The Danube Cup 2026 marked a historic milestone, celebrating its 10-year anniversary of fostering international student entrepreneurship across the Danube region. Hosted for the second time by the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna), this year’s competition reached unprecedented scale, drawing over 1,300 registrations. The high-stakes final pitch competition was integrated into Europe’s student-led startup event, the Entrepreneurship Avenue Conference 2026, providing a massive stage and vibrant ecosystem for the Danube Cup Teams.

Key Facts:

• Total Program Participants: Over 50 participants.
• Cohort: 10 teams selected to pitch in the finals.
• Geographic Footprint: Spanning 9 universities across 4 different countries, emphasizing the truly international collaborative spirit of the Danube Cup.

The Grand Finale

The 10 final teams joined the final pitch competition in front of a jury of industry experts, venture capitalists, and corporate innovators who evaluated the projects in the following criteria:

• Idea (30%) – Originality, innovativeness, and customer centricity; particularly the quality of the problem-solution fit.
• Validation* (10%) – Quality of validation efforts and credibility of insights; evaluation should reflect the stage of the team.
• Business Potential (30%) – Market opportunity, competitive positioning, robustness of the business model, roadmap and go-to-market strategy.
• Team (10%) – Entrepreneurial commitment, relevant skills, and the ability to execute the idea.
• Pitch & Q&A (20%) – Professional delivery, compelling narrative and slides, and effectiveness in responding to questions.

The Jury

• Chonghao Su – Serial Entrepreneur & Founder, Humanai Ventures
• Simon Tretter – Co-Founder, Hokify & One100
• Karl Schiller – AWS (Austria Wirtschaftsservice)
• Anja Hintermeier – Wien Energie
• Birgit Polster – Erste Bank

Winning Teams

🥇 1st Place: Terraformer (WU Vienna, Austria)

Harald Bartsch and his teammate Germain Haessig from Team Terraformer took the trophy home for WU Vienna.

Terraformer provides sensor systems for automated sway compensation in cranes. Enabling millimeter-precise real-time sensing and active stabilization of crane loads for faster, safer, and more efficient crane operations.

🥈 2nd Place: Team Prinity (OTH Regensburg, Germany)

Securing a second place was Team Prinity, represented by the ambitious trio of Tim Dwertmann, Sammy Schindler, and Michael Luginger.

Prinity is developing an automated print bed for FDM 3D printers that enables fully continuous, unattended printing. By automatically removing finished parts and cleaning the build surface, the system eliminates manual intervention and significantly increases printer utilization. Designed as a cost-efficient add-on, it integrates seamlessly with existing printers and transforms them into scalable, production-ready systems.

🥉 3rd Place: Team TraceQ (Corvinus University, Hungary)

The third-place was claimed by Team TraceQ, consisting of Pál János, Zinullayev Bexlan, Chatterjee Arya, and Amangeldi Kamila.

With TraceQ we create compact robots which locate people under the rubble after natural disasters. The robots assist search and rescue teams by informing them where to look for survivors, thus saving crucial hours resulting in more people saved.

Looking Ahead: Danube Cup 2027

As WU Vienna successfully concludes its tenure as the two-time host and reigning champion, next year, the entrepreneurial spirit of the Danube region heads to Germany, where OTH Regensburg will host the Danube Cup 2027.

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