Accelerate Conference

Accelerate Conference 2026:

Building our tomorrow

This year’s conference theme, “Building Our Tomorrow,” highlights our commitment to shaping an innovative, resilient and sustainable future. Startups, corporates, and thought leaders will join forces to discover opportunities and share insights that contribute to lasting and meaningful impact.

Interested? Then visit us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook or our website.

Pitch Contest

The annual Pitch Contest is one of the highlights of the Accelerate Conference. It gives you the opportunity to present your business idea in front of a jury of leading experts from venture capital, industry, and investing. You will receive valuable feedback on your idea, and the best pitches can expect financial prizes from a prize pool.

You want to join? Our application process

1. Prepare a 1-5 slide deck outlining your start-up idea
2. Show us how your idea helps to “Build our Tomorrow”
3. Ensure all submitted materials are in English
4. Submit your slides by February 15, 2026
5. Send your application to Julia Weiß (julia.weiss@hhl.de) or Yannik Bernhard (yannik.bernhard@hhl.de)

FAQ

_In which phase does my startup need to be?
With our Pitch Contest, we especially want to support people before the founding, during the founding or shortly after.

_How does the contest work?
You will give a 5–7-minute presentation about your idea, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A from our judges.

_In which language do I have to present?
As the event is international and will host guests from around the world, we prefer that pitches be delivered in English.

_Who will be sitting in the audience?
In addition to business angels, VCs and other investors, we are also expecting 150-200 interested guests.

About Accelerate

Accelerate is the entrepreneurship event of Germany’s most entrepreneurial university – HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, organized solely by students. Every year, we invite top entrepreneurs, investors and young talents to Leipzig. We want to offer them a stage to share their creative ideas and insights and to question visions of the future.