The jury

Victoria immersed herself in the Cologne startup scene more than eight years ago. After studying business administration and working as a product manager at the music streaming service simfy, she moved on to the start-up incubator STARTPLATZ, where she organized and moderated events for the start-up scene. Since then, Victoria has become well-connected with founders, talents, companies and investors. In November 2016, she founded the art festival ART@TECH, which she curates herself, and by which she offers a platform for artists dedicated to technological art. Since the beginning of 2018, she has also been planning, organizing and moderating events as a freelancer for various clients, such as the Digitale Leute Summit, and is also a co-founder of moversxshakers UG.

Svenja Tietje is Managing Director of Ruhr:HUB GmbH, where she drives networking between startups, companies and investors to promote digital transformation and economic development in the Ruhr region. She is the organizer of the start-up program ruhrMASTERS and numerous events. These include the ruhrSUMMIT one of the top3 start-up conferences in Germany and the ruhrSTARTUPWEEK. Svenja started her career in 2005 at Avantgarde in Munich, where she was responsible for brand management of international premium clients and brands in the automotive and consumer goods industries. From 2016 to 2020 she was responsible for the location communication of the Wirtschaftsförderung Dortmund and acted across industries for various communication formats. Svenja studied journalism and communication science at the Università la Sapienza in Rome/Italy and finished her studies at the Ruhr University Bochum.

During his studies, Peter Hornik discovered his enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and the foundation of new companies. He founded his first company in 2001. Since 2006 Peter supports young founders as a business angel. In 2012, he founded 1stMOVER in Düsseldorf together with Dr. Klemens Gaida and since October 2016 he is also Managing Director of digihub Düsseldorf/Rheinland.

Chérine De Bruijn is the founder of CORPORATE KITCHEN® and has more than 15 years of experience in communication and networking. With her company, she combines her many years of expertise and passion for these topics and focuses on the "personality" factor – supporting her clients as a source of inspiration, moderator and "igniter".
Since June 2021, she has been giving courageous personalities the opportunity to speak in her series „MUT ZUR PERSÖNLICHKEIT“ (Courage for Personality), in order to inspire others to show the "courage for personality" that our world urgently needs. Her first milestone is to talk to 100 doers in 100 weeks. Each episode will be published as a podcast and video on YouTube.
Chérine completed an international executive MBA in Berlin, Milan and New York City in 2011 – followed by her first management role as a press spokesperson in one of the largest owner-managed digital agencies in Germany, before she was responsible for the corporate communications of other digital companies and start-ups. Before setting up her own business in June 2016, she pushed the development of a regional industry association and the networking of the digital economy and start-ups as managing director and was awarded as one of the „101 Digitalen Köpfe NRW“ (101 Digital Minds NRW) for her commitment.
Chérine is married, lives in Cologne and loves to accelerate – preferably in a Tesla or on a rollercoaster.

Judith Mertens has been associated with the start-up scene for almost twenty years and has accompanied and advised start-ups in various functions in the development of their business models. As project manager, she was most recently responsible for the Rhineland NUK business plan competition. Since 2021, Judith Mertens has been networking companies seeking capital and potential private investors (business angels) throughout NRW as project manager of the NRW.BANK Business Angels Initiative in NRW.BANK's equity financing unit.

Jules Banning is an Agile & Startup Coach in the North Rhine-Westphalian startup scene since 2016. In the beginning of 2022 she started working as the Managing Director of TechHub.K67 in Düsseldorf. Supporting startups as well as helping companies in their agile transformation is not only her job, but her passion. Therefore she uses her previous professional experience and her network from the traditional corporate world but also from the startup scene.

Sophia Tran is Founder & CEO of Spotlight! Ventures and supports up-and-coming digital start-ups. Through her work there, as an investor and as state spokeswoman for the german startup association, as VP of La Futura and most recently for the startup incubator and accelerator DIGITALHUB.DE, she has an ear to the needs of young companies and knows how successful startups come about. She also travels the world to learn about new trends and innovations, speaks and moderates at international tech conferences and is particularly known as a tech influencer on social networks, through her blog and on television (Galileo, Abenteuer Leben).

Prof. Wolfgang Prinz, PhD is a professor at RWTH Aachen University and, as deputy institute director at Fraunhofer FIT, heads the Cooperation Systems department. He investigates the challenges and opportunities of digitalization and develops solutions based on collaboration platforms, mixed reality and 5G. As co-founder of the Fraunhofer Blockchain Lab and head of the Blockchain Reallabor Rheinisches Revier, he focuses on blockchain-based applications.

Since 2011, Tanja has headed the Tech & Digital team of NRW.BANK Venture Fonds and was responsible for the seed and series A investments in this area. At the same time, Tanja helped to set up Gründerfonds Ruhr and was its managing director until 2017. Until November 2019, Tanja Rosendahl worked at Network Corporate Finance, an M&A consultancy, advising companies with a focus on technology and digital issues as well as start-ups on financing and capital transactions. Since December 2019, Tanja has established F-LOG Ventures as Managing Director. F-LOG Ventures is an independent venture capital fund with a focus on the field of LogTech.

Philipp has previously worked in an internet startup that was successfully exited. He holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from RWTH Aachen University and has gained international experience working and living in Indonesia.

Fabiola Hochkirchen was a partner in a mid-cap private equity fund for many years and has since been a business angel with more than 20 investments in healthcare, education and sustainability. With two female partners, she founded Auxxo in 2019 with the goal of achieving more diversity on the investor side. She is Initiating Partner of the Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund and, together with her partners, launched the Evangelistas, a network of more than 150 female business angels.

Theresa Winkels has been engaged in Düsseldorf's economic development since 2019 and has been actively involved with the startup unit in the further development of the startup ecosystem in Düsseldorf and its surrounding 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.

Bettina Palka ist beim digihub Düsseldorf/Rheinland für Marketing und PR verantwortlich, unter anderem für Scale-up.NRW, das neue Skalierungsprogramm des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen. Zuvor war sie 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 bereits Gründungserfahrung.

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 the 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, which comes together at the annual tech conference Hinterland of Things.

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 venture capital 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.

Marc Gresch works at the Gateway Excellence Start-up Center at the University of Cologne. As a start-up coach, he organizes the program for the Gateway Accelerator and advises knowledge and technology-oriented startup teams from Cologne's universities. The Accelerator offers a customized program, with a special focus on team and leadership development.

Dr. Sebastian Köffer works as a business manager at the Digital Hub münsterLAND, where he engages in networking of established companies with startups to promote digital transformation in Münsterland. Previously, he completed his PhD at the European Research Center for Information Systems at WWU Münster and worked as a consultant for business intelligence systems. Sebastian is the organizer of numerous startup events, including the NRW Hub Battle.

Entrepreneur and online pioneer Dr. Lorenz Gräf successfully founded two companies before establishing the start-up incubator STARTPLATZ with branches in Cologne and Düsseldorf in 2012. Since then he has been active as an expert and mentor, particularly in the start-up scene of Rhineland. His goal is to build a strong, functioning ecosystem for startups, with STARTPLATZ as a centre 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 now the largest independent European search engine. It uses all its profits to plant trees and has planted over 100 million trees until 2020. Under the roof of Ecosia, Tim Schumacher recently co-founded the Ecosia World Fund with a focus on climate investments.

Dr. Sebastian Köffer works as a business manager at the Digital Hub münsterLAND, where he engages in networking of established companies with startups to promote digital transformation in Münsterland. Previously, he completed his PhD at the European Research Center for Information Systems at WWU Münster and worked as a consultant for business intelligence systems. Sebastian is the organizer of numerous startup events, including the NRW Hub Battle.

Oliver Weimann, serial entrepreneur, early-stage investor and initiator RuhrSummit

Oliver started his career in management consulting, founded his first digital startup in 2007 and has developed various digital business models. He is a serial entrepreneur, investing in early stage startups, initiating the RuhrSummit – one of the largest startup conferences in Germany – and advising established companies on digital business models. He currently deals with the company builder Scale Now and has an active operational role in two startups, OMNYSTATE and Quantum Cybersecurity Group. 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.

After her commercial training in a medium-sized mechanical engineering company, Iris Wilhelmi worked for more than ten years in a credit institution and, among other things, in the area of corporate customer loans. As a state-certified business economist, she joined the Aachen Chamber of Industry and Commerce in 2002. There she worked as a start-up and financing expert for knowledge-intensive and technology-oriented companies. After completing her Masters of Business Administration (MBA), she was deputy managing director of the GründerRegion Aachen, she was involved in setting up the RWTH's Transfer and Start-up Center as part of the "EXIST IV die Gründerhochschule" and helped to develop the concept of the digitalHUB Aachen. In summer 2016, she moved to digitalHUB Aachen e. V. and took over as managing director to actively shape the digitization of the Aachen Area.

Andre Boschem is currently managing director of the Essen Economic Development Agency (EWG mbH) and has also dedicated himself to promoting the economy in other areas of his career – for instance as head of the Startup Unit of the city of Düsseldorf, as a board member of the Digital Campus Zollverein e.V., as member of the supervisory board of the ruhrHUB as well as in his role as a member of the founding advisory board of the digihub Düsseldorf/Rheinland He also is an ambassador for the German Israeli Startup Program at the German Startup Association.

Prof. Dr. Vogt, experienced founder and CEO of TecUP, is a key player in university-wide start-up support in North Rhine-Westphalia. He plays a leading role in start-up programs such as the Innovationslabor.OWL, the Akzelerator.OWL and the garage33 innovation quarter.

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 digitalization as well as the support of companies. From 2016 to 2018 she managed the Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrum "Digital in NRW", which offers numerous support formats for SMEs in the direction of digitalization. She gained start-up experience between 2013 and 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 Technichal University Dortmund and worked from 2006 to 2013 as a research assistant at the chair for materials handling and warehousing at the TU 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.

David is Partner at peach ventures, Principal at bmp Ventures as well as board member and advisor at several startups in the Energy and Mobility space. Before joining bmp, David founded venture capital-backed B2B SaaS startups in Germany and Canada (Bookmy Coach and Fahrkalender) with teams of 15 to 20 people. Led by his experience in consulting and banking (VR Bank and KPMG), he went on to move into venture capital where he is currently involved in energy and mobility startups (e. g. TESVOLT, NorcSi, Solar Materials, Urwahn). Moreover, he is member of the selection committee at Techstars and as well as mentor and networker at various other accelerators and incubators. In educational terms, David received a finance degree from Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and holds a banking degree certified by the German Chamber of Commerce (IHK). Fun fact: David even set up the GUINNESS WORLD RECORD® for the longest business pitch marathon in the world, which lasted a total of 29 hours.

Daniela Perner is managing director of vocational training and commerce 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 BLB NRW. Professionally, she has a focus on consulting in business matters. In the years 2018 and 2019 she organized the mentoring program Initiative Women into Leadership (IWiL). Moreover, Daniela Perner 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 also a member of the jury for the MIT award of the Rhein-Kreis Neuss association of medium-sized companies.

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 and cloud technologies. For over ten years he has also been a member oft the supervisory and advisory boards in several technically innovative and digital startups. Before that, Markus Kreßmann studied economics at the University of Göttingen and was a management consultant at a leading management and technology consultancy. Moreover, he was the founder of two startups and gained venture capital experience at an early age.

Tijen Onaran is an entrepreneur and investor. As founder of Global Digital Women and ACI Consulting, she actively makes progress in terms of diversity and female empowerment. Tijen is one of the most prominent investors for companies founded by women.

Dr. Christian Lüdtke is the founder and managing director of the digital consultancy and start-up incubator etventure. Dr. Christian Lüdtke is the founder and managing director of the digital consultancy and start-up incubator etventure.