TU Ilmenau receives 1.6 million in funding to strengthen start-up culture

Ilmenau University of Technology receives federal funding of 1.6 million euros to strengthen its start-up culture. The university emerged as one of the winners of the "EXIST Potentials" competition run by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, which supports German colleges and universities in implementing measures to promote start-ups. With the funding, TU Ilmenau is now launching a project to strengthen the start-up culture at the university: the "Ilmenau Ideas Incubator".

The "Ilmenau Ideas Incubator" pursues two main goals: Studies at TU Ilmenau should produce graduates who think and act entrepreneurially. Students, doctoral candidates and scientists are sensitized to the topic of entrepreneurship. The second goal is to transfer the research results of the university's scientists into innovative start-ups.

The Vice Rector for Science at TU Ilmenau, Prof. Kai-Uwe Sattler, is very pleased about the federal funding: "The EXIST funding is an important step in the development of TU Ilmenau into a 'start-up university'. Now we can put the 'Ilmenau Ideas Incubator' into practice in a targeted manner." The head of the Research Service and Technology Transfer Department, Dr. Dörte Gerhardt, already has concrete ideas on how to inspire start-up ideas and initiate start-ups: "We will launch interdisciplinary student projects and intensify cooperation with scientists at TU Ilmenau. And we will involve our regional network in the project as well as partner companies and former graduates of our university."

Around 220 colleges and universities from all over Germany had taken part in the competition run by the federal "EXIST Potentials" programme. Expert juries evaluated the submitted project proposals and selected the best concepts for funding.