The following text has been machine translated from German.
At the same time, the event—designed by Triathlon and The Bridge Innovators—served as the stage for Saarland Pitch 2025 and as a cooperation platform for the Southwest Digital Festival. In front of more than 300 guests from academia, industry, politics, and society, not only the startup teams of Saarland Pitch 2025 presented their ideas, but also promising startups from the renowned WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Vallendar) and the French research institute INRIA (Paris). The pitches compellingly demonstrated how diverse, international, and future-oriented the innovation and startup landscape of the Greater Region has become.
This close interconnection is precisely what the SouthwestX Summit aims to achieve: the new format seeks to strengthen startup momentum and position the Southwest as a strategic hub within the European innovation ecosystem. “With the SouthwestX Summit, we are deliberately building two new bridges: we are opening up to excellent partners beyond state borders—such as WHU in Rhineland-Palatinate or the French research institute and AI powerhouse INRIA—and we are connecting the world of startups with the world of corporate innovation. This connection has long been overdue. At the same time, the format concisely showcases what we stand for with our application to the federal ‘Start-up Factories’ competition: a connected, internationally oriented startup landscape that radiates impact beyond the region,” explains Ralf Zastrau, Managing Director of Triathlon/The Bridge and co-initiator of the Summit.
The presentation of the SouthwestX Awards further underscores this new orientation:
- Best Start-up Award went to LAHA – Laser Hearing Aids. LAHA is developing a novel, laser-based hearing aid for people with hearing impairment. Sound is generated directly at the eardrum via a laser-activated silicone film—without a conventional loudspeaker. This enables a more precise, gentler, and more comfortable hearing experience, particularly for users who are intolerant of traditional devices.
The main prize, worth a total of €10,000, was made possible through the commitment of HYDAC (€5,000) and additional partners. In addition, the winning team receives two tickets sponsored by the nationwide de:hub initiative for the renowned startup conference Slush Helsinki in November. The award package is rounded off with professional coaching and a one-year membership in the Innovation Center valued at €3,500. - The Saarland Pitch Special Award was presented to Detesia, a spin-off from the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security focusing on deepfake detection. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, the startup team is currently deploying its software in initial pilot projects. The award from SWG – Saarländische Wagnisfinanzierungsgesellschaft is endowed with €2,000 and also includes a free workstation for one year at the University’s Innovation Center.
- Best Newcomer Start-up was awarded to TriSure, a team from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. TriSure is developing a “virus scanner” for insurance claims notifications—an AI-powered tool that analyzes images of damage cases for credibility at an early stage, even before they are processed by the insurer’s specialist department. The Bridge Innovators supports the winning team with a pre-incubation package valued at at least €7,500..
“With the SouthwestX Summit, Saarland has demonstrated that stakeholders from academia, industry, and politics are working together in a forward-looking manner. The close cooperation with the Southwest Digital Festival, the involvement of renowned universities and research institutions, and the clear focus on entrepreneurial thinking make this format a strong driver for digital transformation in the Greater Region—and beyond,” says University President Ludger Santen.
The SouthwestX Summit is conceived as the starting point of a new format that will further interlink strategic topics of transformation, entrepreneurship, and international cooperation in the Southwest in the future.
About Triathlon:
Since 1995, Saarland University has systematically supported founders from academia. This long-standing experience was consolidated in 2023 within the central unit “Triathlon – Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Transfer.” Triathlon provides comprehensive support for startup, technology, and knowledge transfer ideas and guides them toward economic and operational implementation. Over the past decades, more than 550 companies with around 4,000 jobs have emerged from the University with Triathlon’s support. On average, the Triathlon team supports 120 startup projects per year, resulting in approximately 30 new ventures.
www.uds-triathlon.de
About The Bridge Innovators:
The Bridge is the startup and innovation ecosystem in Southwest Germany, aiming to actively shape transformation in business and society. The initiative promotes technology-driven startups and supports companies in achieving growth through innovation in future fields such as Artificial Intelligence and Green Transformation. As a platform for innovation and entrepreneurship, The Bridge accompanies teams from ideation through growth and brings together talent, research institutions, and companies in interdisciplinary projects. The vision: safeguarding Germany’s future viability and innovative capacity—particularly in the SouthwestX (SWX) region, which includes Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Luxembourg, and France.
Additional Information: Saarland Pitch 2025
Saarland Pitch 2025 is part of the project Impuls, jointly implemented by Triathlon – Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Transfer at Saarland University and FITT – Institute for Technology Transfer at Saarland University of Applied Sciences (gGmbH). The Impuls project is funded by the Saarland Ministry for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digital Affairs and Energy, as well as by the European Union.
Fotos zur Verwendung unter der Quellenangabe „David Huckert/Triathlon“:
