Impact Pitch Night 2025 – Changemakers on Stage

In the organizer's words:

Five teams pitch their solutions for social and environmental challenges - live in front of a jury and audience.

On November 18, 2025, the time has come: the 1st Bonn Impact Pitch Night will bring the best start-up ideas for the common good in the Bonn/Rhine-Sieg region to the stage. From 5 to 8 p.m., the DIGITALHUB at Bonn Central Station will be transformed into a meeting place for everyone interested in impact, sustainability and the founders of tomorrow.

What can you expect?

• 5 teams, 5 ideas, 1 stage - selected from the region's universities and the open wildcard competition
• Keynote speech by Rebecca Göckel, founder of the Cologne start-up nomoo
• Live pitches in front of jury and audience: Which idea will win the competition?
• Networking with snacks & drinks - meet like-minded people, discuss ideas, build contacts

Keynote speaker Rebecca Göckel

Rebecca is co-founder of the Cologne-based brand NOMOO, the ice cream without "Muuuh". The vegan organic ice cream stands for intense flavor and ecological sustainability. Together with her co-founder Jan, Rebecca started her own company in 2016 while she was still studying. So she knows first-hand what it's like to start a business young, without much professional experience and in the field of sustainability. In her keynote, Rebecca talks about her founding story, key learnings and the special challenges of sustainable start-ups.

Why be there?

• You will gain exclusive insights into the latest impact start-ups and start-up ideas in the region
• You will experience first-hand the talent and potential in Bonn/Rhine-Sieg
• You are part of SoNaR's growing impact community, which came together for the first time at the Future Founders Event in May and is now continuing to grow
• You can support the teams and exchange ideas with experts, founders and doers

Prizes

The best ideas will be awarded with prize money for the top 3 places.

In addition, one team has the chance to win the Impact Incubator special prize, with which they can secure a place in the selection camp of Anthropia's Impact Factory Incubator. With the incubator program, the Impact Factory intensively supports young companies in turning vision into reality - from idea validation to market entry!

Jury

The decision on the best sustainable idea will be made by a jury of experienced representatives of the regional start-up and impact ecosystem, consisting of

• Christopher Franz - Office for Economic Development of the City of Bonn and representative of the Sustainability Hub Bonn
• Rebecca Göckel - founder of nomoo and keynote speaker
• Verena Hermelingmeier - Managing Director of bonnvivir GmbH and Maarwerk
• Jonathan Kümmerle - Founder of Vemo Logistik and others
• Patrick Weisker - Ecosystem Manager at Anthropia

The "SoNaR" project is a joint project of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, the University of Bonn and Alanus University and is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection and the European Union via the European Social Fund Plus (ESF Plus) as part of the "Sustainable Impact" program.