In a thrilling finale, founder Philipp Sinn fought for SINN Power in Düsseldorf in the competition for the Sustainability Award for startups. Although the wave energy startup did not receive the first prize in the end, the team was happy to get the chance to make its sustainable business model known across Germany.
Photographs: Frank Fendler
On the day of the competition, the nominated startups presented their companies in front of 16 critical jury members that know the field well: successful founders with sustainability focus, startup researchers, business partners of the Next Economy Award, representatives of the Federal German Government and the German Chambers of Commerce as well as incubators/accelerators, banks and venture capitalists.
Although SINN Power did not receive the prestigious award in the end, the team members that had arrived from Munich earlier that day enjoyed the Award ceremony thoroughly. “The public attention that such renowned awards generate is enormous,” says Rike Brand, Chief Marketing Officer at SINN Power. “In any case, these events are a great opportunity to step back once in a while and celebrate the past achievements with the team.”
The Next Economy Award is the National German Sustainability Award (Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis, DNP) for startups. The DNP is the national award for role models in the field of sustainability and one of the most prestigious awards of its kind in Europe. 175 startups with social and environmental business models from all over Germany had applied for the Next Economy Award. With its wave energy converter, SINN Power had made it into the Top 13.