Strategic Partnership

The partnership agreement was signed by the Vice-Rector for Industry and Business Relations of RWTH Aachen University and Managing Director of RWTH Innovation GmbH, Professor Malte Brettel, and the Managing Director of German Entrepreneurship GmbH, Matthias Notz.

"In recent years, we have seen a great development of the German start-up ecosystem. Now is the time to connect the key players nationally and internationally even more closely to promote founders in the best possible way," comments Matthias Notz. "Together, RWTH Innovation and German Entrepreneurship have the ambition to promote a larger number of successful deep-tech start-ups in Germany and to make them successful worldwide," says Malte Brettel.

By combining the expertise of RWTH Innovation in the field of deep tech and the experience of German Entrepreneurship GmbH in accelerating and scaling up start-ups, an initiative has been created that covers various Areas.

One focus will be on the acceleration and internationalization of start-ups through joint programs for early-stage start-ups, for example through joint events in the RWTH Incubation Program. In addition, the new partners will establish a strong international network of experts from business and research and make it accessible to deep-tech start-ups in Germany. In this way, young entrepreneurs will be directly networked with experienced entrepreneurs, technical experts from science, or experienced industry experts.

The mission of German Entrepreneurship GmbH is to promote innovation in companies of all sizes – from DAX-listed corporations to medium-sized companies and startups. It runs the German Accelerator program, which is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economics and Energy, and the Accelerator at the LMU University Entrepreneurship Center in Munich. Since its foundation, the company has provided assistance to more than 590 start-ups such as Celonis, Flixbus, Foodora, and N26. The company also supports businesses in the area of corporate innovation, for example in setting up their own innovation units or corporate accelerators.