4. April 2025 | Press releases:

TU Braunschweig strengthens regional start-up ecosystem 1.8 million euros for support of founders of science start-ups

  • 1.8 million euros will be invested in a project to prepare for start-ups.
  • TU Braunschweig is setting a clear course in knowledge and technology transfer.
  • The aim: to provide optimal support for start-up teams and to turn them into marketable start-ups.

Under the strategic motto ‘TIES® with Impact’, the innovation and start-up potential of the Braunschweig region is to be systematically and holistically activated in the future. With their SMART*UP project, TU Braunschweig and its regional partners will ensure that innovative ideas and start-up teams receive optimal support and are successfully transformed into start-ups. The funds for this, amounting to approximately 1.8 million euros, are provided by zukunft.niedersachsen in the ‘Science Startups’ programme, which was set up to “strengthen entrepreneurship awareness and education as well as startup preparation through and at universities in Niedersachsen”.

“With SMART*UP, we are investing in the entrepreneurial success of our region,” explains Professor Arno Kwade, Vice President for Transfer and Innovation at TU Braunschweig. “We want to identify and support those interested in setting up a company, and provide them with the necessary tools to turn innovative ideas into successful companies.”

SMART*UP – a bridge between research and entrepreneurship

The Braunschweig region, with TU Braunschweig and its other strong scientific institutions, has a high potential for innovation and start-ups. SMART*UP is addressing significantly more students and employees of TU Braunschweig about entrepreneurship, refining support services, intensifying cooperation with regional partners and establishing a continuous support process for founders. The aim is to work with regional partners to facilitate a continuous support structure and culture for more successful spin-offs.

  • Students, doctoral candidates, postdocs and professors are being made aware of the opportunities and are receiving tailored training opportunities, primarily through the Entrepreneurship Hub.
  • Through intensive exchange with regional initiatives such as the Transferwerkstatt of the PTB and the H3 Health Hub of the HZI, founding potential and teams are identified at an early stage.
  • A comprehensive, process-oriented coaching model, supplemented by decentralised maker space hubs and modern AI tools, will support founders from the idea phase to the founding of the company.
  • In the seed and growth phase, specific offers will ensure the sustainable development and scaling of start-ups.

Partnership strengthens the regional innovation location

TU Braunschweig is firmly anchored in the regional start-up ecosystem with its transfer service and entrepreneurship hub. In addition to TU Braunschweig, regional partners such as Braunschweig Zukunft GmbH, the National Metrology Institute of Germany (PTB), the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Innovationsgesellschaft Technische Universität Braunschweig mbH, the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, TRAFO Hub GmbH and BANSON e.V. are also involved with SMART*UP. The common goal is to sustainably increase the overall output and impact of the start-up ecosystem in the Braunschweig region.

TU Braunschweig is thus demonstrating how excellent research, highly qualified teaching and active knowledge and technology transfer can go hand in hand, and is setting new standards for entrepreneurial success in the region.