Impressions

With the Bern Business Creation Competition, the Department of Business Management of the Institute of Marketing and Business Management at the University of Bern aims to promote individuals with promising business ideas. The competition is organized together with public and private partners and is open to all persons residing in the Canton of Bern. No less than 45 teams submitted their business ideas in the first qualification round of the fourth edition. After two selection stages, 14 teams qualified for the further competition process and were supported with personal coaching and various workshops in the preparation of the business plan.

The evaluation of the business plans by the jury determined the top5 teams for the presentations at the “Business Creation Award Ceremony” on Wednesday, May 22, 2019, at the Bierhübeli in Bern. Three of these teams have a background in medical technology research at the ARTORG Center of the University of Bern as well as at Inselspital, and for another team the team leader is alumni of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences (WISO) of the University of Bern.

Investigation of glaucoma using virtual reality glasses convinces jury and audience
At the award ceremony, the top 5 teams had the task of convincing the jury and the 200 guests in the Bierhübeli with a five-minute presentation of their project and its economic potential. The audience was involved in the decision on the winners by means of public voting.

Both the competition jury and the public voted for the team PeriVision from the ARTORG Center of the University of Bern. The team around Jan Stapelfeldt, Serife Kucur and Raphael Sznitmann has developed a software solution that allows to efficiently measure the visual field impairment of glaucoma patients using virtual reality glasses. Today, the measurements must necessarily be performed in a hospital or an ophthalmologist’s office. In the future, thanks to the technology, they can be supplemented or even replaced by location-independent measurements in general practitioners’ offices, pharmacies or at the patient’s home. More than 75 million people worldwide are affected by the chronic eye disease and depend on its monitoring. The team is working closely with ophthalmologists at Inselspital and will use the prize money of 10,000 Swiss francs for the planned founding of the company at the end of 2019.

Urological medical device and financial investment app in second and third place
The second prize of 5,000 Swiss francs also went to a team based at the ARTORG Center called “Urodea” around Francesco Clavica and Dominik Obrist. In collaboration with the Clinic and Polyclinic for Urology of the Inselspital and other experts, the two designated founders have developed a non-invasive medical product. The product facilitates bladder emptying in the very unpleasant urological condition “Under Active Bladder Syndrome” (UAB) and thus brings quality of life for patients.

The third prize of 3,000 Swiss francs was won by Julian Liniger, a 27-year-old alumnus of the WISO faculty, with his project “Relai”. His business idea is an app that automates investing in cryptocurrencies and makes it possible even for laypeople by providing descriptive information. With the planned launch of the product and company foundation, Julian Liniger is writing the next chapter of his entrepreneurial career. He already founded a start-up in the financial sector during his studies.

Encouragement from Rector Christian Leumann
In his welcoming speech, Christian Leumann emphasized the importance of transferring knowledge- and technology-based innovations from the university to business and society. He expressed his encouragement to all participants of the competition as well as to all others present who promote entrepreneurial projects at the University and the Bern University of Applied Sciences. The Rector also thanked the sponsors, among them the Berner Standortförderung, who made the competition possible together with the organizers, representatives of the Bernese economy as well as numerous students, researchers and professors.

Despite the approaching exams and various obligations at the end of the year, about 60 students, PhD students, graduates of our programs and other interested people came to the “UniS” on the evening of December 10 to learn more about successful pitching of (business) ideas. An essential opportunity to cultivate their network was of course also offered. Lars Diener-Kimmich, CEO of be-advanced ag showed ways to hold an effective pitch on the one hand, but especially to gain maximum learning effect from the pitch. After the example pitch ofNeustark, the participants were challenged to pitch their project in one minute under the moderation of our event partner EntreBERNeur. During the following punch and mulled wine, there was a lively discussion about the presented ideas, new projects and goals for the coming year. EntreBERNeur regularly offers the opportunity to pitch projects in front of a smaller audience and to get to know exciting entrepreneurial personalities.