Spin-off Award

The RWTH Spin-off Award is the only official award for outstanding spin-offs at RWTH Aachen University. With this award, we give our spin-offs the opportunity to advertise with reference to RWTH Aachen University and thus to successfully start into the time after the foundation.

Click here for the winners of the Spin-off Award 2023.

Target group
The application is open to all spin-offs from RWTH Aachen University that are already formally founded at the time of application (entry in the Commercial Register as  GmbH, UG, AG, OHG, KG, GmbH & Co. KG, e.K.). At the same time, the year of foundation may not be more than two years ago.

Award
The Spin-off Award enables spin-offs to make their connection to RWTH visible. Since spin-offs from RWTH are not allowed to use the RWTH logo for legal reasons, the Spin-off Award will provide you with a "label” that allows you to visually emphasise the connection at first sight, e.g. on your website. Since only a limited number of spin-offs per year are honored with the Spin-off Award, it is a real quality rating for you!

Selection and award ceremony
The Spin-off Award is presented twice a year. The winners will be selected by a jury from RWTH Innovation. The Spin-off Award is officially presented by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Malte Brettel at the annual ATEC in summer and at the Demo Day of the Incubation Program in fall. In addition, the award winners will be listed on the RWTH Aachen University website, making them easy to find, e.g. for potential business partners.

Application
Who?
All spin-offs from RWTH who are officially founded (GmbH, UG, AG, OHG, KG, GmbH & Co. KG, e.K.) and whose year of foundation may not be more than two years ago.

How?
The application form for the first round of the Spin-off Award 2024 will be available here soon. The award ceremony will take place during the ATEC on 3 July 2024. 

Award criteria
The spin-off is evaluated by a jury consisting of members of RWTH Innovation on the basis of the following criteria:

• Relation to RWTH Aachen – what connects the technology or innovation with RWTH Aachen?
• Innovation potential of the spin-off – how innovative is the business model?
• Feasibility/implementation of the innovation and/or the business model – how refined is the implementation plan and how feasible is the market launch?
• Market and exploitation potential – how substantial is the financing and to what extent does the project generate customer benefit and revenue?
• Lighthouse effect – is the spin-off a particularly successful example of entrepreneurship at RWTH Aachen?
• Overall impression – how convincing is the exposé?

You still have questions? Write us an email.