In September 2021, the Impact Festival, which is a platform for sustainable technology and innovation, took place in the Fredenhagen-Halle in Offenbach. It was one of the first live events we attended in a really long time, so it holds a special place in our TQ hearts. Thus we want to take a look back and reflect on the time spent.

TechQuartier celebrated the Impact Festival with a week of events addressing questions in sustainability:

On September 13 there was an Icebreaker session, where five GreenTech startups pitched their sustainable finance businesses in five minute pitches. As always, the goals was to give them visibility in the startup community and beyond, and to provide them with feedback.

On September 15, we hosted the InvestorXconnect together with StartHub Hessen and BMH Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen mbH. This time it was live in-person at TechQuartier and all about CleanTech – main topics were Sustainable Finance, Smart Cities & Mobility and Clean Energy. InvestorXconnect is a collaboration format created to address social & environmental demands to stop climate change. Our goal is to connect people who can help build change and deliver towards a net-zero future through the help of technology.

From September 16 to 17 the Impact Festival, the highlight of this special week, took place in Offenbach and TQ was there on site.

The Impact Festival 2021 – Europe’s largest B2B event for sustainable technologies

The Impact Festival forms a central platform for sustainable innovation and technologies. The focus is on innovators, such as green start-ups, corporates and venture capital investors. In addition, both politics and education are involved through various program points.

This year, Europe’s largest event for sustainable technologies was organized by main incubator, the research and development unit and early-stage investor of Commerzbank Group. The festival welcomed a total of over 2,100 attendees, 130 exhibitors, 68 speakers, 48 masterclass speakers and 45 online lectures from 20 different countries.

TQ’s role at the Impact Festival

TechQuartier and main incubator created the Impact Challenge together, which took place on September 17. 21 international teams and early-stage startups applied for the Pitch Battle. We were pleased to welcome the finalists on stage and listen to their pitches. Their sustainable ideas range from Smart Farming Solutions to CleanTech Solutions. The jury, which consisted of five impact investors, chose four winners with the most innovative ideas. The winners received prize money, in total a sum of 6.500 Euro.

The Pitch Battle Winners:

Dubhe – Impact Challenge Winners – 3000€ – sponsored by Helaba Digital – They are the google street view of air pollution data, you can dive in and explore the various levels of air pollution at a street level.

Organifarms – Second – 2000€ – sponsored by Worldline Global – The startup is working on taking indoor farming to the next level by developing automation technology for complex processes such as harvest, plant care, and pollination.

Treesense – Third – 1000€ – sponsored by KfW – By using technology, the startup aims at precisely understanding the world of plants and thus contribute to the ecological sustainability of the planet.

Orbiture – Audience Voting Prize – 500€ – sponsored by Microsoft – The startup is accelerating the transition to a Circular Economy.

 

“As a platform for accelerating sustainable transformation, it is particularly important for us to involve and promote the young generation, their talents and ideas. I was very pleased to have the right partner in TechQuartier. Together we realized the vision in a short time and set up a successful international Impact Challenge. The organization and implementation was a complete success, which we will certainly follow up on.” – Fabian Demuth, main incubator

 

“For TechQuartier, the participation in the Impact Festival as a partner represents an important step in driving forward the path to a sustainable future together with startups and corporates. With the Impact Challenge, we have shown how diverse and promising sustainable approaches can be. Promoting talent and technologies from this field is not only forward-looking, but also a social challenge that we are happy to advance.” – Lucas Schmitt, Head of Innovation Products, TechQuartier

TechQuartier was more than happy to welcome more than 100 visitors at the TQ booth. We’re glad you liked our photo booth and the vegan cookies from Keks Fabrik. Additionally, we matched over ten new corporations and institutions, as well as 20 startups from the festival to drive sustainable ideas forward.

Watch our after movie: