After having been able to return to in person-classes in the spring semester we stuck to real life classes and events also in the fall semester. Already that was a great achievement after such an enduring time of online activities. Thank you all for your participation and passion during the semester!
In the following we will provide you with more detailed information on our teaching activities, support programs and events.
Education
Our course MAN 631 Creativity and Entrepreneurship in Practice introduces students to the practical elements of innovation and entrepreneurship. In this class, participating students design their own product or service and ideally have an early stage startup by the end of the term. As a result in this semester's course students came up with the following ventures: Cosconnect, Add-vertise, Griffin's and WOMI.
The mobile application "Cosconnect" addresses the unmet needs and pain points of cosplayers in the social media landscape and provides a platform for cosplayers to connect and interact. Add-vertise is a marketing company that aims to create value for both the clients and their (potential) customers by enhancing the marketing experience through focused out-of home advertising. Griffin’s offers you ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails, that go beyond the currently in supermarkets more widespread longdrinks. Womi is an agency that enables intergenerational home sharing in Mannheim. The winner of the course´s Pitchbattle were Cosconnet and Griffin´s, who so also gained the opportunity to present at the last Startup Lounge of the semester.
MAN 630 Introduction to Entrepreneurship is meant to deliver a general understanding of entrepreneurship and its underlying theoretical foundations. Dealing with current and classical theories on entrepreneurship, the theory part aims at giving students a solid insight into the early stages of the startup lifecycle. In addition to the theoretical concept, more applied elements like case studies and business model projects are also part of this course. Another core element are guest lectures of advanced entrepreneurs. This semester we had the chance to listen to Sebastian Frederik Jacobsen from MATEO, Michael Altendorf from ADTELLIGENCE, Philipp Ortwein from INSTAFREIGHT, Björn Schierle from PAYBACK and Dr. Michael Hoeck from EARLYBIRD. Most of them are Uni Mannheim alumni which made their story particularly inspiring as role models for students in course.
Inspirational Events
Our Startup Lounge finally found a new home in Café Agata in the Mafinex Building.
The semesters first event was Startup Lounge #97 with Melina Bucher. Melina Bucher is eager to disrupt the linear, wasteful leather industry. The ambitious startup develops vegan designer bags and accessoires that combine traditional craftsmanship with next-generation, bio-based materials. The pioneer of sustainable luxury was the first brand In Europe launching handbags made with the progressive material Mirium, a 100% biobased, plastic-free vegan leather. For its ambitious towards a circular economy, Melina Bucher was recently nominated for the German Sustainability Award in design and chosen for the EU Fashion For Change accelerator.
Then followed Startup Lounge #98 with Maecenarte. Maecenarte is building the first social network for contemporary art that brings together fine artists and art obsessed. They facilitate new ways to interact with art by making art collecting more accessible to all and ensures that artists can spread their art in more people's lives. The Startup Lounge was co-hosted by the Mannheim Research Group in Culture, Innovation & Entrepreneurship (MARCIE).
In Startup Lounge #99 VirtualBadge was our guest. This Startup Lounge was co-hosted by German Accelerator and ENGAGE.EU. German Accelerator empowers German startups to scale globally. ENGAGE.EU is an alliance of 7 leading European universities in business, economics, and the social sciences, which aims to provide European citizens the set of skills and competences needed to tackle major societal challenges. The guest VirtualBadge is not only based at Mafinex Mannheim, but also has a close connection to the University of Mannheim. The startup offers a software-as-a-service solution for education providers. It supports customers in creating, sending and managing digital attendance certificates, credentials and certificates. Easy integrations with external systems and encryption algorithms make the certificate process intuitive, efficient and tamper-proof.
On 6th December 2022, we celebrated the 100th edition of our Startup Lounge event series. The 100th edition of the Startup Lounge was also the last Startup Lounge of this semester and per tradition, it had featured our course startups from MAN 631! The winners of the Pitch Battle were announced in the Startup Lounge and pitched again to a larger audience. Surprisingly, we had two winner teams: Cosconnect and Griffin's. We held the first Startup Lounge on 19th November 2013, and had a great development ever since.Throughout he years we were able to welcome many amazing founders from all over the world as guests in the Startup Lounge and to connect them with students, founders, and investors.
More news about the MCEI
As in previous semesters MCEI kept close contact with the University of Mannheim, Mannheim University of Applied Science, the University of Heidelberg and the KIT in different formats and projects. We intensified the cooperations in the Deep Tech Hub and the engagement in the KI Garage and Mannheim Research Group in Culture, Innovation & Entrepreneurship (MARCIE).
A new collaboration was formed with ENGAGE.EU. ENGAGE.EU is an alliance of leading European universities in business, economics, and social sciences with rich experience in analyzing societal change. The alliance's ambition is to enable its learners to act as socially engaged European citizens and to have impact on society at large.
