Kick-off for Startup Factory Hamburg

The University of Hamburg, in cooperation with the Hamburg University of Technology and the Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron DESY, has successfully qualified for the final selection of the flagship competition of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The consortium is now taking a big step closer to becoming Startup Factory Hamburg.

Dr. Melanie Leonhard, Senator for Economics and Innovation: ““Start-ups challenge large companies and existing markets and contribute to the development of innovations. They can therefore play an important role in the development of competitiveness. With the Startup Factory Hamburg, we are creating a lighthouse-like offering for founders that will significantly strengthen Hamburg and the metropolitan region as a whole".

Katharina Fegebank, Second Mayor and Senator for Science, Research, Equality and Districts: “Successful science is the basis of innovation. There are an incredible number of creative talents at Hamburg's universities and research institutions who are thinking about founding a startup. Offering them optimal framework conditions for their spin-off projects is an important task to ensure the future viability of our city. I am therefore very pleased that we have succeeded in forming a powerful and successful consortium of applicants from universities, research institutions, the Joachim Herz Foundation, the Michael Otto Foundation, and the city of Hamburg, and I am sure that Hamburg will submit a groundbreaking concept for a Startup Factory with a ripple effect for the entire North.” -release open-

Prof. Dr. Jetta Frost, Vice President for Transfer, Academic Career Paths and Gender Equality, University of Hamburg: “The University of Hamburg is forming a strong alliance for the Hanseatic city in the ‘Startup Factories’ flagship competition. This alliance is in connection with the Michael Otto Foundation, the Joachim Herz Foundation, the Ministry of Economics and Science, and our scientific PIER PLUS partners. With this positive decision, we as a consortium can now develop a strategy to promote innovative and interdisciplinary spin-offs from science. Together and across institutional boundaries, we want to take our ideas from Hamburg's scientific centers out into the world. To this end, we are making our collaborative contribution and, true to the Northern German motto ‘Butter bei die Fische,’ we are getting down to business. The application for the Hamburg metropolitan region is a logical further development of our successful PIER PLUS activities.”

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Irina Smirnova, Vice President of Research, Hamburg University of Technology: “We are extremely pleased about the successful application to establish a Startup Factory in the Hamburg metropolitan region. Hamburg University of Technology sees a great opportunity for an agile and thematically focused Startup Factory to take our already successful startup track record to a new level together with our partners. A successful Startup Factory is in line with our mission 'Technology for the People' and our mission to optimize and make visible the social impact of our innovations.”

Dr. Arik Willner, Chief Technology Officer DESY: “The Startup Factory is an excellent addition to DESY's innovation ecosystem. It closes a crucial gap in the support of high-tech and deep-tech startups in the first few years after their foundation. The focus on new materials, data science, and AI perfectly matches our expertise in startup support. I am convinced that the Hamburg Startup Factory will further strengthen the potential of Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld, in which DESY plays a pivotal role, and raise Hamburg to a new level as a scientific location.”

Prof. Dr. Michael Otto: “Investing in new startups and the startup ecosystem has always been part of our entrepreneurial DNA. We are therefore happy to support the establishment of a Startup Factory in our home city of Hamburg.”

Benjamin Otto: “With a strong team and a comprehensive partner alliance, we will conceptualize the Startup Factory by the end of February 2025 and unlock the great potential of the Hamburg ecosystem.”

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. Sabine Kunst, Chair of the Board of the Joachim Herz Foundation: “The Startup Factory Hamburg is an excellent opportunity to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Hamburg, and I am delighted with this milestone success. By joining forces with important Hamburg science institutions and regional partners, we want to promote the transfer from science in an even more targeted manner, as this is a key concern of the Joachim Herz Foundation.”

Startup Factories are intended to make the transfer of research to industry even faster and more successful than before, particularly through startups. In order to leverage this potential and put it to commercial use, the BMWK has launched the “Startup Factories” flagship competition. The aim is to establish 5-10 startup factories throughout Germany as independent and entrepreneurially managed entities in close cooperation with the scientific community. The BMWK is funding this development of organizational structures with up to 10 million euros over 5 years with a private investment of at least the same amount.

• Startup Factory Hamburg pursues these goals, among others:
• - Significantly increasing the number of science-based startups founded in the Hamburg metropolitan region.
• - Establishing the most successful hub in Europe for startups and scale-ups in selected focus areas (new materials, AI, and data science).
• The metropolitan region should become one of the top 10 successful startup ecosystems in Europe.

“Startup Factories” are intended to develop, implement, and scale up support services for innovative, growth-oriented startups, particularly from the world of science. The transfer of knowledge and research results should lead to a significantly higher number of technology-based startups. It is therefore a supplement to the existing support services within universities and research institutions. The aim is not only to create more startups, but also to help startups grow and internationalize even more successfully. Startups with a strong technological focus in particular are exposed to numerous risks after they are founded, generally have significantly higher capital requirements than other startups, and have to adapt their business model to changing social and economic conditions. As universities and research institutions are only able to provide limited long-term support and guidance for their spin-offs, there is generally a lack of professionally organized, market-oriented support units for this type of startup. A central long-term element of the German government's startup strategy is the flagship competition for “Startup Factories.“

The Hamburg metropolitan region's application is a logical extension of the successful PIER PLUS and Startup Port activities. The aim is to make Hamburg an attractive location for innovation and entrepreneurial commitment. To this end, scientific institutions and industry are working together in a variety of ways and will be stepping up their efforts in the coming phase. One initial result is the strong commitment of the Michael Otto Foundation and the Joachim Herz Foundation, which are committed to supporting the application process throughout and intend to make a financial contribution to the Startup Factory to be established in the Hamburg metropolitan region. Hamburg is already embarking on the concept phase with the pilot testing of individual offers, made possible by the Michael Otto Foundation. This is another strong sign of the unique conditions in Hamburg.

For more information, visit: www.sfhh.info