The 'Gründerwettbewerb - Digitale Innovationen' is an ideas competition organized by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and the successor to the 'Gründerwettbewerb - IKT Innovativ'. The BMWi supports up to six start-ups with prize money of 32,000 euros. In addition, up to 15 further start-up ideas will be awarded 7,000 euros each. As in previous rounds of the competition, all winners will receive coaching, mentoring and networking opportunities in addition to the financial injection. They have until September 30, 2016 to submit their idea outline for the current round of the competition.

In addition to the regular prizes, this year the BMWi is also offering a special prize of 10,000 euros each in the areas of big data and digital education. The special prize 'Digital Education' is aimed at start-ups with ideas in the field of 'Educational Technologies'. This is about ideas that make digital technologies usable for education in new ways - whether in preschool, school, university or in vocational training and further education. The special prize for the best start-up concept for Big Data is looking for the most promising idea sketch for a start-up that meets the challenges of the three Vs - namely large amounts of data (volume) from different sources (variety) that need to be processed quickly (velocity). The best participants will receive feedback by mid-November 2016 and will be invited to Phase 2, where they can further refine and revise their concept. All other participants will receive their feedback in December 2016. The BMWI will then present the winners at CeBIT in Hanover in March 2017.

In the current round, the competition is paying particular attention to female founders, among others. According to the German Startup Monitor 2015, the proportion of female founders in technology-oriented start-ups is only 13%. "The KfW Start-up Monitor for 2014 states that 56% of start-ups in freelance activities were founded by women," says Wolfram Groß, project manager of the 'Start-up Competition - Digital Innovations'. "This figure shows that women do not shy away from self-employment, but they start up in different areas than men. Women are more likely to become self-employed as freelancers, for example as journalists. Men found technology-oriented start-ups. Women are just as likely to be innovators as men. By providing special support for women in the ICT sector, we therefore want to bring even more innovation potential to light," says Groß.