HWR Berlin Scores with Startup Support
The network of the Startup Incubator Berlin, qualification programs, and the ever-present entrepreneurial spirit distinguish the Berlin School of Economics and Law as a leading startup university.
The Stifterverband der deutschen Wissenschaft has published the “Gründungsradar 2022.” The Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR Berlin) holds its ground as one of Germany’s best startup universities, ranking among the top 10 of the 76 evaluated universities with up to 15,000 students.
Particularly well received was the diverse and active networking work of the Startup Incubator Berlin (SIB). Founders benefit from collaboration with many different partners from industry and politics, as well as from partnerships with organizations, other startup initiatives, and networks.
A further strength lies in startup awareness-raising and qualification at HWR Berlin. Engaging members of the university community — such as students, researchers, and academics — in the startup concept is a key success factor for startup support. Those interested in founding a company and members of startup teams receive targeted qualification and support at the Startup Incubator Berlin. They are guided through continuous evaluation by means of monitoring throughout the development of their startup idea, from inception to market entry and beyond. Regular milestone meetings, systematic individual coaching, and the application of the Lean Startup method help startups bring their new products, applications, and services to market readiness as quickly as possible, with minimal resource expenditure and regular customer feedback.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Zaby, President of HWR Berlin, says: “Entrepreneurial education and startup formation are part of our DNA as a university of applied sciences. Our Startup Incubator has been actively and successfully supporting teams of founders for many years. With their innovative approaches and business ideas, they take on major future challenges such as climate protection, resource conservation, and care, and contribute to the transfer of knowledge from research and teaching into business and society.”
At the HWR startup campus at the Siemensstadt location, creative and interdisciplinary startups have space for collaborative idea development, prototyping, and business model development. The Startup Incubator Berlin provides coworking space, a prototype workshop, and a Design Thinking Lab, as well as financial support in the form of a Berlin Startup Scholarship.
“The mission of HWR Berlin is to closely interweave entrepreneurship education, practical startup support, and research,” emphasizes Matthias Grytzka from the management team of the startup center, adding that the strong ranking reflects the creativity and dedication of staff, startup teams, and students. “The repeated placement in the top 10 confirms that the unique support provided by HWR Berlin’s university startup ecosystem pays off,” summarizes Marvin Göldner, also a startup coach and one of the two directors of the SIB.
Currently, 15 startup teams are developing new products and services here. These include, for example, the technology provider We4All, whose founders connect 3D designers and owners of 3D printers with customers on a platform. The app developers at a2zebra are digitalizing learning concepts for children, aiming to make basic education accessible to pupils at any time and to boost their motivation. Knowledge transfer and presentation is also at the heart of what the founders of Trueffles are doing. On their new digital research platform, they create transparency and orientation through the graphical representation of search terms in a mind map model, and according to their own account enable faster research against the backdrop of the often overwhelming flood of information.
The startup center at HWR Berlin is open to students of all disciplines, from business, administration, law, and security management to engineering sciences. In addition to specific modules and specializations, the university offers the bachelor’s degree program “Company Formation and Succession” and the specialization “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” in the Full-Time MBA. The university’s Institute for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Family Businesses (EMF) has been recognized by the European Commission with the European Enterprise Promotion Award.
The Gründungsradar compared for the sixth time the profiles and offerings of startup support at German universities. The components examined include startup anchoring, startup awareness-raising, startup qualification, startup support, startup activities, monitoring and evaluation, as well as startup networks. The self-perceptions of universities regarding startup support, as well as their success criteria and demands on policymakers, are also addressed. The Stifterverband notes that universities are becoming more active in startup support overall. Around the university core, increasingly viable innovation and startup ecosystems are emerging, incorporating other stakeholders such as companies, investors, startup communities, and mentor networks. The Gründungsradar is regularly produced by the Stifterverband in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
