Stöbich Entrepreneurship Promotion Award 2021

The Stöbich Entrepreneurship Promotion Prize was awarded for the first time. This award, initiated by the Goslar-based fire protection company STÖBICH, recognizes outstanding dissertations in the field of entrepreneurship research - in plain language: scientific work that investigates and develops methods for innovative entrepreneurship and thereby supports budding young entrepreneurs in setting up a company.

The 10-member jury of the Entrepreneurship Hub of the Technical University of Braunschweig and the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences has decided: Dr. Torben Antretter receives the Stöbich Entrepreneurship Promotionspreis 2021, which is endowed with 7,500 euros. At the award ceremony on December 8, Jörg Schiebel, Chairman of the Management Board of the STÖBICH Group, was joined in his congratulations by Björn Thümler, Lower Saxony's Minister of Science and Culture, TU President Prof. Dr. Angela Ittel, and Prof. Dr. Reza Asghari, head of the Entrepreneurship Hub based at both universities. Due to the Corona pandemic, the event took place as an online-only event.

But what exactly is the Swiss entrepreneurship researcher's nearly 200-page dissertation about? The topic of "AI-based analysis of the prospects for success of start-ups" is very complex. Essentially, it is about the possibility of using artificial intelligence to predict the chances of survival of a newly founded company. The machine learning algorithms of the developed software succeed in doing this by almost 90% - an impressive rate. The practical app is fed with results from various prediction models and is already actively helping business angels - i.e. private investors - in the selection of startup fellows.
Private investors play a crucial role for young entrepreneurs, as they can provide financial and networking support to startups at a very early stage: the more promising a startup, the more likely it is to receive initial funding support and thus the more likely it is to succeed. Thus, in addition to the start-up incubators, the budding entrepreneurs also benefit from the innovative technologies.

Company founder and prize donor Dr.-Ing. Jochen Stöbich was himself an entrepreneur from the very beginning and promoted innovation and entrepreneurial courage until his death earlier this year. With the Stöbich Entrepreneurship Promotion Award, a part of his pioneering spirit now lives on and will surely inspire many more to promising projects.

More information about the award at https://www.entrepreneurship-hub.org/stoebich-promotionspreis/