Danube Cup’s dynamism and innovation in entrepreneurship continues in 2024

After an intensive booster training lasting several weeks, and after the intensive market research carried out in the meantime, 8 university startups out of 16 applying teams made it through the Hungarian pre-selection stage of the Danube Cup, of which 4 teams were nominated for the international finals in Linz in May. At the inspiring, English-language domestic competition, PrepBox, CASAR, uMix3D, stArt, Noted, Bootz, GPSolar and BridgeAID presented their ideas in 3-minute pitches to the professional jury, as well as to the audience. Each pitch was followed by questions from the jury. In total approx. 300 people followed the event on site and online. 

This year, the organizers broke with the usual rules of innovation competitions at several points, which was also reflected in the composition of the jury. The members of the jury were: László Sabjányi (BOLT CEO), dr. Judit Hegedűs (Harvard alumni, European Innovation Council expert), and dr. Ágnes Dudás (Head of the Innovation Management and Industrial Rights Protection Department at BME FIEK). According to the feedback from the audience, the members of the jury contributed to the success of the event with their high-quality questions, as they were able to give each team suggestions on how to further develop their business idea, for example, by not revealing the essence of their novelty, the secret formula, before obtaining intellectual property protection, because otherwise they will have nothing to protect and sell. 

In a close competition, four teams emerged as winners: two teams from the Corvinus University of Budapest, CASAR, which focuses on the sustainability of the fashion industry, and uMix3D, which also brings some innovation to the fashion industry; and two teams representing the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, BridgeAID, which uses an instrument that precisely measures the load on road bridges, and stArt, which presents the new favorite application of Budapest’s cultural life. 

The Danube Cup is an annual international student pitch competition with the participation of eight universities along the Danube. The competition was established in 2016 by two excellent Hungarian universities, Budapest Corvinus University and Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Danube Cup’s mission is to provide an international stage for entrepreneurial-minded students, educators and researchers to enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing by supporting students and their business ideas to achieve international success, while building the leading network of Higher Education Institutions fostering entrepreneurship for a connected and sustainable Danube region. 

The ever-increasing success and popularity of the Danube Cup proves that students from universities along the Danube are keen to participate in this inspiring competition that gives new impetus to the startup world. Congratulations to the Corvinus finalists and we are looking forward to seeing their continued success on the international stage! 

The preparation of the Corvinus teams and their participation in the competition in Linz were organized by the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, primarily by Dr. János Vecsenyi, Dr. Loretta Huszák and Dr. Attila Petheő. 

This year’s corporate support partners: Foundation Aktion Austria-Ungarn, Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 77elektronika, Tresorit, Bolt, OTP Fay András Foundation, IGPark Kft. We thank our corporate partners for their support, without their contributions neither the preparations nor the competition could have taken place. 

Read more about the Danube Cup and the international final in Linz: here.