{"id":18122,"date":"2026-03-25T12:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T12:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gruendungsregiongoslar.de\/news\/high-level-of-innovation-at-the-2026-tunicorn-ideas-competition\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T10:04:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T10:04:48","slug":"high-level-of-innovation-at-the-2026-tunicorn-ideas-competition","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/gruendungsregiongoslar.de\/en\/news\/high-level-of-innovation-at-the-2026-tunicorn-ideas-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"High level of innovation at the 2026 \u2018TUniCorn\u2019 ideas competition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ce_text block\">\n<div class=\"textOnly\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Eighteen teams applied for the fourth edition of the ideas competition. Eight particularly impressed the organisers and presented their ideas in short pitches at the final in the Startup Centre in early March.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u2018We are delighted to announce that all three winning teams from the 2023 TUniCorn ideas competition have successfully founded companies. That shows the great startup potential of our region,\u2019 said Simon Wolters, opening the final of the 2026 TUniCorn ideas competition in early March together with Selma Lohan. Both are advisers in the joint startup service run by TU Clausthal and WiReGo. A new participation record was set this year: 18 teams applied for the fourth edition of the competition. Eight of them particularly impressed and were allowed to present their ideas in short pitches at the final at the Startup Centre on 05 March.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The competition is highly significant for the founding teams. Statements by past and current participants make this clear. All teams value the honest, clear external assessment of their business ideas from the jury members. It reveals weaknesses in their concepts, sharpens their target groups and helps develop their business models substantially with an eye to commercial viability.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Quality of entries impresses jury<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">After their pitches, the finalists answered questions from the jury. As in the previous year, it comprised Iris Seeber (Volksbank im Harz), Christian Sch\u00e4fer (Fels-Werke GmbH), Dr.-Ing. Michael Rei\u00df (Holos Excellence) and Samet Kibar (Clausthal-Zellerfeld Startup Centre). Prof. Ani Melkonyan-Gottschalk also participated online for the first time and was represented on site by Annika Hoppe (both from the Institute of Geotechnology and Mineral Resources).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u2018Their ideas challenged me in a particularly rewarding way this year. I really enjoyed exploring the topics presented,\u2019 Iris Seeber said in praise of the pitches. Christian Sch\u00e4fer also stressed: \u2018Every project was extremely interesting and professionally presented.\u2019 The jury assessed the teams on innovation potential, customer benefit and presentation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Innovative approaches to energy, recycling and communication<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">First place went to Dr.-Ing. Marina Becker and Dr.-Ing. Maik Becker for \u2018QuinAir\u2019, a seasonal electrochemical energy storage system combining redox flow and metal-air batteries. The novel air redox flow battery aims for extremely low costs (less than \u20ac34\/kWh), high energy density and seasonal storage of solar power. They receive \u20ac1,000 in prize money for first place.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Second place, worth \u20ac500, went to the \u2018Rotor\u2019 project. Maximilian Feyrer and Philipp von G\u00fcldenstubbe are developing a continuous pyrolysis process for material recycling of glass-fibre-reinforced plastic rotor blades from wind turbines. The aim is to recover glass fibres as well as oil and gas fractions from real, heterogeneous rotor blade materials, establishing a genuine recycling route instead of downcycling as in the cement industry.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Zaki Hussein, Dominik Schulz and Dr. David Unbehaun took third place with \u2018Clara AI\u2019 and receive \u20ac250 in prize money. \u2018Clara AI\u2019 is a hands-free, natural-language AI system that enables nursing staff to document care directly while they work. Spoken content is transcribed, analysed semantically, structured and transferred to care software in accordance with guidelines. Its distinctive features are multilingual capability and the ability to answer staff questions about individual patients.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Further support for the finalist teams<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Before the awards ceremony, Emil Alkountar, founder of the perfume brand \u2018Or et Vin\u2019, gave a keynote about the transition from idea to startup, drawing on his own journey. \u2018There is never a perfect plan. Even if the start is bumpy, just begin!\u2019 he told the participants.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The jury is convinced of all the teams&#8217; potential and is therefore offering further support after the competition. In around six months, jury members would like to learn how the projects have developed. The joint startup service will organise this follow-up format.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There will be another TUniCorn ideas competition in 2027. TU Clausthal students and staff, committed innovators from companies, and founders from the region (natural persons) can participate.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gruendung.tu-clausthal.de\/veranstaltungen\/ideenwettbewerb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Information \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eighteen teams applied for the fourth edition of the ideas competition. Eight particularly impressed the organisers and presented their ideas in short pitches at the final in the Startup Centre in early March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":18123,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-kategorie":[91],"class_list":["post-18122","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-kategorie-tips-and-information"],"acf":{"news_kategorie":91,"kurzbeschreibung":"Eighteen teams applied for the fourth edition of the ideas competition. Eight particularly impressed the organisers and presented their ideas in short pitches at the final in the Startup Centre in early March.","inhaltstyp":"news","interne_gruendungsberatung":false,"anzeigedatum":"2026-03-25 12:05:00","bildstatus":"originalbild","bildquelle":"Former Gr\u00fcndungsregion website","bild_alt_text":"High level of innovation at the 2026 \u2018TUniCorn\u2019 ideas competition","original_bild_url":"https:\/\/gruenden-region-goslar.de\/files\/Newsbilder\/Gr%C3%BCndungsnews\/2026\/2026-05-tunicorn.jpg","alte_url":"https:\/\/gruenden-region-goslar.de\/news-leser\/rueckblick-tunicorn2026.html","import_hash":"36b4622754e32d04af02aa573db6953f7b7f1a75"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>High level of innovation at the 2026 \u2018TUniCorn\u2019 ideas competition - Gr\u00fcndungsregion Goslar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gruendungsregiongoslar.de\/en\/news\/high-level-of-innovation-at-the-2026-tunicorn-ideas-competition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"High level of innovation at the 2026 \u2018TUniCorn\u2019 ideas competition - Gr\u00fcndungsregion Goslar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eighteen teams applied for the fourth edition of the ideas competition. 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