The startup competition "Gründerwettbewerb - Digitale Innovationen", organised by the Federal Ministry of Economics, has been in existence since 1997. Around 500 startups have been honoured so far. On 20 November, the time had come again: Another 21 young companies were able to add their names to the list of winners, including two from Hamburg: TimeTeller and toern.
On 20 and 21 november, the Federal Government's Digital Summit took place in Jena. Around 1,000 participants from politics, business, science and civil society met there to get up to speed on the digital transformation. One of the highlights was the award ceremony for the startup competition, which is held twice a year. The prerequisites for participation were, that the company must be based in Germany and, in the case of corporations, a maximum age of six months at the start of the application process.
TimeTeller breaks new ground in cancer therapy
There are several categories in the competition, which differ in the amount of prize money, among other things. For the Gründungspreis+, this is 32,000 euros. One of the startups honoured this way is TimeTeller from Hamburg. TimeTeller offers an innovative solution to support cancer therapy. Using an in-vitro diagnostic device that, can measure an individual's internal clock, TimeTeller enables customisable chronotherapy for cancer patients. The biological clock regulates cellular and molecular mechanisms and plays a crucial role in maintaining human health. Since cancer cells and healthy cells sometimes have different rhythms, TimeTeller can be used to optimise the timing of drug administration and thus the body's response to treatment.
toern makes online retail more sustainable
Another company from Hamburg is toern, which was awarded the Gründungspreis worth 7,000 euros. toern specialises in the development of a more sustainable and efficient software-as-a-service solution to optimise returns processing in e-commerce. With the aim of reducing the ecological footprint of online retail, toern offers a way of forwarding returns directly to the next customer. The software integrates seamlessly into existing shop systems and enables participating shops to save costs and resources.
