Conditions of Participation

The Kilometer1 Awards 2023 will be awarded in three categories to members of the two universities of Konstanz: “Student Innovation Award” for students, “Science Innovation Award” for doctoral researchers as well as postdocs and “Founder of the Year” for already successfully established startups of Konstanz’ universities. 

For the Kilometer1 Awards, the participants choose their ideas themselves and there are no predefined topics. An idea is eligible if the required entries can be made in the application form. In addition, the idea must be original, i.e. it must have been developed independently or as part of a team.

Participation in the competition must not violate any applicable laws. In the case of projects involving animals and plants, the animal, nature and species protection laws in force in Germany must be strictly observed. Furthermore, no ideas are permitted that glorify violence, develop or improve weapons, or involve a risk of injury to participants or third parties.

The submission of ideas and registration of teams is only possible via the Kilometer1 website. For the participation at the Kilometer1 Awards 2022 the application form must be filled in completely until the 16th of September 2022.

Students and researchers of both universities can participate in the Kilometer1 Awards as an individual or as a team. The prerequisite for students is that they are enrolled at one of the two universities at least in the summer semester 2023 or in the winter semester 2023/24.

Already established startups of the Konstanz universities cannot apply for the “Founder of the Year Award” on their own, but will be nominated by a jury of experts.

Individuals or teams can participate. A team can consist of up to three people. Only one submission per person is allowed, and therefore participation is only permitted for one idea project. This means that multiple submissions, both as a single submission of an idea and within teams, are not permitted.

Each team of two or more people has a group spokesperson who is responsible for the submission of the application form. The spokesperson will also ensure that all team members receive regular updates on the status of the submission process and meet the appropriate deadlines.

If a team consists of students and researchers, the percentage of each status group within a team determines the category. If the percentage of students is higher, the idea will be included in the category “Student Innovation Award”. If the percentage of researchers is higher, the idea will be evaluated accordingly in the category “Science Innovation Award”.

If the proportions are equal, the expert jury decides individually about the allocation. For this purpose, it is primarily checked whether the submitted idea is in a scientific context.

In the case of multiple submissions, only the submission for which the person in question was registered first will be counted. Hence, the sole criterion is timing.

If the idea is selected by the jury, the registered team members for the submitted idea are eligible to win. Students must be enrolled at one of the two universities in the summer semester 2023 or the winter semester 2023/24.

In the “Student Innovation Award” and “Science Innovation Award” categories, the ideas submitted will be awarded with points by an independent jury based on four criteria: degree of innovation, feasibility, understandability and clarity of the business model, competences and motivation of the team. The resulting ranking determines the nomination for the final. In the final, each nominated team must pitch its idea to the expert jury and the audience. The jury then evaluates the degree of innovation, the feasibility of the idea and the team’s pitch performance. The jury’s decision cannot be revised and there is no right of appeal.

The winners of the “Founder of the Year” award will be selected by a jury of experts. . One startup from the HTWG and one startup from the University of Konstanz will be awarded. The criteria for the selection will be announced soon.

For this matter, we will send an email to the participants shortly after the jury’s decision.

Participants expressly agree that Kilometer1 may store their data for the purpose of conducting the ideas competition. The personal data will be deleted after the competition. If participants do not agree to the storage of their data, they can object to this storage at any time, but then they will not be able to participate in the events to be won. The objection is to be addressed to the Kilometer1 team. The data will not be passed on to third parties.

There is no legal claim to participate in the contest. The Kilometer1 team will exclude an idea even after it has been submitted to the competition or announced as a winner if the conditions of participation have not been met. The legal process is excluded.