The Danube Cup will debut at the JKU’s LIT Open Innovation Center between May 15 and May 17, 2024. Launched in 2016, the Danube Cup is a joint initiative between the Johannes Kepler University Linz, the University of Passau, the Budapest University of Technology, the Corvinus University Budapest, the University of Belgrade, the Vienna University of Economics and Business, the East Bavarian Technical University Regensburg, and the University of Regensburg.

The international start-up community comes to the JKU
The JKU's LIT Open Innovation Center will host this year’s internationally acclaimed student pitch competition for the first time. Each of the eight universities are sending two talented start-up teams to Linz to pitch their innovative ideas to a panel of experts.

Christiane Tusek, JKU Vice-Rector for Finance and Entrepreneurship, welcomes the international start-up community to the JKU: “The Danube Cup is a brilliant opportunity for students to showcase their talents and new ideas in the form of a competition. They can share ideas with other students, interact with experts, and grow their expertise. I look forward to experiencing tomorrow’s ideas at the JKU today during the Danube Cup!”

The JKU Start-Up Teams Focus on Healthcare and Professional Development
The individual universities selected their 2024 Danube Cup teams as part of a national pre-selection competition. Start-up teams PflegeZeit and SURFjobs will be representing the JKU.

JKU Artificial Intelligence majors Lisa Mahler, Jakob Kreutner, and Alexander Loidl make up PflegeZeit, an app providing caregivers with invaluable support, particularly those who are caring for dementia-suffering family members at home. In these types of situations, family members often feel a sense of uncertainty and anxiety. PflegeZeit not only provides tested exercises to support personal care, the app also creates a sense of community and understanding through old, often forgotten songs and cultural content. The app was created for staff at nursing homes and at senior day centers. During development, PflegeZeit worked closely with these institutions to clarify users' actual wishes and expectations to best accommodate their needs. The app was also designed to support any future digitalization efforts at these facilities.

JKU students Robert Hartl (graduate student in the Management and Leading Innovative Organizations program), Elias Ramoser (graduate students in the Leading Innovative Organizations program, and an undergraduate student in the Artificial Intelligence program), Emin Vojnikovic (graduate student in the Leading Innovation Organizations program), and JKU alumni Florian Girlinger (Master’s in Management) created the start-up company, SURFjobs. SURFjobs (SURF = See Your Future) is Austria's first mobile career counseling & job platform offering future apprentices and young professionals an opportunity to explore potential career paths by means of short, real-world based videos and the use of AI. The idea for SURFjobs came about in 2023 during the university course “Entrepreneurship and New Business Venturing” (graduate degree program Leading Innovative Organizations). Robert Hartl, Elias Ramoser, and Emin Vojnikovic became passionately involved in advancing the concept and verifying demand by conducting surveys at different job and career fairs. Florian Girlinger joined the entrepreneurial team in December and in March 2024, they officially launched SURFjobs FlexCo. The first test phase in May will mark the next major milestone, followed by the app’s official release in September 2024 at the app stores.

An international panel of experts will select the winners of the 2024 Danube Cup. The winners will receive cash awards (1st Place: € 1000 by the Jungen Wirtschaft OÖ and the Danube Cup Trophy / 2nd Place: € 600 / 3rd Place: € 400). In addition, all of the finalists will get tickets for VIVA Technology, Europe’s largest trade fair for entrepreneurship and innovation.

Anyone interested in watching the pitch competition can attend the semifinals during the morning on Thursday, May 16, at the GRAND GARAGE (Tabakfabrik), as well as the finals during the afternoon on Friday, May 17, at the JKU’s LIT Open Innovation Forum. Both sessions are open to the general public. See: Danube Cup 2024 | LIT Open Innovation Center (jku.at) to learn more.