These are the winners of the "IDEAward" of the Technical University of Munich

Building materials made from hops, a pyrolysis system for plastic waste and a plaster against urinary tract infections: These three ideas were honored by the Technical University of Munich.

For the tenth time, the Technical University of Munich, together with the Center for Innovation and Start-up Entrepreneurship and the Zeidler Research Foundation, awarded the prize for the best start-up idea. The winners received a total of 37,500 euros in prize money.

First place: Hopfon

Architecture student Marlene Stechl and civil engineering student Thomas Rojas Sonderegger took first place with "Hopfon." They want to produce building materials such as acoustic panels, insulating materials and building panels from hops. The products should be able to be broken down into their components again at the end of their service life and thus be recyclable. With Hopfon, the students want to reduce CO2 emissions from the construction industry and lower the manufacturing costs of building materials. Since hops can be grown in Germany, long transport routes and the resulting CO2 emissions would be eliminated. Waste products from beer production could also be used.

Second place: Wasteex

Elias Hasel, a chemistry student, and Marc Xia, a doctoral student at the Chair of Plant and Process Engineering, were awarded second prize in the start-up competition for "Wasteex". With their product, they want to help economically and infrastructurally weak countries to combat plastic waste. To do this, they are developing a pyrolysis reactor that can recover oil from plastic at high heat. At the moment, such reactors only exist for industry. Wasteex's pyrolysis reactor, on the other hand, is designed to be compact and easy to use. The project could also help create new value chains in low-income regions.

Third place: Pavaoo

Third place goes to Pavaoo. Cordula Loock, a student of pharmaceutical bioprocess engineering, and Christian Loock, a graduate of aerospace engineering, have jointly developed a patch that prevents urinary tract infections such as cystitis in women. Bladder infections often occur during sexual intercourse when germs enter the urinary tract outlet. With the Pavaoo patch, women can tape off their urinary tract outlet and thus prevent germs from entering.