The jury

Theresa Winkels has been responsible for Düsseldorf's economic development since 2019 and has been actively involved with the startup unit and the entire team in the further development of the startup ecosystem in Düsseldorf and the region. At the same time, she is Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of the Digital Innovation Hub Düsseldorf/ Rhineland and the Düsseldorf Innovation and Technology Center DITEC GmbH. Previously, she had been project manager for the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in Düsseldorf since 2016, a consultant in the mayor's office and implemented a classic foundation herself in 2009. Theresa studied media management at the Fachhochschule des Mittelstands in Bielefeld as well as literature, culture and media studies at the University of Siegen.

Ulrike Trenz is co-founder and managing director of Impact Hub Ruhr. For the areas of sustainable business, social entrepreneurship & climate protection/ circular economy, Ulrike develops and manages projects, hackathons, event and workshop series and is responsible for the related collaborations and partnerships. Within her work with startups, Ulrike focuses on the topic of impact and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Ulrike sees innovative startups as drivers for the holistic sustainable transformation of business and society.

Chief Transformation Officer, Brenntag SE. As Chief Transformation Officer, Ewout van Jarwaard’s responsibilities include the execution of the company's global transformation program, functional excellence, digital and data-driven business opportunities, and IT as well as Indirect Procurement functions. He has gained extensive management experience driving growth, building businesses, transforming organizations commercially and operationally and building digital- and data-driven capabilities across various industries globally.

Bettina Palka ist beim digihub Düsseldorf/Rheinland für Marketing & PR verantwortlich - u.a. für das neue Skalierungsprogramm des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen Scale-up.NRW. Vorher war Bettina als Content Marketing Managerin und Marketing Specialist tätig, zuletzt in einem Start-up im IoT-Umfeld. Sie hat einen M.A. in Medienwissenschaft und sammelte während ihres Studiums erste Gründungserfahrungen.

Since 2001, Dr. Ute Günther is co-president of Business Angels Netzwerk Deutschland e.V. (BAND), the association of the German Business Angels market. Since 2013 she also serves as Vice President of Business Angels Europe (BAE). She has been executive board member of Business Angels Agency Ruhr e.V (BAAR) since 1999. Additionally, she serves as Director of the company Startbahn Ruhr GmbH as well as Managing Board Member of pro Ruhrgebiet e.V. In 2013 she was appointed to be a member of the Advisory board “Young digital economy” at the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy. Dr. Günther studied Philosophy, Romance languages and Education and has been active in researching and teaching at the universities of Bochum, Essen, Trier and Vallendar.

As CEO of German Entrepreneurship, Inc., Annika Pierson leads the expansion of startup landing pads and structured mentoring programs such as German Accelerator and Scale-up.NRW in the USA. She has successfully founded a company herself and is very enthusiastic about sharing her experiences with young talents, especially with other female founders.

Dominik Gross is co-founder and managing director of Founders Foundation gGmbH, which was established in 2016 together with the Bertelsmann Stiftung. He is convinced that "entrepreneurship skills are the key to a successful digital transformation". To this end, the Founders Foundation educates the next generation of successful entrepreneurs in the heart of the German Mittelstand and develops a sustainable B2B startup ecosystem that comes together at the annual Hinterland of Things tech conference.

Zerrin Börcek is founder and CEO. She graduated from RWTH Aachen University with an M.A. in Technical Communication and worked in the electronics and plant engineering industries. In 2014, she started as a part-time business coach and focused on women in technology and personal development. In 2016, she founded the fe:male Innovation Hub and created a community hub for female founders. Most recently, she founded Teresa.AI, a digital helper for seniors.

Jörg is one of the Managing Partners and co-founders of Capnamic. He is an attorney at law, studied Economics and has been active in the VC scene for more than 15 years. Before setting up Capnamic, Jörg was the founding partner and managing director of DuMont Venture and built up the investment business of the DuMont media group.

Ivan is CEO of DIGITALHUB.DE from Bonn. He previously worked for Google, YouTube, IBM and in the startup and venture capital scene and also studied economics at Oxford University.

From 2001 to 2018, Sebastian Pitzler worked for ERGO in various positions at the interface between IT and insurance specialists Active in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Berlin. Since spring 2018, Pitzler has been Managing Director of InsurLab Germany e.V. - the platform for networking insurance companies, leading service providers, universities and InsurTech startups in Germany. As part of the so-called Digital Hub Initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, InsurLab Germany is an InsurTech competence center or official "de:hub" in Cologne.

Marc Gresch is from Gateway ESC Cologne. As a project manager, he has already organized many startup events and has been able to observe a lot of different pitches. Currently he is responsible for the organization of the first Accelerator Batch at the Gateway, the tailor-made program for knowledge- and technology-oriented start-up teams from the university landscape.

Dr. Sebastian Köffer works as a managing director in the digital hub münsterLAND and promotes the networking of established companies with startups to promote the digital transformation in the Münsterland. Before that, he did his doctorate at the European Research Center for Information Systems at the WWU Münster and worked as a consultant for business intelligence systems. Sebastian is the organizer of numerous startup events, including the ERCIS Launch Pad and the NRW Hub Battle.

Self-made entrepreneur and online pioneer Dr. Lorenz Gräf has already successfully founded the startup incubator STARTPLATZ twice in 2012 with locations in Cologne and Düsseldorf. Since then he has been active as an expert and mentor, especially in the Rhineland startup scene. His goal is to build a strong, functioning startup ecosystem in the Rhineland, where the STARTPLATZ is the center and contact point for ambitious startups.

Tim Schumacher is a German Investor and Entrepreneur, with a focus on Impact and Climate Investments. For over ten years, he was the CEO of publicly traded Sedo.com, which he co-founded. Since 2012 he has founded and/or invested in multiple start-ups like Eyeo (makers of Adblock Plus), SaaS.group, Zolar, CarbonCloud, Sirplus, Pachama and Ecosia. Ecosia is especially notable. Ten years after its foundation, it's now the largest independent European search engine. It uses all its profits to plant trees, and it has until 2020 planted over 100 million trees. Under the roof of Ecosia, Tim Schumacher also very recently co-founded the Ecosia World Fund (see Worldfund.vc) with a focus on Climate Investments

As a funding consultant at NRW.Bank, Mike Pichottka advises established companies, start-ups, banks and entrepreneurs on the use of public funding. He is also an expert in the field of digitization and innovation. He previously worked as a credit analyst. He is a trained banker and studied business administration in Bochum and Dortmund.

Dr. Sebastian Köffer works as a managing director in the digital hub münsterLAND and promotes the networking of established companies with startups to promote the digital transformation in the Münsterland. Before that, he did his doctorate at the European Research Center for Information Systems at the WWU Münster and worked as a consultant for business intelligence systems. Sebastian is the organizer of numerous startup events, including the ERCIS Launch Pad and the NRW Hub Battle.

Oliver Weimann, serial founder, initiator RuhrSummit and managing director ruhr: HUB

Oliver started his career in management consulting, founded his first digital startup in 2007 and developed various digital business models With the 360 Online Performance Group, he invests in early stage startups, initiated one of the top 3 startup conferences in Germany with the RuhrSummit and advises established companies on both digital communication and their digital transformation. As managing director of the ruhr: HUB, he supports the regional startup community on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and provides impetus for the digital transformation of established companies.

Since autumn 2017, Peter Trapp has been supporting young companies as managing director of startport GmbH. startport is an innovation platform for start-ups in logistics. Since the beginning, almost 100 startups have been in the program, which are currently supported by 6 exclusive partners and more than 30 other network partners.

After her commercial apprenticeship in a medium-sized mechanical engineering company, Iris Wilhelmi worked for a credit institute and among others for over 10 years. worked in corporate lending. As a state-certified business economist, she moved to the Aachen Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2002. Here she worked as a startup and financing expert for knowledge-intensive and technology-oriented companies. After completing her Masters of Business Administration (MBA), she worked as deputy managing director of the Aachen Start-Up Region. involved in setting up the transfer and startup center of the RWTH as part of "EXIST IV die Gründerhochschule" and helped develop the concept of the digitalHUB Aachen. In summer 2016 she then joined the digitalHUB Aachen e. V. changed and took over the management in order to actively shape the digitization of the Aachen Area.

Andre Boschem is currently managing director of EWG mbH in Essen and has also dedicated himself to promoting the economy in other areas of his career – as head of the start-up unit of the city of Düsseldorf, as a board member of the Digitalcampus Zollverein e.V., supervisory board of the ruhrhub or as a founding advisory board of the digihub Düsseldorf/Rheinland. He also is an ambassador for the German Israeli Startup Program at the Bundesverband deutscher Startups e.V..

In addition to various positions at Bertelsmann, including an internal start-up with a focus on career guidance, she is now the Managing Director for Western and Central Germany at the non profit organization STARTUP TEENS. There, she combines her passion with her profession - empowering pupils to realize their own ideas.

During his studies, Peter Hornik discovered his enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and the establishment of new companies. He himself founded his first company in 2001. Peter has been supporting young founders as a business angel since 2006. In 2012 he founded together with Dr. Klemens Gaida in Düsseldorf 1stMOVER and since October 2016 he has also been managing director of digihub Düsseldorf / Rhineland.

Prof. Dr. Vogt, the experienced founder and CEO of TecUP, is a key player in university-wide startup funding in North Rhine-Westphalia. He plays a leading role in leading startup programs such as the Innovationslabor.OWL, the Akzelerator.OWL, the Exzellenz Startup Center.NRW at Paderborn University or the innovation quarter garage33 as a beacon for startups and corporate entrepreneurship.

Maria Beck is hub manager of the Digital Hub Logistics Dortmund and a member of the management board of EffizienzCluster Management GmbH. A focus of her work is the support of innovation and digitization and the support of companies. From 2016-2018 she managed the Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrum "Digital in NRW", which offers numerous support formats for SMEs in the direction of digitization. She gained start-up experience between 2013-2016 as co-founder and member of the management of GlobalGate GmbH, a service provider for corporate learning offers in knowledge-intensive industries. Originally, she studied logistics at the TU Dortmund and worked from 2006-2013 as a research assistant at the chair for materials handling and warehousing at the Technical University of Dortmund with Prof. Michael ten Hompel.

As CEO of German Entrepreneurship, Inc., Annika Pierson leads the expansion of startup landing pads and structured mentoring programs such as German Accelerator and Scale-up.NRW in the USA. She has successfully founded a company herself and is very enthusiastic about sharing her experiences with young talents, especially with other female founders.

Christoph Büth is Head of Equity Financing at NRW.BANK. Mr. Büth has been with NRW.BANK since 2007, initially as an investment manager and from 2009 to 2018 as the head of SME Equity Capital. The trained banker and graduate in business administration has extensive experience in the investment business from working for several banks.

Zerrin Börcek is founder and CEO. She graduated from RWTH Aachen University with an M.A. in Technical Communication and worked in the electronics and plant engineering industries. In 2014, she started as a part-time business coach and focused on women in technology and personal development. In 2016, she founded the fe:male Innovation Hub and created a community hub for female founders. Most recently, she founded Teresa.AI, a digital helper for seniors.

David Stuck holds various positions in venture capital, consulting and banking. He is founder of B2B software and mobile startups in Germany and Canada. He graduated @Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and holds a banking degree. He is involved in various venture capital backed companies in energy and mobility. Background in finance and entrepreneurship, David supports many accelerators and incubators as a networker and mentor for over half a decade.

Daniela Perner is managing director innovation, education, specialists at the IHK Mittlerer Niederrhein since may 2020. Until April 2020 she worked as head of personnel strategy and development at the construction and real estate company NRW. She has a focus on consulting in business matters. In 2018/19 she organized the mentoring program Initiative Women into Leadership (IWiL). She is trained as a certified business coach at the Kienbaum Institute@ International School of Management and studied administration of justice, politics, media and business sciences. She is a member of the jury for the MIT award of the Rhein-Kreis Neuss association of medium-sized companies.

Prof. Dr. Christine Volkmann is professor in entrepreneurship at the Schumpeter School of Business and Economics at the University of Wuppertal. She has been a voluntary jury member for well-known start-up and entrepreneur competitions for many years and was a member of the advisory board for the digital economy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Markus Kreßmann is a partner at High-Tech Gründerfonds. Since 2007 he has helped to set up the most active and largest seed fund in Germany and is now responsible for around 50 investments with a focus on IoT, commerce, fintech, mobile as well as software & Cloud technologies. For over 10 years he has also been a valued supervisory board and advisory board in technically innovative and digital startups. Before that, Markus Kreßmann was a management consultant at a leading management and technology consultancy. He was the founder of two startups & gained venture capital experience at an early age. Markus Kreßmann studied economics at the University of Göttingen.

Tijen Onaran is the founder and CEO of Global Digital Women, a leading international consultancy on diversity issues. In 2017, the entrepreneur began to bring women from the digital industry together to form the largest women's network in the field of digitization. Tijen Onaran studied political science and history and is the author of several books. She is also successfully active in various social networks. Tijen Onaran is one of the 100 most influential women in German business and supports female founders as an investor.

Torsten Jensen is a serial founder and an expert in Entrepreneurship & Innovation. In addition he is a member of the digital advisory board of MWIKE and ambassador of the German Israeli Network of Startups & Medium-sized companies (GINSUM). Before he was Senior Manager at EY and NRW Hub Leader of EY Startup.

Ann-Katrin Schmidt has been advising companies, brands and media houses on their social media strategy and how to use influencer marketing since November 2018. She and her team support companies in half-day or full-day workshops and master classes as well as in the long-term development of a profitable and sustainable social media presence. They develop individual concepts for each customer, but you also like to work project-oriented together with external teams on campaigns and pitches for other agencies.

Madeleine Heuts: lawyer, founder of legal tech startup RAKETENSTART and as of late also chairwoman of the board at NRWalley, the startup association of North Rhine-Westphalia. Straight out of university she founded her company, moved to cologne and turned her back on the traditional path of her industry. With RAKETENSTART she’s creating a digital access for SMEs and disrupts the legal industry. By now she's a well known face in the startupscene: 2021 she got nominated as a finalist for the Digital Female Leader Award, won various startup competitions and dedicated herself as a speaker for more diversity, entrepreneurship and innovation.