With the state prize OUT OF THE BOX. NRW (OOTB), the NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs has been awarding the best start-ups from North Rhine-Westphalia every year since 2020. The award honors the potential of scalable digital business models and provides start-ups with a high level of media attention. From 2020 to 2023, the final award ceremonies took place as part of the PIRATE Summit in Cologne.

The overarching objective of the award is to make North Rhine-Westphalia's start-up and innovation culture visible nationally and internationally as a figurehead and to promote the networking of participating start-ups with established companies and investors in order to increase their chances of future entrepreneurial success and to promote the dissemination of sustainable technologies. The state award is highly valued in the North Rhine-Westphalian start-up scene. To this end, the entire start-up scene is closely involved during the application and voting process as well as in the final decision.

It is intended that the OOTB will continue to be awarded in this form. As part of a top event for start-ups, the state prize is to be awarded again in the future. The top event is intended to be perceived by the start-up scene as an outstanding event and to appeal to an international group of start-ups and investors. As part of this top event, the state prize is to be awarded in the future in order to give it and the winners the desired high level of attention and attractiveness.

The present invitation to tender is looking for a contractor who will carry out such a top event for the performance period in North Rhine-Westphalia and who will

- designs and supervises the competition process up to and including the pre-selection of the final start-ups,

- advertises the state prize to the target group in advance and accompanies the winners after the award ceremony and markets them in the media as a role model for other founders,

- organizes the final decision as part of the "top event" and

- conducts the award ceremony.

A top event in this sense is an internationally oriented event on the topic of "start-ups" with at least 1,000 tickets sold for the main day of the event. The main target group of the event must be start-ups, representatives from established companies and science, digital experts, entrepreneurs, investors and those interested in founding a company.

We are looking for a contractor who will host a top event for start-ups in NRW every year during the term of the contract and integrate the awarding of the OOTB into this event for the client. In addition, the contractor is to take over the conception, organization, marketing and implementation of the prize from the pre-selection to the final decision and the award ceremony.

The following services are to be provided by the contractor within the scope of the order:

1. Conception and supervision of the competition procedure (call for applications, preparation of the applications received, procedures for the selection of finalists),

2. Planning, organization and implementation of the final decision to determine the start-ups from NRW with the best digital business models,

3. Planning, organization and implementation of the award ceremony for the three best start-ups from NRW,

4. Provision of a state pavilion,

5. Design and ongoing maintenance of the website www.outofthebox.nrw,

6. Year-round and intensive marketing and press work for the state award and for the final decision and the award ceremony before, during and after the event,

7. Further development of the OOTB within the framework of the top event over the period of the contract period.

The specific contents of the individual service modules can be found in the service description.

The contractor is expected to integrate the final decision as well as the award ceremony for the OOTB into the event format in such a way that

a) the national and international visibility of North Rhine-Westphalia's start-up and innovation culture is strengthened,

b) the participating start-ups are networked with significant established companies and well-known investors,

c) a high level of media attention is generated for the topics of start-ups as well as digital and sustainable transformation, and

d) the diversity of the North Rhine-Westphalian start-up and start-up scene, especially "female entrepreneurship", is strengthened.

Furthermore, the following services are part of the order:

- Kick-off meeting: After the contract has been awarded, a kick-off meeting between the client and the contractor takes place in order to coordinate the concrete procedure and the time and organizational process of the service provision (max. 3 hours).

- Preparation of a project plan: In order to plan the timing, the contractor must submit a project plan at the beginning of the preparations for an OOTB competition. This project plan must include the basic concept of all services from the start of the competition process to the final award ceremony. It must be agreed with the client and must be approved by the client.

- Jour Fixe: For regular coordination on the intermediate status of the planning, jour fixe appointments between client and contractor take place every two weeks throughout the year. In the last month before the final event, the jour fixe appointments take place weekly (max. 1 hour; Appointments are to be made at the kick-off).

- Review appointment: Once a year, a review and feedback meeting between the client and the contractor takes place to discuss the past OOTB (max. 2 hours).

The kick-off meeting and the annual review meetings take place at the MWIKE premises in Düsseldorf. The other jour fixe meetings take place in the form of video conferences. The client reserves the right to hold all of the above-mentioned coordination appointments alternatively as a video conference. In addition, if necessary, there will be regular coordination by e-mail, telephone or video conference.

Further information can be found in the tender documents, in particular in the service description.