CHEManager Innovation Pitch, the start-up initiative of CHEManager and CHEManager International, entered its fourth year in January. Last year, supported by our sponsors Biocampus Straubing, Flanders Investment & Trade, Ruhr-IP Patentanwälte and Heraeus, we presented a total of 22 start-up companies with their ideas - twelve in the German-language CHEManager edition and ten in CHEManager International. But that was not the end of the 2021 road, as the CHEManager Innovation Pitches of the Year still had to be selected.

In a virtual jury session at the beginning of February a panel of experts selected three winners among the 22 start-ups from seven countries. One winner each was determined in the categories "Value to Industry," "Value to Society", and "Value to Sustainability."

In the "Value to Industry" category, the Japanese start-up Tsubame BHB beat InOpSys from Belgium and LipoCoat from the Netherlands.

The winner in the "Value to Society" category is Largentec. The German start-up went head-to-head with Plafco Fibertech from Finland and Iktos from France, ultimately winning by a narrow margin.

And in the “Value to Sustainability” category Microbify from Germany won narrowly ahead of its German contender Eco:fibr.

The expert jury included: Ann-Kathrin Wagner (Biocampus Straubing), Tanja Bendele (Ruhr-IP Patentanwälte), Holger Bengs (BCNP Consultants), Pieter De Maeght (Flanders Investment & Trade), Matthias Hörteis (Heraeus), and Andrea Gruß (CHEManager), who was unable to attend the live jury session and was represented by Ralf Kempf and Michael Reubold.

The experts praised, above all, the diversity of ideas developed by the 22 start-ups, which have not only industrial but also social relevance. CHEManager took this diversity into account by offering separate prizes in the three categories "Value to Society," "Value to Industry" and "Value to Sustainability." Nevertheless, the jury's decision was preceded by a lively discussion in which different criteria were weighed up against each other.