TU Ideas Competition
TU Darmstadt has an abundance of ideas: The TU Ideas Competition offers scientists, students, alumni and all members of TU Darmstadt the opportunity to present and advance their own innovative product, business ideas or research results with a view towards exploitation.
The ideas will be tested for their marketing and innovation potential by a jury of experts from start-ups, business, science and politics.
The final of the TU Idea Competition took place on 30 October 2025.
About the TU Ideas Competition
Jury “Scientist category”
Dr. Andreas Kanstein, cesah GmbH
Prof. Dr. Carolin Bock, TU Darmstadt – FB 1 Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Daniel Pfeffer, HEAG Holding AG
Dirk Widuch, Hessenmetall Bezirksgruppe Darmstadt+ Südhessen e.V. – Unternehmerverband Südhessen e.V.
Dunja Tsoumanis, WSL Patentanwälte Partnerschaft mbB
Dr. Gerhard Schwall, Merck KGaA
Dr. Gernot Berger, High-Tech Gründerfonds
Jan Hansmann, Fraunhofer LBF
Lena-Marie Tamanini, Sparkasse Darmstadt
Dr. Oliver Hartkorn, WSL Patentanwälte Partnerschaft mbB
Szilárd Varga, Grünewald GmbH
Yannic Ambach, B 1 Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Jury “Category students”
Prof. Dr. Alexander Kock, TU Darmstadt – FB 1 Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Alexandra Anderson, GoDaddy
Bettina Laurick
Dr. Detlef Terzenbach, HTAI – Hessen Trade & Invest GmbH
Florine von Caprivi, reteach
Jacek Tetera, Oddo BHF Bank
Jennifer Rink, Tapari UG
Dr. Jörg von Hagen, ryon
Mathias Krätzer, Oddo BHF Bank
Working together to advance ideas and innovations
All participants receive sound feedback from the expert jury of the ideas competition. This is an ideal opportunity for working on and refining concepts. In addition, the finalist teams receive pitch training and coaching from the HIGHEST team.
Being part of the TU Ideas Competition is your ticket to the strongest start-up ecosystem in the Rhine-Main region. Share ideas with other founders and make industry contacts
Photo: The winning teams of 2024.
All students, scientists, alumni and members of TU Darmstadt and h_da. Other teams can also apply, but it is important that one member has a connection to TU Darmstadt or h_da.
Category: Scientists
First prize: €3,000 (Sponsor: Hessenmetall)
Second prize: €2,000 (Sponsor: WSL Patentanwälte)
Third prize: €1,000 (Sponsor: Sparkasse Darmstadt)
Category: Students
First prize: €3,000 (Sponsor GoDaddy)
Second prize: €2,000 (Sponsor: StartHUB Hessen)
Third prize: €1,000 (Sponsor: Oddo BHF)
Special prizes:
Thomas Weiland-Stiftung “Sonderpreis Wissenschaft”: €3,000
Merck-Nachhaltigkeitspreis: €3,000
Participation is confidential and jury members must sign a non-disclosure agreement. Personal data will not be forwarded by the organizer to unauthorized third parties, or used internally for other purposes.
To take part in the Ideas Competition 2025 you must submit a brief proposal online. Applications will be activated from 1 April to 2 June, 2025.
Applications can only be accepted if they are complete, in writing and received on time. The final deadline will be announced in due course.
Applications and supporting documents may be submitted in English.
Start-ups or companies do not have to be founded before taking part.
The idea must have been developed independently by the participants and must not infringe the rights of third parties.
Several ideas may be submitted per participant or team. A maximum of one proposal can be awarded per participant or team.
Winners of past TU ideas competitions may not apply again with the same idea.
The participants declare their willingness to present their idea during the final event and to participate in marketing and PR activities.
Participation in the competition implies acceptance of the terms and conditions mentioned here.
Legal recourse is excluded for prize money claims. Your ideas are safe with us and the copyright and the claim to your invention or idea remains your own.
The organizer and an external jury of experts will evaluate all ideas based on the following criteria:
Degree of innovation
Economic potential
Feasibility
Customer benefits
Unique selling point
Market opportunities
They will select the finalists in both categories. The decision on the winners will be made after the finalists have presented their ideas to the expert jury.
Application form
Simone Lühl
Start-up Coach HIGHEST; simone.luehl@tu-darmstadt.de
Jessica Retzlaff
HIGHEST
Simone Lühl über den TU-Ideenwettbewerb
Ambassadors 2025
Simone Lühl, project manager of the TU Ideenwettbewerb, gives tips on how to apply.
Professor Walther on the importance of the TU Ideenwettbewerb
Sebastian Ries reports on how important the Ideenwettbewerb 2024 was for his research.
What does the jury look for? Martin Krech reports
Interview with Gudrun Latelme
Pitching in front of a large audience – that’s exciting, Catalina tells us!
Sponsors and Partner
Thank you for your support!
Highlight 2025
Finale and award ceremony of TU- Ideenwettbewerb
TU-Ideenwettbewerb jury members
Winner of the TU-Ideenwettbewerb
Winners of the TU Ideas Competition
Winners 2025
Category: Scientists
1st Prize – NanoTi
Lukas Kluy and Nick Philippi from the Institute of Production Engineering
2nd Prize – Zenaris
Tim Jefferys (TU Darmstadt) and Hakan Evcek (Goethe University Frankfurt)
3rd Prize – autonomIQ
Erkut Sarikaya and Felix Hoffmann
Category: Students
1st Prize – Coalymar
Emanuel Nowak
2nd Prize – ZM WirePrint
Julius Zwickler and Marius Merten
3rd Prize – Coach AEye
Markus Reuter and Tobias Lingenberg
Special Prize for Science by the Thomas Weiland Foundation:
NanoTi – Lukas Kluy and Nick Philippi from the Institute of Production Engineering
Merck Sustainability Award:
Coalymer – Emanuel Nowak
Category: Scientists
1. Price: MetalH2eat from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Hasse, Prof. Dr. Andreas Dreizler und Dr.-Ing. Marius Schmidt
2. Price: Lärmarme Kreissägeblätter from Sebastian Riess
3. Price: Fenexity from Benjamin Blat Belmonte
Category: Students
1. Price: Rettungsgassen-Warnsystem from Jonas Adi
2. Price: Beton als CO2-Speicher from Julian Gilbert
3. Price: E-Sense – Ejection Fraction Sensor from Khaled Abu Mustafa, Marc Philippi und Hazem Hassan
Sonderpreis Thomas Weiland-Stiftung:
TUcanSense from Evgenia Borisova, Jana Beier und Catalina Staver.
Merck-Nachhaltigkeitspreis: MetalH2eat from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Hasse, Prof. Dr. Andreas Dreizler und Dr.-Ing. Marius Schmidt.
In the category “Scientists”:
1. Prize: CorEye – smart solutions for monitoring the condition of safety-critical structures by Dr. Nassr Al-Baradoni.
Sponsored by the entega Naturpur Institute.
2. Prize: MoProX – Molecular Proximity-Based Therapeutics by Dr. Christian Meyners, Prof. Dr. Felix Hausch, Johannes Dreizler, Thomas Geiger.
Sponsored by WSL Patent Attorneys European Patent Attorneys.
3. Prize: Motark – mobile autonomous monitoring system for flooding by Tim-Jonathan Huyeng.
Sponsored by Sparkasse Darmstadt.
In the category “Students”:
1. Prize: Gaffop by David Weiß.
Sponsored by IONOS.
2. Prize: Vertical Axis Wind Turbines with Wind Deflector Elements by Erik Kohler.
Sponsored by Deloitte.
3. Prize: Virotect, the CompuGene Student Lab with Conrad Knies, Annika Sonn, Antonia Schetle, Julian Kulenkampff, Kai Kabuth, Marlene Werner, Melina Baur, Micha Becker, Mohamed Taha Soudani, Moritz Domack, Nadja Eisenbruch, Nick Trettow, Timo Schuetz.
Sponsored by ODDO BHF.
Special Prizes:
1. The Special Prize for early innovative ideas with spin-off potential, sponsored by the Association of Friends of the Technical University of Darmstadt e.V., goes to Archiplan by Davy Karsenty.
2. The Special Prize for Science, sponsored by the Thomas Weiland Foundation, is awarded to MimoSense by Dr.-Ing. Romol Chadda, Dr.-Ing. Omar Ben Dali, Bastian Latsch, Stefan Trillig.
3. The Special Prize for Sustainability, sponsored by Merck and fluxum, is awarded to Vertical Axis Wind Turbines with Wind Deflector Elements by Erik Kohler.
Winners in the scientists category: 1. Constantin Rothkopf’s team with the interactive font AdaptiFont, 2. Stèphanie Dolique and Pascal Werner for their development of innovative electrolytes for supercapacitors that can help electric cars achieve greater ranges 3. Falah Alobaid and Pascal Koschwitz with their efficient wind energy storage systems HOPES!
Winners in the students category: 1. Bird mapper Marc Neumann, who aims to slow down bird mortality with the latest AI research, 2nd Lea Kablitz and Julian Betz for their combination solution of water filter, drinking bottle and continuous mineral supply called Hydrotwist and last but not least 3. Marlon Malter, who used AI to develop Visionary Codes that anyone can use to generate their own apps. Innovations from Darmstadt.
Students category:
1. Exenretter
2 Saftey system
3. Smarter.Earth
Winners in the scientists category
1 HCP Sense
2 CeraSleeve
3 MultiUserQKH
The Cisco Special Prize for AI was awarded to the Layover Solutions team.
The special prize of Smart City Darmstadt was awarded to Tiaras.
Winners in the scientists category:
1. CANNATEX
2. 3D scanners of the latest generation
3. Organiser
Winners in the students category:
1. Cure Curve Medical AI – Algorithm for early detection of coronary heart disease
2. AIMA – Artificial Intelligence Movement Analytics
3. GreenBot Solutions – Autonomous street cleaning
Special prize of Smart City Darmstadt
Development of a symbiotic concrete microcosm system for the biogenic generation of electricity
Winners in the students category:
1. Write For Me
2. KaiparaAdVRenture
3. NeSPA
Winners in the scientists category:
1. Sooqua
2. Perun
3. Caliberation
Winners in the students category:
1.
Soft exosuit
2.
Floating office
3.
Sensor patch
Winners in the scientists category:
1.
MagnoTherm Solutions
2.
InVerz
3.
Rapid Compact
Special prize
Floating Office
Audience Award
Rapid Compact
1.
Tillmann Schatz (SVEN-Smart ventilation)
2.
Christian Müller and Markus Rettig (HydroMove)
3.
Patrick Scholl (Adaptive shoe orthosis)
Winners in the scientists category:
1.
Jonas Plum (Odin)
2.
Martin Voigt and Jasmin Guthmann (Calyx)
3.
Elena Alexandrakis (self-healing asphalt)
1.
Florian Dassinger, Sebastian Quednau, Farough Roustaie and Olav Birlem (NanoWired)
2.
Steven Arzt, Siegfried Rasthofer, Marc Miltenberger and Prof. Dr. Eric Bodden (CodeInspect)
3.
Dr. Nicolai Erbs, Mirco Zeiß and Stefan Harnisch (Privalino)
1.
Dr. Markus Biesalski and Michael Jocher: Photoreactive wet strength agents for paper
2.
Matias Acosta, Rogério Salloum, Florian Burg, Sasan Hassanzadeh and Lukas Porz: Multifunctional Piezoelectric Robot
3.
Martin Klimach and Jakob Katz: Carbon Drive
Special prize
Jörg Gottschlich and Johannes Hiemer: Cloudscale – Broker for infrastructure services in the cloud
1.
Martin Dimitrov, Dennis Stapp, Deniz Ertogul and Philip Kieper: multidimensional piezoelectric surface force sensors (tire sensor), today http://pd2m.de
2.
Professor Steffen Hardt: Method for preparative DNA separation
3.
Johannes Stegner: Measurement, evaluation and optimization of the current carrying capacity of underground cable lines
1.
Walter Schäfer: Optical droplet analyzer, today http://aom-systems.com/
2.
Frank Englert, Constantin Müller, Jan Wissmann and Lukas Wagner: AlarmApp, https://www.alarmapp.org
3.
Hendrik Schaede, Maximilian Schneider and Lukas Quurck: Kinetic energy storage
1.
Onur Hamza Karabey: Phased array antenna
2.
Matthias Götz and Thomas Schulz: Social mailing
3.
Andreas Göritz: Software library for depth cameras
1.
Dr. Harald Sieke: Wipeo the windshield wiper cutter, http://www.wipeo.de/
2.
Prof. Mezini, Dr. Marcel Bruch: IDE 2.0, today http://www.codetrails.com
3.
Ghaith Noman: Back sensor
