Two new projects, "Neverhill" and "vekoop", are being launched on the market. They were coached by the university's Start-up and Innovation Centre (GIZ). These are projects that bring together things that were once separate: Contemporary design and ecological awareness.
They cannot meet. The shark, experienced in the oceans and universally feared, and the goldfish, modest inhabitants of glass boxes, also known as aquariums. But this is where their paths actually cross: "Wanted: Goldfish with entrepreneurial spirit", reads the banner that currently adorns the façade of the lecture theatre centre. And above the shark the addition: "We offer: shark-free zone". We are the university's Start-up and Innovation Centre (GIZ), which coaches students with new business ideas, including the creators of "vekoop" and "Neverhill". Two projects that combine things that were once separate: Contemporary design and ecological awareness.
"vekoop" is an online shop for vegans, vegetarians, allergy sufferers and the health-conscious. Its range includes high-quality plant-based foods. "Social commerce" is the guiding principle: customers exchange ideas with each other and, if interested, work together with the shop as "partners". "With our start-up idea, we want to create a more sustainable, more social shopping experience," says Timo Schliep, who, like his partner Sebastian Brandstetter, studied new media, marketing and communication in the Integrated Media programme - but also lifestyle and sustainability issues. "With vekoop, we want to show that it's not just cheap products on the internet that invite you to shop. But also and especially a co-operative shopping model that focuses on quality," says Brandstetter. Both received funding totalling 18,000 euros from GründerCampus Niedersachsen for their idea.
While the vekoop makers are working flat out on their site - the online shop is scheduled to launch in spring 2013 - the start-up "Neverhill" is already on the market. Sustainable fashion is the focus of Michael Sorkin, Tobias Redlin and Mailin Rohland, who founded their project in Ingolstadt in 2011. They moved to Oldenburg three months ago. "The university here suits us and our company better," says Sorkin, who, like Redlin, is now studying economics in Oldenburg.
As with vekoop, the boundaries between consumer and producer are blurred at Neverhill. The idea: young people design a T-shirt, upload it to Neverhill and take part in a "design contest". In the best-case scenario, the T-shirt becomes part of Neverhill's online shop and the designer receives a share of the sales revenue. The cotton used is ecologically correct, and this is how it should continue. "We are in contact with the WWF and have already started to protect one square metre of endangered forest in the Caucasus for every like on our Facebook page," says Redlin.
The T-shirts look stylish and it is no coincidence that Neverhill describes itself as an "ecological fashion label". This is intended to appeal to a younger target group, vekoop is not so specific. It will be interesting to see how the two projects develop on the market - and what new ideas between business and sustainability emerge at GIZ.
