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4.3 Million Euros for Start-up Funding at the Three Major Berlin Universities

Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy, and Business and European Social Fund earmark 4.3 million euros for successful Berliner Startup Stipendium scholarship

№ 048/2018 from Mar 13, 2018

The Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy, and Business and the European Social Fund are supporting the successful “Berliner Startup Stipendium” scholarship at the three major Berlin universities and Charité with an additional 4.3 million euros. As part of the “University Startup Factory” program, grants will be available for start-up projects with technology-based business ideas from April 2018 through the end of 2019. The program was set up in November 2016.

Scholarships are available for individuals who wish to develop their prototypes and bring them to market. Two to four scholarships amounting to 2,000 euros per month over a six-month period can be awarded per team. An extension of six months is possible. The scholarship holders must live in Berlin and during the funding period devote themselves full time to their start-up. Up to 64 start-up projects within the Berlin University Alliance will be supported through 2019 through these scholarships. The funding should be sufficient for up to 192 founders. They will have access to office and workshop space, equipment, and labs on campus and will benefit from the expertise of academic mentors. Five selection rounds are being planned. The first one has started; applications are being accepted until April 30, 2018.

Since mid-2016 the program has already supported 63 individuals from a total of 26 teams with a Berliner Startup Stipendium scholarship. One third of the 63 scholarships were awarded to women founders. Ten of the sponsored teams founded a company during or shortly after the period of receiving the scholarship. So far, eight other teams have won follow-up funding from their university. Decisions on follow-up financing are pending for three additional projects. The experience gained from the pilot phase is now being incorporated into the follow-up project: the new concept includes plans to give the scholarship holders even more support, for example, in establishing contacts with investors and established companies. In addition, the universities plan to introduce cross-university quality management for the consulting process. Although the founding teams are supported by the start-up funding of their respective university, they will also have a cross-university network at their disposal, so that they can benefit from special skills of the other universities.

More Information

More information is available in German at www.fu-berlin.de/profund/stipendium . The application deadline for the first selection round is April 30, 2018.

Contact Persons at the Participating Institutions

  • Freie Universität Berlin: Aneta Bärwolf, Research Division, Profund Innovation, Tel.: +49 30 838 73634, Email: aneta.baerwolf@fu-berlin.de
  • Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin: Marcus Luther, Charité Technology Transfer Office (CTT), Tel.: Tel.: +49 30 450 570 243, Email: Marcus.Luther@charite.de
  • Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Arne Meyer-Haake, Humboldt-Innovation, Tel.: +49 30 2093-70762, Email: arne.meyer-haake@hu-berlin.de
  • Technische Universität Berlin: Karin Kricheldorff, Centre for Entrepreneurship, Tel.: +49 30 314-78580, Email: karin.kricheldorff@tu-berlin.de 

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