazon vouchers to a 1on1 meeting with the President of Corvinus University Dr. Anthony Radev.
In collaboration with Startup Safari Budapest, the Finals event was a day-long journey with guest speakers from the 4 countries. What a show!
It is the ultimate goal of Danube Cup 2021 pitch competition to build an international and sustainable network between the universities with management education along the Danube so that both students and lecturers can benefit in the long term.
The Cooperating Universities for Danube Cup 2021 are:
Co-Founder, Chairman
BME
Project Manager
BCE
Project Manager
Demola Budapest
Founder, Project Manager
BME, BCE
Sponsoring
BCE
Communication and Brand
BCE
Project Office
BME
Finance
IVE
International Relations
BCE
Danube Cup provides business concepts that have already gained market validation locally with an international platform. It offers a chance to be seen on possible new markets, and to be validated internationally by receiving feedback by experts and other teams before the prototype is finalized.
Registration to Danube Cup Finals is ongoing. It will be revealed soon what teams will be participating in the competition, please check back later!
Team Perun is making a portable device, called Amplife, which is used as preparation for DNA analysis. Main problem for all of their target groups, which include biologists, forensic investigators and veterinarians, is the inability to conduct the PCR method while on terrain. This means that there is a risk of sample degradation, which can lower the quality of the final product or even make the method unusable. Their portable Thermal Cycler device provides user the option of amplifying the wanted DNA sequence on the spot, be it a forest or a run-down motel room. This way they are saving effort, time and money.
The goal of C:aire is to make every breath worth breathing. They are an international and diverse university spin-off combining knowledge in the fields of biology, architecture, and design as well as business development and innovation. They are building a biological filter in which bacterias are cultivated that can break down and decompose pollutants. They integrate this filter into a statue-like structure, which is overgrown with plants from the outside, but contains the biological filter on the inside. With this idea, they improve indoor air quality and biodegrade pollutants and odors instead of "overpowering" them.
Many people have health issues and suffer from social isolation. Mentalead wants to help people to improve their mental well-being. For this reason, they are developing a health app with four main features: a mood tracker, matching activities, personal counseling, and information on finding a therapy place and other topics in the mental health field. The specially designed mood tracker helps to promote emotional competencies and recognize patterns.Based on this, with the support of an AI, science-based self-care activities are suggested that actively lead to mood improvement, giving users a sense of self-efficacy.
EduFund is a FinTech platform that focuses on supporting students to continue their higher education by offering funding opportunities along the way. EduFund is trained with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to guide students to better spending actions while making all transactional information available at any time. EduFund has come from students who have felt the pain and know the right recipe for curing it!
Team CoWriters is creating a user friendly Collaborative Writing site developed to fulfill the players needs. Collaborative writing is a text-based roleplaying game where the plot of the story is driven bythe posts the players write from the view of their own characters. Their specialities are auxiliary features that make roleplaying easier and the marketplace where people with the same interestcan exchange. CoWriters is an enthusiastic team of experienced players, who gained expertise with many joyful years of playing. They know our fellows and we know what they want.
Pionize is developing a web- and app based Smart Home platform with a strong focus on simplicity. With Pionize, customers can find individualized Home Automation solutions within minutes, instead of hours.Thanks to an innovative questionnaire, this process doesn't need any specific knowledge. After ordering from one of our partners, our users can then simply set up and control their new Smart Home via the Pionize platform.Pionize is bundling a large part of the customer journey into one simple platform: finding, buying and controling Smart Home systems.
On 4th of December 2020, we successfully held the Danube Cup Hungarian pre-selection in Budapest. Out of the 8 selected pitching teams, 4 advanced to the April final: 2 teams from Budapest University of Technology and Economics amd 2 from Corvinus University of Budapest.
CoWriters is creating a user friendly Collaborative Writing site developed to fulfill the players needs.
Collaborative writing is a text-based roleplaying game where the plot of the story is driven by the posts the players write from the view of their own characters.
Their specialities are auxiliary features that make roleplaying easier and the marketplace where people with the same interestcan exchange. They are an enthusiastic team of experienced players, who gained expertise with many joyful years of playing. They know their fellows and what they want.
Bødjørk is producing reusable nets for microgreen farmers which eliminate the growingmedia cost. Microgreen farmers spend more than 10% of their revenue for growing medias. With Bødjørk's solution they turn the fix costs into one investment cost which returns in 6 months.
Team Bögre is making preservative-free, long-lasting soup in varied seasonable flavors packed in eco-friendly 400ml plastic bags. The soups are made from “ugly” vegetables, which are as fresh and vitamin-rich as their perfect-shaped siblings on the shelves of the supermarkets, but usually cheaper. In this way, Bögre would like to increase the sustainability of Hungarian agriculture and add more value to this segment. Have a pack of Bögre soup in your pantry!
EduFund is a FinTech platform that focuses on supporting students to continue their higher education by offering funding opportunities along the way. EduFund is trained with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to guide students to better spending actions while making all transactional information available at any time.
Drop of Blood provides a mobile blood collection and sampling service, that includes the preprocessing and the diagnostics of blood. It is a service that can be used by anyone, anywhere and anytime depending on their own time schedule and preference. Clients can order a blood test via their mobile phone or desktop. Drop of Blood wants to provide good quality health service because the team believes in a better healthcare system!
Mindgrid is an interactive platform, where you are guided step by step to turn your idea into a startup. You can find and collaborate with other creative minds. Creators can also find all the vital tools to manage, control and overlook their projects. You can challenge your projects straightway. Mindgrid will keep you updated with all the information in connection with hackathons and competitions. Always be ready, because you never know when an angel will find and fund your project!
METSET is an online platform aiming to help people find the right places and events. At the same time, it's also an effective digital tool for businesses to build their local customer communities. In 2020, it’s harder than ever to find the right program for each person’s unique need. METSET is creating a platform which connects businesses and customers. While they are providing a new channel for local businesses, they also help customers to spend their time and money in the best possible way.
In our day to day life, anybody might have come across many situations where he was helpless to complete a particular task, like painting, maintenance of technical equipment, furniture assembly, or more. There are amazingly wide range of demand which are not covered by professionals, but people would pay for them. Ezer1mester is a Hungarian startup that enables clients to outsource their daily tasks to hardworking handymen.
They offer a unique solution to people who got rejected by the professionals or have to wait too long for them or cannot afford their high prices.
The finals of Danube Cup 2021 are to be held in two rounds throughout April, the first one being a semi-final event on April 8 with all fourteen teams delegated by the seven participating universities. Teams will be evaluated by the jury quantitatively, first in the morning, then once again in the afternoon. Between the two sessions, all teams will have the chance to improve their entrepreneurial pitches with the help of their own or Danube Cup-assigned coaches. At the end of the day, the jury chooses one team from each university to proceed to the final event.
The second and final round of Danube Cup 2021 is to be held on April 21 in the framework of Budapest Startup Safari. Presenting the final version of their pitches are the seven teams selected to move forward from the semi-final.
Startup Safari is the biggest yearly event for Hungary’s startup ecosystem, which naturally includes and holds in great regard international participants as well. The festival aims to promote knowledge sharing through different formats between the members of the ecosystem, and the official program includes talks, panels and interactive workshops. Other than the official agenda, it is a great networking opportunity, as every year it is a focus of startups, incubators, accelerators, mentors and investors, as well as corporations.
Due to the pandemic, this year’s three-day event is to be streamed online between 21-23 April with over 150 sessions with expert participants. Startup Safari organizes its program into parallel thematic ‘journeys’ that guests can attend throughout the three days, and we are proud to say that Danube Cup 2021 has its own journey within the festival on 21 April!The highlight of the Danube Cup journey is the final pitch competition from 15:15 to 18:00. However, the day will be packed with truly valuable and exciting talks from successful startups and experts with ties to our participating universities. So don’t miss out, tune in from as early as 9 in the morning!
Our program plan for April 21 will be posted here soon, please check back later!
In order to be chosen to compete by their respective universities, applicants must meet the following requirements:
Team size: Teams must have 3-5 members in total. Each participant can only be a member of one team.
Student teams: Teams may contain non-university member participants. However, at least 75% of the team should be composed of registered university (undergraduate, graduate or PhD) students, and at least one of them should be registered at the participating university.
Young projects: Teams must present an original idea for an enterprise that did not exist before 2020. Teams must be in a “pre-incubator” stage and must not have received funding from professional third-party accelerators, incubators, existing companies or venture capitalists.
Business concepts: We are calling for business concepts that are original, innovative, and have high growth potential on an international platform independently of local market trends as far as possible.
Validation: We place great value on market validation and are looking for teams that have already performed some form of validation research (interviews, surveys, user research data and trend analysis, competitive analysis etc.) for their ideas, at least locally. This event is not an idea competition. However, an existing prototype is not a requirement for the application, even though it would greatly help the understanding and visualization of the solution.
We focus on startups in the “validation” phase. You may hear various terms for this, but it really boils down to the question: should I invest any more of my time or money into developing this business idea? Who are my customers? What are their preferences? How can I reach out to them? In the simplest of terms, startups in this phase validate ACTUAL customer behavior. Since the final and ultimate goal of startups is international growth, we are convinced that startups should begin international validation and networking as early as possible.
Interested when a startup arrives in the validation phase? Take a look at Professor János Vecsenyi's 12-step map, which shows how a startup can get from having an idea to entering the market.
All Danube Cup competing teams, and start-ups in general, need to develop their own business concept, for which you can find help by clicking on the link below.
Meet Our friends, partners and supporters who are enthusiastic about young entrepreneurs and believe in the mission of Danube Cup 2021 to build an international and sustainable network between the universities along the Danube.
Danube Cup is a unique chance to display your brand in an international university environment on various platforms online and offline.
Get recognized by thousands of students, lecturers, mentors, community members and established entrepreneurs.
Associate your company with empowerment, change, innovation and entrepreneurship, but most importantly, your sponsorship will help to train future generations to solve problems and create opportunities.
Our sponsorship packages are designed to create strategic partnerships, educate student entrepreneurs and fund pitch competitions.
Enthusiastic about young entrepreneurs, and keen to help them realise their full potential on an international platform? If you see the value in our initiative, and want to have an impact on the Central European startup ecosystem, drop us an email, let’s talk: info@danubecup.net
Download Our Sponsorhip PackageDanube Cup has received widespread attention from the media for its uniqueness for being the first student-focused pitch competition for universities along the Danube! Here are some of of the articles about the competition in the Hungarian and English language.
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