14th edition of the Extended Study on Innovation (ESI) Demo Day: seven of eleven teams honoured and a wildcard for “2 Minuten 2 Millionen” awarded

High above the rooftops of Vienna at TUtheSky, the 14th edition of the Extended Study on Innovation (ESI) Demo Day, hosted by the TU Wien Innovation Incubation Center, took place on 22 June. Over two semesters, students had the opportunity to turn the knowledge they had gained into an entrepreneurial idea and presented their results to an expert jury. Among the prizes on offer was a wildcard for the PULS4 show “2 Minuten 2 Millionen”. The award-winning teams came from a broad range of sectors, spanning AI-powered resource planning, EdTech and automated cybersecurity through to modular lifestyle design.

“There are plenty of pitch competitions out there, but at TUW i²c we raise the bar with every ESI cohort. Year after year, we’re inspired by the improvisational skill and the dedication these teams bring to mastering even the toughest challenges and turning them into market-ready ideas,” says TUW i²c Director Birgit Hofreiter on the program’s ambition. Every pitch showed how deep tech can make a tangible difference in everyday life.

“What these teams achieve in barely a year is impressive time and again. The ESI Demo Day makes it clear that interdisciplinary collaboration, combined with an entrepreneurial skill set built on a technical foundation, is the basis for mastering the challenges of the future, challenges that demand new approaches,” Hofreiter concludes.
After lively deliberations, a jury consisting of Caroline Klinger (ProSieben Sat.1 Puls 4), Birgit Polster (Erste Bank), Sophia Lang (Austria Wirtschaftsservice) and Jan Pilsinger (AI:AT) selected the seven winning teams: Resolve, BaseKit, SWK Protect, Hepharo, PlayCoach, Klared and NeuroFlow Labs. The prizes now open up a wealth of opportunities for the winners, including an invitation and wildcard for the PULS4 primetime show “2 Minuten 2 Millionen”, an exclusive place as one of just 10 start-ups at the Cologne Startup Summer Night, and extensive coaching packages and cash prizes in the areas of law, finance and scalability. These prizes are provided by Graf/Patsch/Freisinger Rechtsanwälte, ERSTE Bank, GrowGrow, Austria Wirtschaftsservice and AI Factory Austria AI:AT, and are complemented by mentoring from i²c.

This year’s Teaching Awards were also presented, in the categories Best Lecturer, Best Workshop and Student Award. Voted for directly by the students, they went to Todd Davey, Julie Sufana and Alex Ion.

The Best Lecturer Award went to Prof. Todd Davey for his course “Foundations of Innovation”. In their tribute, the students praised the fact that he conveyed a clear vision for the entire ESI journey right from the start: “With his enthusiasm and his authentic sharing of entrepreneurial experience, he sparked our innovation mindset and motivated us to think beyond conventional solutions.”

The Best Workshop Award went to Julie Sufana for her “Storytelling” workshop. The students highlighted her diverse background and extensive professional experience: “Her ability to combine practical insights, personal stories and actionable feedback let us see pitching and storytelling from a completely new perspective and challenged us to keep improving our presentations.”

The Students’ Choice Award was presented to Alex Ion: “Alex always gave everything. He was constantly looking for ways to help us, to connect us with the right people and to support us on our entrepreneurial journey.” What stayed with the students most was how much time and effort he invested in truly understanding their projects: “You could tell it genuinely mattered to him, he wanted every team to succeed,” the students said.

The Extended Study on Innovation (ESI), offered by TUW i²c, provides TU Wien students from all faculties with hands-on, practice-oriented training in intra- and entrepreneurship. International lecturers and mentors support the students, preparing them for a potential start-up or spin-off, or for innovation management in industry and public administration. The crowning conclusion is the annual Demo Day, where an expert jury selects the best ideas.