Stuttgart. With almost 80 applicants from all over Europe and over 100 visitors attending the final pitches, the GIIF 2018 ensured unparalleled insights into the international Green Startup Community.

During the course of the two-day event, an open space emerged for exchange and networking between investors, experts from science and industry and 20 promising, hand-selected Startups. On the 20th February, in a dedicated training day, the startups were coached on business model, access to finance and IPR and could check with professional how “green” their business idea is. This was the perfect preparation for the pitching in front of investors and corporate representative held on the second day.  

Creative thinking was accelerated by several inspiring keynotes, held by Viva con Agua-Initiator Benjamin Adrion and Impact-Investor Shuen Chan, who emphasized that there can be no more “business as usual” – but only “business with purpose”. This was impressively illustrated by the following pitches of the 20 finalists, who captivated jury and audience with the wide variety of innovative ideas. An expert jury selected the most convincing business models in three categories – the Green Tech Award Advanced Stage, Early Stage and the Scientific Prize, provided by the Institute for Industrial Ecology from the University of Pforzheim.

The companies awarded presented promising solution in the Green Tech field. The startup NanoScreen received the Scientific Support Award for their innovative window films that will block out heat while being fully transparent and therefore reducing energy spending on acclimatization. The German team of SeedForward was declared winner of the Early Stage competition. The agricultural Startup focuses on organic seed coating that increases plant resistance and efficiency. The main prize for the best Advanced Stage innovation was awarded to Twipes, a young company with focus on producing self-dissolving wet wipes, and therefore contributing to global waste reduction.