Student ideas impress: Lünale 2025
2025-11-18 More than 400 invited guests from politics, business and society gathered on Friday, 14 November 2025, for this year's Lünale at the Leuphana Central Building to honour outstanding entrepreneurial achievements and innovative business ideas. The work of Leuphana students and graduates also played a significant role: the Leuphana Start-up Idea of the Year award from the Rainer Adank Foundation and the new ‘Masterpreis@Companies’ award from the University Foundation for Research and Business impressively demonstrated how ideas from the university have a direct impact on the regional economy.
Start-up idea award for bachelor's degree graduates
The best Leuphana start-up idea came from Coatly, a young start-up founded by Finn Ripp and Niklas Ruge, who studied computer science and business administration at Leuphana College. Their idea was to replace the little slips of paper you get in cloakrooms as a deposit with a digital solution on your own cash card – so you never have to go home without your coat because you lost the deposit slip. The idea came about shortly after a freezing cold night out in Copenhagen and offers long-term benefits not only for visitors, but also excellent development opportunities for the events industry. Shortly before completing the software development, the founders are planning the first test runs with pilot customers, including organisers of concerts, theatre performances and sporting events. The Leuphana start-up idea has been awarded 3,000 euros, provided by the Rainer Adank Foundation, with the support of NBank.
Lower Saxony's Minister for Economic Affairs, Tonne, described Finn Ripp and Niklas Ruge's idea as ‘absolutely brilliant’. Lower Saxony is doing well in terms of the number of start-ups: ‘These young people don't just complain about a problem, they tackle it head-on and solve it. You can't overestimate the value of that.’
Master's prizes: Companies benefit from scientific know-how
The Master's prizes, each worth €1,000 and newly announced by the Lüneburg University Foundation for Research and Economics, went to Nils Hendrik-Meier, Luca Windolph and Marie Tiedtke. What all three have in common is that they developed practice-oriented, scientifically based solutions with regional companies from their degree programme, from which the cooperating companies themselves and the entire region can derive long-term economic added value.
In his Master's thesis in Management & Data Science (LINK), Nils-Hendrik Meier developed a model that helps companies distribute their marketing budgets more efficiently across various digital channels. The jury praised the high degree of innovation and the direct economic benefits of the approach. The thesis was supervised in cooperation with Erason GmbH, a young Lüneburg-based company specialising in business consulting and AI product development.
Luca Windolph received the award for her part-time Master's thesis in the ‘Sustainability Management’ programme. Using her own company, the Lüneburg-based coffee roaster Sol Nocturno, as an example, she examined the implementation of EU requirements for deforestation-free supply chains. The combination of sustainability management and regulatory implementation expertise was particularly impressive.
Marie Tiedke, a master's graduate in Management & Engineering, examined two versions of an industrial force measuring plate in cooperation with Marposs Monitoring Solutions GmbH from Egestorf. Her comparison provides valuable insights for the further development of metrological devices and demonstrates concrete benefits for product development.
The Lünale: a guarantee for innovation, networking and recognition of special achievements
For over 15 years, the Lünale has been known far beyond the city limits for special moments. What is new is the venue: Lower Saxony's Minister for Economic Affairs, Grant Hendrik Tonne, represented the Lower Saxony state government and welcomed guests for the first time this year in the well-attended central building of Leuphana University, referring to the nationwide recognition of the award ceremony with the typically Nordic superlative ‘not bad’.
During the evening, innovative craft businesses and well-known traditional and family-run companies demonstrated how digital tools and AI can be used effectively in their own businesses. The winners were presented with the SME Award, the Craft Award and the Impuls Start-up Award. The honorary award for lifetime achievement went to Manfred and Erika Tschorn for their well-known grocery store on Sande and Bockelsberg.
The evening was organised by Lüneburg Economic Development with the support of numerous sponsors and prize donors. The event was accompanied by music from the Leuphana Music Centre Big Band. NDR presenter Isabel Eulenstein hosted the award ceremony.