Berlin, 13 April 2026 – Starting today, entrepreneurs can apply for a Berlin Startup Scholarship at the Startup Incubator Berlin (SIB), the entrepreneurship center of the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR Berlin). The center is part of the new funding round of the programme, which supports startups in bridging the pre-founding and market-entry phases and advancing their business ideas under reliable conditions.
HWR Berlin has been allocated approximately €3.2 million in the current funding round, financed by the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and the State of Berlin.
Berlin is the city of ideas and one of Europe’s leading innovation hubs. To keep it that way, we need a constant stream of new impulses and approaches, courageous founders, and a strong supporting environment. The Berlin Startup Scholarship helps innovative teams bring their ideas to market readiness and has proven itself as an essential building block of our startup funding. We are delighted to launch the new call with a funding volume of €31 million and bring the programme into an even stronger second round. With the ‘BSS Women’ funding line, we are also sending a clear signal for equal opportunities and unlocking the full entrepreneurial potential of our city.
Mayor and Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises
With its role at the interface of science, entrepreneurship, and business, the Startup Incubator Berlin helps unlock entrepreneurial potential and generates sustainable impulses that extend beyond Berlin’s innovation hub.
With the Startup Incubator Berlin, HWR Berlin has a powerful, integrated infrastructure that supports founding teams from their first idea to a market-ready business model and sustainably strengthens the transfer of research into practice. Joining the funding round of the Berlin Startup Scholarship on 1 April 2026 underscores SIB’s central role in our entrepreneurship profile and our integration into the regional innovation ecosystem. It is a particular concern of mine to encourage our students and researchers to translate their ideas into entrepreneurial action and to actively contribute to shaping innovation.
President of HWR Berlin
Holistic Support at the Startup Incubator Berlin
The Startup Incubator Berlin is managed by Matthias Grytzka and Marvin Göldner. For both, the key to success lies in the interplay of a dedicated team, a high-performance infrastructure with diverse workspaces and development opportunities, and a vibrant network. Founding teams have access to a Design Thinking Lab, a video studio, technical labs, and flexible workspaces and co-working spaces.
The Startup Incubator Berlin thrives on exchange: between founding teams, coaches, science, and business. We’ve created an environment where this exchange happens daily and ideas can grow. Our team supports founders along this journey with full conviction.
Managing Director, Startup Incubator Berlin
Beyond financial support, it is the holistic mentoring that sets SIB apart: individual coaching, academic mentoring by HWR Berlin, and a strong network from business and society support the teams all the way from idea to market.
From individual coaching and co-working spaces to a strong network of business and science — we offer founding teams everything they need to turn an idea into a market-ready product.
Managing Director, Startup Incubator Berlin
A Broad Range of Topics for Future-Oriented Startups
SIB stands for topical openness and supports founding teams with knowledge- or technology-based business ideas across a deliberately broad range of fields — from tech and social startups to smart city. Funded areas include:
Social Startups
& Impact Ventures
Smart City
& urban innovation
GreenTech
& sustainability
FinTech
& digital business models
Female Innovators
BSS Women
Focus on Sustainable Development and Equal Opportunities
Project lead for the Berlin Startup Scholarship at SIB is Katrin Jahnke. She emphasises the holistic approach of the programme:
With the Berlin Startup Scholarship, founding teams can focus fully on their business idea for six months — financially secured with €2,500 per month and intensively mentored by our coaching team. Over the next three years, we will support 86 scholarship recipients across five cohorts on their way to starting their own company. We specifically support teams with a share of at least 51 percent women.
Project Lead, Berlin Startup Scholarship at SIB
Apply Now
Applications for the first cohort are open now — application deadline is 26 April 2026. All information about the application process, requirements, and the programme can be found at startup-incubator.berlin/berlin-startup-scholarship.
About the Startup Incubator Berlin
The Startup Incubator Berlin is the entrepreneurship center of the Berlin School of Economics and Law, located at the innovation campus of CIC Berlin (Cambridge Innovation Center) in the Treptow-Köpenick district. Here, innovative ideas are developed into market-ready business models. SIB provides founding teams with access to modern infrastructure, individual consulting, and a strong network from business, science, and society, actively contributing to strengthening Berlin’s startup ecosystem.
Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR Berlin)
With over 11,500 students, the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR Berlin) is one of the large universities of applied sciences in Germany, with a strong practical focus, intensive and diverse research, high quality standards, and a strong international orientation. Its portfolio covers business, administration, law, and security management as well as engineering in over 60 programmes at Bachelor’s, Master’s, and MBA levels. www.hwr-berlin.de/en