The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research, and Arts (MWK) is funding six INSPIRE BW hubs to further strengthen the start-up culture at Baden Württemberg’s universities. Among them is the DeepTechHub under the aegis of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). With the initiative, local universities aim to raise southwest Germany’s profile by bringing relevant actors together and jointly supporting start-up activities. The ministry is funding DeepTechHub with up to EUR 1.95 million.


“This funding is a major success for KIT. It supports our aim of strengthening our assistance for start-up founders and a giving a long-term boost to a culture of entrepreneurial thinking,” said Professor Thomas Hirth, KIT’s Vice President for Transfer and International Affairs. “Working with the associated universities, we can transfer research findings to new businesses, develop interdisciplinary start-ups, and pool resources.”

Supporting Start-ups with Joint Initiatives

“We urgently need continuous, systematic improvement in start-up funding at universities,” said Thomas Neumann, who heads KIT’s New Ventures, Shareholdings and Incubators department and the KIT-Gründerschmiede (Founders Forge). DeepTechHub participants aim to intensify dialogue about start-up assistance, planning joint initiatives to investigate what approaches, formats and digital tools would be most helpful in supporting start-ups.

Courses and Boot Camps for Founders

“Our goal is to share the effort involved in supporting start-ups, meaning that each institution takes on a certain task to help company founders. That will enable us to pool our resources most effectively,” Neumann said. The tasks include boot camps, courses for founders, and assistance with the paperwork involved in requesting funds for the implementation of research findings. “In addition to the KIT-Gründerschmiede, we’re setting up a second point of contact for transforming ideas into successful start-ups,” he added.

The INSPIRE BW Hub funding will be used to professionalize the services, which will be implemented with all of the partner institutions. Other partners are Heidelberg University, the University of Mannheim, Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Pforzheim University, and Heilbronn University. The MWK will fund the DeepTechHub through December 31, 2028.

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