Uros Rakic – Knödlerei (1 Scholarship)
The Lean-Knödel-Start-up from Linz
The Knödlerei offers sweet dumplings in various unique variations and explores how Lean Startup methodology can be applied to reduce risks and costs in the gastronomy industry. The Knödlerei aims to demonstrate that innovation can be achieved by combining tradition with modern approaches.

Leopold Boskanic – Researchly (1 Scholarship, financed through Dr. Gerhard Roiss)
The idea is to develop an AI-based decision augmentation tool for strategic questions. 
Researchly is a SaaS platform (Software-as-a-Service, a licensing and distribution model for software applications offered over the internet as a service) that helps businesses make data-driven decisions when facing strategic questions. The technical core of the tool is an artificial intelligence engine (AI) that consists of specially trained AI models, a knowledge graph, and industry data processed through AI. The goal is to enable businesses to stay ahead of threats and opportunities and transform challenges into opportunities. The market intelligence and forecasting platform aims to assist companies in making the right strategic decisions.

Bernadette Stiebitzhofer und Anna Pospischil – d’Speisgörls (2 Scholarships)
The employment project for women
"D'Speisgörls" focuses on providing employment opportunities for women with migration or refugee experience, as well as for women in Linz who are 60 years and older. The project involves the processing of rescued food and provides education in ecological and economic sustainability, both in theory and practice, along with social work support. The project aims to address technical, content-related, and societal challenges while contributing to sustainable development goals (SDGs). It also seeks to reduce inequalities and promote inclusion of marginalized women.

Sigrid Populorum – Yoolola (1 Scholarship)
Healthy Dog- and Cat Food
Yoolola offers healthy and species-appropriate ready-to-feed pet food based on the Barf principle (biologically appropriate raw feeding) using Austrian ingredients. Yoolola aims to make raw meat feeding healthier for pets and easier for people. The goal is to provide a clean, environmentally friendly, and uncomplicated way of feeding pets as a daily necessity. Ready-to-use frozen food mixtures are sold in sustainable paper packaging as dividable 120-gram patties. Depending on the size of the pet, the appropriate number of patties is thawed in the feeding bowl and can be fed directly. To provide maximum flexibility to pet owners, the patties are designed with breakage points. This ensures that the products are suitable for all breeds and sizes. Yoolola mixtures contain a balanced ratio of muscle meat, offal, bones, fruits, and vegetables, without any unhealthy or unnatural ingredients.

The Jury:

Ashna Mudaffer
works as a Project Manager at Business Upper Austria in the Cleantech Cluster, specializing in circular economy. Her core activities involve developing and managing innovative projects aimed at closing technical loops, including topics such as reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling. She actively promotes initiatives that drive the region of Upper Austria towards a circular economy, focusing on sustainability and resource efficiency.

Birgit Wimmer-Wurm
is the Incubation Manager at tech2b, the Upper Austrian HighTech Incubator. With a diverse background ranging from co-founding a software shop, corporate customer consulting at a regional bank in Upper Austria, debt prevention at a debt counseling organization, and serving as a university assistant at the Institute for Entrepreneurship, she brings a holistic and strategic approach to idea development. As a project leader at Johannes Kepler University, she supported the nationwide knowledge transfer center WEST in connecting university research results with the market. She continues to teach business modeling and strategic tools as a lecturer at JKU, including strategic customer feedback, idea evaluation, and pitching to effectively communicate ideas to investors or leads. For the past 2.5 years, she has been enthusiastically supporting teams of founders on their journey to launching their own startups.

Bernhard Lehner
Originally from Linz, Bernhard began his career as a journalist for newspapers and TV in Vienna. After successfully building a PR agency, he joined i5invest, the first Austrian startup incubator, as a partner in 2007. Since then, he has been involved as a co-founder of multiple startups (including 123people, tripwolf, all about apps, Adverity, Agentur Mint, among others) and has served as a founding and business angel for various companies (such as Runtastic, wikitude, wikifolio, and My Esel). In 2017, he co-founded startup300 (currently with 28 startup investments) and launched factory300 in the Tabakfabrik in Linz. Since 2015, Bernhard Lehner has been living near Linz with his family.

Gerhard Roiss
was the CEO of OMV, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Borealis and Verbund, and a member of the Board of Directors of Sulzer in Switzerland, among other positions. Currently, he is working as a start-up investor, supporting companies such as "Has to be", etc.

Christiane Luible-Bär
is a professor of Fashion & Technology at the University of Art and Design Linz. Her research focuses on practice-oriented design research in the field of fashion, with a special interest in the intersection of fashion and technology. She is responsible for several national and international research projects at the University of Art and Design Linz, including the EU STARTS Lighthouse project Re-FREAM. From 2008 to 2013, Christiane Luible led the Institute of Design Fashion, Jewelry and Accessories at HEAD Geneva. From 2001 to 2008, she worked as a researcher at MIRALab at the University of Geneva and participated in pioneering European research projects such as E-Tailor, Leapfrog, and Haptex. She has received international awards for her design work, including the Lucky Strike Junior Design Award and the Critic Award from F.I.T. in New York.