Wirtschaftsjuniorenpreis goes to Viadrina student Suman Schaffa

The students took up the challenge of presenting their final theses in a pitch format. They each had five minutes to present their research topics to an audience of members of the Wirtschaftsjunioren Ostbrandenburg, the partner organisation of the Wirtschaftsjunioren Heilbronn-Franken, representatives of the Viadrina and other guests. Two master's theses and five bachelor's theses were presented.

Suman Schaffa won first place and prize money totalling 1,000 euros with her English-language presentation on "The Role of the European Innovation Ecosystems in Driving the EU's Green Transition". The jury was particularly impressed by the highly topical nature of the subject, the European perspective and the relevance of the question of how innovation ecosystems can support sustainable change and Europe's green transition.

Arina Belotskaya came in second place with her work "Data-driven analysis of picking costs in online grocery retail". She received prize money totalling 600 euros. Her work sheds light on a practical topic at the interface of digitalisation, data analysis and economic efficiency.

Third place went to Nouralddin Kalout with the topic "Potential of international students: opportunities for recruiting skilled labour in Frankfurt (Oder) and the role of the European University Viadrina". He received prize money totalling 400 euros. The strong regional reference of his work and the examination of a central future issue for the economic development of the region were particularly emphasised.

The other finalists also impressed with their diverse research topics. Joan Eichhorn focussed on the development of municipal finances in the context of economic and demographic changes using the example of the city of Frankfurt (Oder). In his work on the reform of inheritance tax, Domenik Radke analysed the influence of interest groups on the legislative process. Genova Rozmari presented a tax analysis of direct investments in Bulgaria in comparison to business expansion in Germany for medium-sized companies. Simon Pielorz dealt with the double materiality principle according to the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) in the conflicting relationship between relevance, reliability and comparability. They all took fourth place and each received 150 euros in prize money.

The jury consisted of Katharina Lein, member of the Wirtschaftsjunioren Ostbrandenburg, Andreas Höfert, district spokesperson of the Heilbronn-Franken Wirtschaftsjunioren, and Fabian Zorn as representative of the Berlin-Brandenburg Wirtschaftsjunioren. The entries were judged on criteria including innovative strength, future viability, regional relevance, economic relevance and quality of presentation.

The prize is a special highlight every year because it shows "how much potential, innovative strength and entrepreneurial spirit is already created during the course of studies", emphasises Elisabeth Nepke, Managing Director of the Wirtschaftsjunioren. The participants not only bring academic sound analyses with them, but also deal with concrete challenges in business and society. "It is precisely this combination of research, practice and ideas for the future that we as the Wirtschaftsjunioren Ostbrandenburg want to make visible and promote."

Translated by DeepL and edited