Strong start-up spirit throughout Bavaria! Science Minister Markus Blume gave the go-ahead for start-up hubs in Middle Franconia, Upper Franconia, Lower Franconia, Swabia and Eastern Bavaria at the Zollhof in Nuremberg at the beginning of May. They are intended to help students and academic staff get off to a flying start – with special qualification offers and support for specific start-up projects. The combination of talent and new technology should result in products and services for the economy and society. The Free State of Bavaria is funding the start-up hubs with three million euros and ten permanent positions, with the aim of creating sustainable structures for systematic start-up training.
Systematic start-up training is offered in the five start-up hubs in cooperation with all state universities in the respective region. The existing services and offers to promote entrepreneurship and start-ups in the regions mentioned will be integrated, expanded and networked with other organizations and players in the start-up ecosystem.
Tailor-made and diverse concepts for the regions
The concept of the start-up hub for the university region of Middle Franconia, where the launch event took place, is strongly based on the successful “Center for Digital Technology and Management – CDTM” model of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) and Technische Universität München (TUM). Specific start-up projects are actively supported directly from the qualification program.
The start-up hub of the Upper Franconian universities, which also includes Hof University of Applied Sciences, is characterized in particular by high synergies within the university network and the intensive involvement of regional partners in business and society. Among other things, the Eastern Bavaria Start-up Hub establishes so-called “learning scouts”, who put together suitable offers from the network universities for every person and start-up team interested in setting up a business. Other special features of this concept include a module on “Entrepreneurial Finance” as well as training courses for entrepreneurship multipliers. The new course as part of the Lower Franconia start-up hub also provides for a practical phase for students in a start-up, in the business development/innovation management of a company or a stay abroad. In the Swabian university region, a joint degree program is being created by all participating universities.
Sustainable promotion of permanent structures
The special feature of the funding: After five years, the start-up hubs will be made permanent if the evaluation is positive. The particularly sustainable funding with permanent positions available to the universities means that lasting structures for supporting innovative start-ups are established and installed. This is exceptional in the funding landscape. Entrepreneurship training and knowledge and research-based spin-offs from universities, universities of applied sciences (HAW) and technical universities (TH) are to be strengthened throughout Bavaria – in addition to the internationally recognized start-up hub of Munich.
The “Hightech Transfer Bayern” campaign
The “Hightech Transfer Bayern” campaign is an application strategy for the Hightech Agenda Bayern. The transfer offensive strengthens the ecosystem for innovative start-ups from universities and promotes the transfer of knowledge and technology from science to industry and society.
