Founders Leonie Müller and Mirko von Bargen at re:publica 2026 (c) Kopfsachen
Constituency Days of Hallo Bundestag (c) Hallo Bundestag
Managing Director Volker Hofmann and Oliver Hasse, Head of the Munich Office
Weekly Wrap-up: Our Topics in weeks 21 & 22.
HU startup “Kopfsachen” takes first place in “Berlin’s Social Enterprises 2026”
In 2020, Leonie Müller, Willi Weisflog, and Carolin Blanck—who were psychology students at the time—founded the association “Kopfsachen” at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Their vision? To strengthen the mental health literacy of young people across Germany. The startup has been successfully achieving this for several years now, earning Kopfsachen multiple awards along the way. On May 19, 2026, another accolade was added to the list: at the re:publica festival, Kopfsachen was awarded first place in the “People” (Mensch) category at the “Berlin’s Social Enterprises 2026” awards. A decisive factor for this recognition was, among other things, the vital preventative work that Kopfsachen carries out.
New HI:LIGHTS: Humboldt Governance Lab researches for “Hallo Bundestag”
For our new HI:LIGHTS, we interviewed Jainaba Kurz, Advocacy and Research Officer at “Hallo Bundestag”, about the project and the collaboration with the Humboldt Governance Lab. Already during the first phase of the project, the GovLab found that the “Wahlkreistage” (constituency days)—where people come together and discuss issues with the members of the Bundestag representing their constituency—are proving to be effective: political trust, self-efficacy, and readiness to participate increased, while susceptibility to conspiracy theories decreased.
HI Berlin visits Munich
A year ago, we opened our Munich office. Last week, the Berlin team came to visit and spent several intensive days there reviewing our collaborative efforts, reflecting on our progress, and planning the next steps. The primary purpose of the Munich office is to create even stronger networks between Berlin and Munich—Germany’s two most important innovation ecosystems—thereby driving knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship.
SHIT2POWER on the Tagesschau
Even with all their success, having 10 million pairs of eyes on them is still something they aren’t quite used to: on May 21, SHIT2POWER was featured on the Tagesschau, where they got to explain to Germany how their container solution produces energy from sludge. The occasion for the feature was the German Startup Awards in Berlin, where founder Nina Habicht was nominated for Female Founder of the year (Gründerin des Jahres).
