On July 10, 2026, Aachen hosted the first founders.festival, the grand finale of Startup Week Aachen. This wasn’t just another startup event hidden away in a conference hall – the festival took over Elisengarten and Münsterplatz, putting the entrepreneurial spirit right in the city’s heart and making it open to everyone.
Out of the startup bubble and into public consciousness
Startup culture in Aachen has moved beyond the tech crowd. has evolved into a highly visible and inclusive part of the urban environment. This year, more than 30 enablers came together to organize Startup Week Aachen 2026. For founders.festival, the highlight event of the week, additional sponsors from beyond Aachen joined in, underscoring the event’s growing regional and national appeal. The festival also received substantial support from local shops and businesses surrounding Elisengarten and Münsterplatz, who played an active role in the event’s setup and logistics.
“Events like founders.festival and Startup Week Aachen would not be possible without the remarkable commitment of our ecosystem partners, who bring their expertise, energy, and passion to every detail of the program,” emphasized Jörg von Appen, Managing Director at RWTH Innovation. “My sincere thanks also go to our generous external sponsors – NRW.BANK, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Kadans Science Partner, Osborne Clarke, Gateway Factory, 6GEMcubator, and MerLIn – as well as our invaluable external partners koala, NeuroSys, Bürgerstiftung Lebensraum Aachen, and Enactus e.V. A special thanks should likewise be extended to the local shops and businesses around Elisengarten and Münsterplatz. Their hands-on support enabled us to create, together, an open festival that truly belongs in and to the city.”
Low threshold, high impact
Departing from conventional panels and exclusive circles, the festival’s design encouraged direct exchange and openness, inviting the entire city to engage with the lively local startup scene. The founders.festival welcomed anyone curious about entrepreneurship. Whether student, researcher, investor, or just someone wondering what startups are all about, everyone could just walk in and explore the entrepreneurial mindset that Aachen thrives on.
With free entry, no pre-registration, and an open invitation to all, the event actively welcomed people of all backgrounds and experience levels. The festive atmosphere on Münsterplatz and Elisengarten was further animated by food trucks, cold drinks, and more than 30 startup booths, representing a rich cross-section of Aachen’s innovation ecosystem. Notable participants included Lottina, HappyNest, Calilu, Detechgene, ZESTUM, CruiseLaw, RawTimber, , Inframind, Recarbished, CloudBee Robotics, RequAIre, 6GEMcubator Partner, Vivam, Neurosys Partner, AUXSYS, One Meal, TERNAfil, BioThrust, Skellium, FibreCoat, di.monta, Poroplex, Ingwershoc, IonKraft, Millie, UncovrIQ, Chatpoints, NeoMesh, Enactus e.V., ATHMO e. V., Space Team e.V., Regina e.V.and upstair. The wide range of startups and initiatives presented on Münsterplatz allowed visitors to experience the diversity of approaches and solutions emerging in Aachen, and sparked many fruitful conversations.
Success stories, pitch event & live music
The festival day launched with founders.flow, a Pilates session led by Carolin Meisel and set to music by DJ Sascha Müller, encouraging a dynamic communal start under the open sky. The formal welcome was delivered by Prof. Ulrich Rüdiger, Rector of RWTH Aachen University, and Prof. Isabel Kuperjans, Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation and Transfer at FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences. Home to internationally renowned teaching and excellent research, both universities are key drivers in raising the next generation of entrepreneurial talent and fostering the next wave of technological innovation in Aachen. The founders.festival in the heart of the city provided the right stage to present their successful transfer of research and technology, giving visibility not just to innovative ideas and but also to the entrepreneurial minds behind them. The opening was followed by a video message from Mona Neubaur, NRW Minister for Economic Affairs, who underlined the crucial role of collaboration between research, industry and startups:
“That’s exactly what makes our state strong – when science, business, and bright minds come together in one place to turn ideas into companies. Aachen, with its excellent universities and its location in the border triangle, is truly a prime example of this and a flagship for all of North Rhine-Westphalia. […] To everyone thinking about starting something of their own: Let yourself be inspired today and get started. Talk to people here; listen to their stories.”
And there was plenty of inspiration. The on-stage program featured the personal success stories of leading founders and innovators from Aachen: Throughout the day, Robert Brüll (FibreCoat), Stefan Liebich (Elevear), Daniel Schall (Black Semiconductor), Konstantin Kurz (BioThrust), and Martin Riebe (Incoretex) shared their diverse founding journeys and practical examples of regional startup growth across sectors.
The following startup pitch session brought new ventures and founders into the spotlight. On stage, Kira Frings (requAIre), Salomo Bertram (ZESTUM), Hendrik Löbberding (Iubar Systems), Hendrik Minis Pai (Skellium), Markus Schmitz (di.monta), Ang Zhao (Poroplex), and Tim Reuscher (aiXopt) presented their innovative business ideas, demonstrating the high caliber of entrepreneurial talent in the city.
But: Strengthening entrepreneurial thinking starts even earlier: A great example of how this is done was the School Challenge powered by Sparkasse Aachen, which featured high school student teams with creative business ideas who successfully participated in the Deutscher Gründerpreis für Schülerinnen und Schüler.
Running alongside the public festival, an exclusive Investor-Startup Brunch connected more than 20 international investors with Aachen-based startups, providing a focused space for networking and relationship building between innovators and venture capital providers.
Throughout the day, DJ sets by JustJoules, Nani Varela, and vamello created true festival vibes, culminating in a headline evening performance by Hamburg-based rapper Booz, who delivered a high-energy performance and a founders.festival-related freestyle to close the final night of Startup Week Aachen.
Aachen: Startup city without limits
Aachen’s academic foundation powers its position as a leading innovation hub. With 44,000 students – 36,000 studying in STEM disciplines – and 6,000 researchers at RWTH, the city offers fertile ground for translating research and talent into startup success. Since 2018, the “Entrepreneurial Transfer” initiative has been an integral component of RWTH’s excellence strategy, promoting knowledge exchange and entrepreneurial thinking. This leadership is recognized in national data: according to the Deutscher Startup Monitor, 3.5% of startup founders in Germany received their highest degree in Aachen, ranking the city third nationwide. RWTH alumni continued their impact with 120 new startups founded in 2025 alone. In his interactive “Grill den OB” session, which offered a unique platform for dialogue, Mayor Dr. Michael Ziemons emphasized the importance of the local research institutions as a seedbed of innovation and motor of economic growth in Aachen.
Throughout founders.festival, ecosystem partners, students, researchers, investors, public figures, and citizens engaged in dynamic exchange. As Prof. Matthias Wessling, Vice-Rector for Translation and Transfer at RWTH, observed, "founders.festival resembled a summer edition of the Aachen Christmas market: in the heart of the city, buzzing with energy, and lots of opportunities to explore the local (startup) culture." The festival brought this mindset out of the institutional context and into public life – making entrepreneurship visible, accessible, and tangible for all.
The founders.festival injected new energy into Aachen’s startup scene, bridging innovation and community. Its culture of openness, inspiration, and collaboration reinforced Aachen’s reputation as a "Startup City without Limits."
Read the full recap of Startup Week Aachen (in German) here.
