RWU Startup Night celebrates premiere at the Linse cultural center

The university's LAB4DTE organized the first RWU STARTUP NIGHT on 20 November at the Kulturzentrum Linse e.V. in Weingarten. During the evening, various startup projects were presented, strengthening the start-up mentality among students and promoting the transfer of knowledge between founders and society in Weingarten.

Over 100 interested guests gathered in the Linse movie theater, including many RWU students and graduates. At the beginning of the evening, successful alumni of the university and founders shared their experiences. Olivia Kibele from ONYVA and Christoph Dietenberger from WIRED3D gave deep insights into their individual start-up stories, the challenges they have faced so far and the successes of their young companies in their talks with moderator Birgit Demuth.

Afterwards, the focus was on the next generation of student founders: four RWU teams took the opportunity to present their innovative business ideas in a short pitch format. A jury consisting of founders, professors and entrepreneurs evaluated the pitches and then asked specific questions about the ideas and concepts of the respective pitches. "It's great when young people present their ideas with so much enthusiasm and commitment," said Prof. Dr. Wolfram Höpken, Head of LAB4DTE and part of the jury that evening. 

After a keynote speech by Sebastian Grimm from ZF Friedrichshafen, in which he reported on his sometimes complex and lengthy experiences during the start-up phase, the winning team of the pitch competition was presented. At the end of the evening, the TEAM "PackBuddy" prevailed against the competition and was crowned the winner of the first RWU Startup Night. The team received the RWU Startup Prize of 1,000 euros, sponsored by the ING office of Oliver Stotz from Leutkirch.

Afterwards, the numerous visitors and participants of the first RWU STARTUP NIGHT networked over cool drinks and snacks in the foyer of the Linse. Here, many of the evening's participants took the opportunity to further develop their own ideas, make new contacts and discuss potential next steps towards founding a company or obtaining funding. The second RWU STARTUP NIGHT is already planned for 2026.

Click here for the associated photo gallery: RWU STARTUP NIGHT 2025 | RWU Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences