BASF and AHK Romania are extending the application deadline dfor the BASF Innovation Hub 2023 competition for additional two weeks. The organizers will accept solutions until October 13, at midnight.

This year’s solutions deal with a great variety of topics such as renewable energy sources for industrial applications, alternative methods for food and microalgae production, development of resistant systems and recyclable and biodegradable solutions for everyday use.

“Having a chance to meet with so many incredible people gathered around the same goal and to be able to be a part of their story and support them through our experts, but also financially gives us great pleasure”, said Andreas Lier, Managing Director for Romania, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, adding that being able to follow the success of previous participants is also a great part of this experience. For example, a startup from Romania, R-CREATE, is providing a much-needed scalable alternative for the waste resulting from online deliveries and is reinventing the packaging solutions and processes though a circular model that is backed by EU's funding and steadily spreading all over Europe”.

BASF Innovation Hub 2023 is open to all participants whose solutions focus on clean energy, circular economy and sustainable agriculture strategies. These key points align with the vision that by 2050, Europe will become the first climate-neutral continent.

”Climate-neutral future is the common goal we are striving to meet and therefore we focus our daily activities to come closer to a sustainable development for the country and beyond”, said Sebastian Metz, General Manager and Board Member of AHK Romania. “Our belief is that it can be achieved only through collaboration with institutions, economic, political and scientific actors and also with the individuals. We are aware of the responsibility that companies like BASF bear for making greener the agenda of tomorrow. It is our wish to use this pitch event to provide visibility and recognition for the ideas that lead to greener transformation and to push them towards further progress.”

The competition BASF Innovation Hub is organized for 11 European countries, including Romania. For a third year in a row, startups and innovators have a chance to pitch their solutions targeting green and digital transformation, while explaining the manner in which their solutions will contribute to sustainable future. In the first phase, participants from Romania will join participants from Bulgaria and Greece.

Two winning ideas from the first phase will then move on to the Grand European finale, whose grand winner will be rewarded with a prize of EUR 5,000 gross.