{"id":36866,"date":"2026-03-23T12:27:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kit-gruenderschmiede.de\/?p=36866"},"modified":"2026-03-23T12:38:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:38:28","slug":"start-summit-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kit-gruenderschmiede.de\/en\/start-summit-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look Back at the START Summit 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"o-content s-content o-content--space-lg js-animate a-animate--fade-in-up a-animate--delay-03\">\n  <div class=\"container-lg\">\n    <div class=\"row\">\n      <div class=\"col-md-10 offset-md-1 col-xl-8 offset-xl-2\">\n        <h2>By Bus to St. Gallen<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday morning, KIT Karlsruhe. A bus, 30 students, lots of laptops, and the expectation that the next 36 hours won\u2019t exactly be relaxing. This trip was made possible by our partner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deepl.com\/startupsecure-kastel\/\">StartUpSecure KASTEL<\/a>\u2014the network for cybersecurity startups, funded by the Federal Ministry.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We weren\u2019t traveling as KIT alone, but as the <a href=\"https:\/\/deep-tech-hub.de\/\">DeepTechHub<\/a> Hacker Team\u2014a network of seven partner universities in Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg that connects entrepreneurial talent across university boundaries. Same hoodies, same drive.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At the START Hack\u2014one of Europe\u2019s largest student hackathons with over 600 participants from around the world\u2014our teams worked for 36 hours on real-world company challenges. Between sleeping bags on the floor, Mario Kart at midnight, and international exchanges, something emerged that\u2019s hard to put into words: that feeling of working together on something bigger than yourself.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And then came the highlight: Our team\u2014led by Moussa Kassem Sbeyti, Christopher Ries, Niklas Lutze, and Maximilian Graf\u2014won their company challenge\u2014and took the big summit stage for the final pitch. Congratulations!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg in the Alpine Area \u2013 a strong joint presence<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In parallel with the hackathon, as partners of the DeepTechHub and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deepl.com\/nxtgn-startup-factories\/\">NXTGN Startup Factory<\/a>, we were part of the Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg delegation in the Alpine Area at the START Summit. And this year, the delegation was remarkably strong.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Represented at the joint booth were The L\u00e4nd, the Start-up BW accelerators, NXTGN \u2013 and a joint booth featuring all six INSPIRE BW Hubs: DeepTechHub, TriAS, INSPIRE2Start, StartupS\u00dcD, Schwarzw\u00e4lder Gr\u00fcndergeist, and Kilometer1. Each hub brought a startup that was able to showcase itself free of charge. The result: a booth that embodied the ecosystem in the best possible way.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The fact that this year\u2019s delegation also included State Secretary Patrick Rapp and Arndt Upfold, Head of the Start-up Division at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, lent the appearance even greater significance. Political delegations, investors, and many international guests stopped by the booth\u2014the conversations were substantive, not superficial.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What we took away<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Three days of a summit rarely mean simply working through a three-day program. The real value lies elsewhere: in the conversations that arise because you\u2019re in the right place at the right time.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Over 20 new investor contacts emerged from this summit\u2014not from exchanged business cards, but from genuine conversations. Add to that numerous international encounters and the realization of just how strong the network in Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg becomes when everyone sits down at the same table.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Knowledge was also shared and expanded upon on the various stages, in workshops, and during AMA sessions. And it was great to see that startups from our network were also there and used the summit as a platform.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A big thank you goes to our on-site team, especially to Rick Lindner, who, as Hub Manager of DeepTechHub, organized and coordinated so much. And of course to StartUpSecure KASTEL\u2014without you, the bus wouldn\u2019t have run.<\/p>\n\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<section class=\"o-images-carousel o-images-carousel--space-lg swiper js-images-carousel js-animate a-animate--fade-in-down a-animate--delay-03\">\n  <div class=\"swiper-wrapper\">\n          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"o-images-carousel__image swiper-slide\" src=\"https:\/\/kit-gruenderschmiede.de\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_8641-1200x850.png\" alt=\"Blick auf die B\u00fchne und das Publikum beim START Summit 2026, gro\u00dfes Event f\u00fcr die Startup-Community.\" \/>\n          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"o-images-carousel__image swiper-slide\" src=\"https:\/\/kit-gruenderschmiede.de\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_2553.jpg\" alt=\"Gruppenfoto der KIT Gr\u00fcnderschmiede Delegation am Start-up L\u00e4nd Stand auf dem START Summit 2026.\" \/>\n          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"o-images-carousel__image swiper-slide\" src=\"https:\/\/kit-gruenderschmiede.de\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_2625.jpg\" alt=\"Blick von oben auf den Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg Start-up L\u00e4nd Stand beim START Summit 2026, Startup-\u00d6kosystem.\" \/>\n          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"o-images-carousel__image swiper-slide\" src=\"https:\/\/kit-gruenderschmiede.de\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_2631.jpg\" alt=\"Gemeinschaftsstand von DeepTechHub, NXTGN und Partnern auf dem START Summit 2026, F\u00f6rderung f\u00fcr Startups.\" \/>\n          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"o-images-carousel__image swiper-slide\" src=\"https:\/\/kit-gruenderschmiede.de\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_8178-1200x850.png\" alt=\"Teilnehmer der KIT Gr\u00fcnderschmiede vor dem Reisebus auf dem Weg zum START Summit 2026, Startup-Exkursion.\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1194,50],"tags":[1139],"class_list":["post-36866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-backstage-en","category-event-en","tag-start-summit-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Look Back at the START Summit 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"KIT Gr\u00fcnderschmiede | A Look Back at the START Summit 2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kit-gruenderschmiede.de\/en\/start-summit-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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