University Startup World Cup
+65 startups gathered to compete for the University Startup World Cup 2018.
Check out the winners and subscribe below to be the first to know when we open submissions for 2019.
If you're a university, accelerator or incubator and want to learn more about becoming a country partner, add your details below.
Community of the best university startups worldwide
They compete for total cash prizes of $55,000
Category winners are awarded $5,000, and the overall winner $25,000
The University Startup World Cup invites the very best teams from all over the world for a week in Copenhagen. Our vision is to create a network among international students in which they get inspired, benchmark their ideas and take their startup to the next level. The five-day event awards a winning team from each category, and an overall winner who can call themselves the world’s best university startup!
The University Startup World Cup is organized by Venture Cup, a Danish non-profit organization with 18 years of experience in hosting startup competitions for university startups. We focus on entrepreneurship as a practical discipline. We want to attract international talents to Copenhagen, while promoting Denmark as a leading startup hub for entrepreneurs.
More than a competition
The University Startup World Cup is more than just a competition, it is an opportunity to be part of an international network of experienced entrepreneurs and business professionals.
They provide valuable advice on a volunteer basis as they share Venture Cup’s goal of supporting ambitious startups. All teams are offered a mentor from our Startups Mentor Program and be part of the Venture Cup family.
startups every year
finalists participating
countries
students reached
country partners
say USWC led to future business growth
would recommend others to participate
would consider using Denmark as a test market
would consider moving to CPH to work on their startup
reached on Social Media
Testimonials
"The week in Copenhagen was very inspirational – full of new ideas, knowledge and amazing people. And we are extremely grateful to the USWC team for all the help and support that they have been providing all though the event. USWC pushed our team to reach new limits."
Laava Tech, Estonia - USWC 2018 Winner
"USWC was our first competition outside of our university so we didn’t know what to expect! But in a short week, we had enough feedback to completely redesign our pitch, fine-tune our presentation, and were able to meet professionals in our field with valuable thoughts on our startup, willing to help us in the long run. It was an amazing launchpad of an experience overall."
Sunthetics, U.S.A.
"We loved meeting teams from across the world particularly those working on hardware! The week was a great mix of worthwhile activities to network with company mentors, work on our pitches and expo our company."
Tekuma, Australia
"The USWC isn’t just a platform to showcase your business, establish networks and compete in a competitive environment. It is an opportunity to make lasting friendships and establish impactful business links that have the capacity to forge the future. It is an experience."
RAB-Microfluidics, UK - USWC 2017 Winner
Categories
Products & Design
Traditional products & devices, inventions, designs, services, hardware, etc.
NextGen Logistics
Revolutionize how we secure supply chain, fight food waste or enable trade globally.
HealthTech
Healthcare, biotech, pharmaceutical drugs & vaccines, medical devices, biomaterials, advanced medical therapies, etc.
Service Innovation
Development of user experience and user design. Focus can be on development or optimization of products or service designs, experiences, events, robotics, digitalization or sharing economy.
GreenTech
Environmentally friendly, recycled products, energy efficiency, waste management, pollution reduction, etc.
Fintech, AI, ICT
VR, robots, blockchain, IoT, augmented reality, etc.
As part of the selection criteria, one of the founding members has to be a student and submit a business plan.
We reserve the right to assign you to a fitting category if you’re selected as a finalist.
USWC 2018 Winners
Products & Design and Overall Winner
Laava Tech – Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia
Laava Tech develops artificial lighting systems for greenhouse operators to decrease energy consumption and increase yield. We have developed a combination of hardware and software, which gives each and every plant the perfect growing conditions.
With our proprietary software we are able to decrease energy consumption by 3 to 10 times compared to current systems as well as increase quality and quantity of yield by 10-20%. We offer a monthly subscription service where we provide access to our hardware, software and database of the optimized growing conditions.
GreenTech
Sunthetics - New York University, United States of America
Sunthetics provides an alternative path to manufacture a chemical intermediate for nylon that is emission-free, more efficient, and cost-effective. There are current shortages in nylon intermediates due to increasing demand, complex reactions, and production interruptions. In consequence, there is an opportunity to significantly improve the chemical manufacturing industry with better, more sustainable and modern technology.
Sunthetics offers a solar-powered reactor that uses 50% less energy, less raw material, and produces less waste, while removing 20% of carbon emissions from the entire manufacturing process.
FinTech, AI, ICT
ImagiCase – Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
imagiCase is working to inspire the next generation of female technologists and increase the proportion of women studying and working in the STEM fields. imagiCase started as a research project where we co-created ideas with young girls. We learned that self expression is extremely important to teenagers, as well as their cell phones.
This is how the idea of imagiCase was born: it is a phone case with embedded LED lights that can be programmed to display any text, design or color through programming with the imagiCase mobile platform. The platform also provides tutorials of coding concepts guiding the user through the journey of learning to code in a gamified way. It also fosters an online community through the possibility of sharing one’s creations on a design feed.
Health
VulCur MedTech – University of Copenhagen, Denmark
VulCur MedTech is a medical device development company focusing on wound healing, using a novel combination of existing technologies. Our method of treatment uses laser technology to kill bacteria within wounds, which is a treatment breakthrough.
Service Innovation
Choose Your Future – University of Turku, Finland
Choose Your Future is helping people (such as refugees, students and employees) find the best place to live and integrate them to their new home cities. Our award-winning digital tools enhance different stages of integration processes resulting in a better well-being and reducing costs of various organizations such as universities, cities and companies who are responsible for these new citizens.
NextGen Logistics
Tekuma – University of Technology Sydney & Macquarie University, Australia
Drones, robots and other devices have been revolutionised over the last 80 years but the two-joystick control interface has not. Tekuma has built a one-handed six-degrees-of-freedom tactile controller that is intuitive, universal and robust. It reduces the time, cost and personnel required to get the job done.
Testing through Michael’s mechatronics honours thesis has found it reduces the learning curve for new users and increases user confidence. We’ve tested it with over 600 users with drones but our controller also works with robots, submarines, rovers and other devices. We want to improve the way humans interact with technology.
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