During the Hinterland Hack, Hidden Champions from the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region met entrepreneurial talents from all over Germany. Within a 48-hour deadline, the contestants tackle the largest industry challenge of our time – digital transformation.
- Starting Friday, 17 September, until Sunday, 19 September, the 5th Hinterland Hack once more kicks off as an on-site event in the Founders Foundation; enabled by a sophisticated hygiene concept.
- The participating companies from the region are well-known quantitites: Phoenix Contact, Miele, Dr. Oetk,er KI Marktplatz (HNI, Dr. Kurt Wolff, Melitta und Poppe+Potthof.
- 70 talented entpreneurs, divided into 14 teams, have 48 hours to solve real challenges which the companies have to deal with in the face of digital transformation and develop creative and unconventional solutions.
- The hackathon’s finale is Solution Day on Sunday. Here, the teams pitch their solutions to a high-profile jury that is comprised of Slack’s Regional Manager for Germany and other experts. The winning team gets prize money worth 3.000 euros and 2000 euros in products. The event is accessible online for free.
Bielefeld, 08 September 2021 – For the fifth time, the Founders Foundation hosts the Hinterland Hack, starting Friday 17 September until Sunday 19 September. After a pandemic-related break, one of the region’s most successful startup formats once more takes off. In the past, the event already served as a springboard for two successful startups: PRODASO and PredicPro.
In only 48 hours, a group of 70 talented inviduals from all over Germany, divided into 14 teams, develop solutions for real industry problems, issued by high-profile companies from the region. Once more, the teams are led through the event by facilitator Lasse Chor and supported by industry-expert mentors from the Founders Foundation’s international network.
Co-founder and CEO Sebastian Borek emphasizes: “Our Hinterland Hackathon is a great opportunity for established companies to analyze their industry problems through a lean-startup lense and – ideally – even find real approaches to solving these problems.”
The companies Phoenix Contact, Miele, Dr. Oetker, KI Marktplatz (HNI), Dr. Kurt Wolff, Melitta, and Poppe+Potthoff each brought a real industry problem to the hackathon. The challenges were, among others, validating Dr. Oetker Welt 2.0, carbon tracking for Phoenix Contact, an emotional experience for the Melitta Barista Smart, automated product development for Dr. Wolff, or the Miele BBQ Experience 2030.
This is how a win-win situation is created: Established companies get creative impulses and unconventional approaches to solving the problems they are confronted with, while ambitious talents can develop real business cases in cooperation with high-prolife companies … and prove their entpreneurial mettle in the course of the challenge.
The 48-hour-challenge ends on Sunday, 19 September with Solution Day – 50 visitors on-site in the Founders Home and also available as a livestream.
The jury has high-profile members: Oliver Blüher, Slack Regional Manager for Germany, will judge the pitches together with Carsten Hoff, CEO of Claas E-Systems, Jens Hutzschenreuter, entrepreneur and angel investor, and Monja Meier, founder of EASI Control – one of the startups from our very own Accelerator. Slack is one of the most important international partners of the Hinterland of Things conference. The winning team receives prize money worth 3000 euros, sponsored by Slack, and 2000 euros worth of products from the Founders Foundation.
The whole event underlies a strict hygiene concept involving daily testing of participants and supported by hygiene products from Stockmeier Gruppe and air filtration systems from Insensiv GmbH from Bielefeld.
Press Contact
Simon Brakhage, Head of Hinterland, simon@foundersfoundation.de
Über die Founders Foundation
Die Founders Foundation gGmbH bildet die nächste Generation erfolgreicher Gründer:innen aus und baut im Herzen des deutschen Mittelstands ein nachhaltiges B2B Startup Ökosystem auf. Als Vorreiter in der Gründer:innen Ausbildung setzt die Founders Foundation auf das holistische Founders Foundation Education Model. Beispielhaft werden im B2B Startup Ökosystem Ostwestfalen-Lippe ‚new and old business‘ als Nährboden für Unternehmertum zusammengebracht. In diesem Kontext wurde die Tech Konferenz ‚Hinterland of Things‘ ins Leben gerufen. Die Founders Foundation ist eine gemeinnützige Organisation und stellt die nachhaltige und erfolgreiche Ausbildung der Gründer:innen ins Zentrum ihres Wirkens.
You want to know more about the event?
Check out our recap article on the Hinterland Hack 2021 and the event photo gallery.
