The Sustainable Impact Contest of the Business School
The contest of the Business School for sustainable projects
Students at the University of Mannheim are not only educated professionally, they are also involved in numerous projects and student initiatives in their free time. There are many good ideas, but often the projects lack the necessary funding and visibility. Therefore, the Sustainable Impact Contest was created.
The Business School of the University of Mannheim announced this contest for the first time in 2016 under the title “Social Project Contest”. Since last year, the contest is back again under a new name! At the Sustainable Impact Contest, student initiatives of the University of Mannheim, but also external initiatives and associations are called to apply with their project. Under the umbrella term of sustainability, these can be socially as well as ecologically oriented. Important is that the project has an impact on our society! The faculty supports the winning project by selling wine at the annual Bachelor BWL graduation party: One euro per bottle automatically goes to the winning project. The cooperating Mannheim Business School doubles the amount at the end.
Are you a member of an initiative with impact? Do you have a great idea for a social or ecological project that is in the pipeline but lacks start-up funding? Apply now for the Business School's Sustainable Impact Contest!
Apply now!
Bewerbung und Auswahl
Applications for the Sustainable Impact Contest can be submitted until 7 June 2024.
The evaluation in the final will be done by a 3-member jury:
- Joachim Lutz, Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Mannheim.
- Bettina Meltzer, Marketing and Communications & Diversity Manager Mannheim Business School gGmbH
- Prof. Dr. Moritz Fleischmann, Vice Rector for Sustainability and Information Provision at the University of Mannheim
In addition, the result of an Instagram vote on our channel @bsunimannheim will be rated equally high as the vote of a jury member.
Each jury member has their own vote and ranks the final projects and initiatives. The Instagram vote will also result in a ranking. The projects will then receive points according to their ranking.
Ranking | Points |
1st place | 3 |
2nd place | 2 |
3rd place | 1 |
Thus, a maximum score of 12 points can be achieved. The project with the most points wins the Sustainable Impact Contest 2024.
Last years' winners
2023
MaExchange by Infinity Mannheim e.V.
Credit: Infinity Mannheim e.V.The project “MaExchange” by the student initiative Infinity Mannheim e.V. has won the Sustainable Impact Contest 2023 of the Business School. The initiative advocates for sustainable solutions and offers exchange students a financially affordable and resource-saving alternative to purchasing household items during their stay in Mannheim.
MaExchange allows incoming students to register at the beginning of each semester to borrow household and everyday items, primarily kitchen utensils. These can be borrowed for a deposit amount for the duration of the stay and returned at the end of the semester. The project also accepts donations in kind from students leaving Mannheim, allowing the items to be reused. In this way, MaExchange provides an alternative to the conventional “buy and waste” approach and helps to promote the local circular economy.
The MaExchange project prevailed in the final of the Sustainable Impact Contest against the projects “Sonnenkinder” and “Stifte Hoffnung”. The winners were selected by a jury consisting of Joachim Lutz, Dean of the Business School of the University of Mannheim, Bettina Meltzer, Marketing, Communications & Diversity Manager at Mannheim Business School and Prof. Dr. Moritz Fleischmann, Vice Rector for Sustainability and Information Provision at the University of Mannheim. In addition, the projects were able to collect points in an Instagram vote. The jury agreed that the project was action-oriented in both supporting students and contributing to a sustainable circular economy.
2019
Müttersprache (engl. „Mother tongue“)
Credit: Nele Westrick“Müttersprache” offers language courses and simultaneous childcare for refugee women in Mannheim. For many fugitive mothers it is difficult if not impossible to attend an all-day language course as they ask themselves: who will be taking care of our children during this time? Anne-Sophie Waag and Sandra Haldimann recognized this problem and thus founded their association “Müttersprache” by offering those women an easily accessible first point of contact for learning the German language. Parallely to the language courses, which are being offered twice a week, the children of the women are being taken care of. The language courses as well as the child care offers are being mainly carried out by students of the University of Mannheim.
2018
Retterherz – public relations work for helping professions
“Retterherz” is the winner of the Social Project Contest 2018. “Retterherz” tries to gain a greater acceptance for helping professions and volunteer activities and to attract young professionals through public relations work in social networks.
2017
Blauherz – style without borders
Credit: enactus Mannheim e.V.In 2017, the student initiative Enactus Mannheim applied with its project “Blauherz”: The goal was to develop special pants for wheelchair users, since suitable, yet affordable and stylish clothing is hard to find for them. With the prize money of the Social Project Contest, the group was able to tailor a pair of pants which soon will be produced.
2016
Macup – sustainable coffee consumption
Credit: Xenia MünsterkötterIn its first year, the Social Project Contest supported the student project “Macup”. The students of the three initatives involved wanted to reduce the waste created by to-go coffee cups on campus by providing a more sustainable alterantive. The project therefore aimed to establish a deposit system with reusable cups at the University of Mannheim. With the financial support of the Social Project Contest, the students were able to produce a prototype, designed by the Mannheim artist Nick Lobo, which since then is available at the campus shop.
