It is the central point of contact for students and university employees interested in starting a business: the University Start-up and Innovation Centre (GIZ). In order to continue its success story in the long term, it is now reorganising itself financially and structurally.
GIZ gGmbH, an Institute affiliated with the university, will join the university-based GIZ. In future, both pillars will each receive 75,000 euros in annual funding from the Gertrud and Hellmut Barthel Foundation, co-owner of Papier- und Kartonfabrik Varel.
In the presence of Lower Saxony's Minister of Economic Affairs, Olaf Lies, the Vice President for Research and Transfer at the university, Katharina Al-Shamery, and the deputy chairman of the foundation, Kristian Evers, signed a contract to this effect, which will initially run for five years. In addition, the Barthel Foundation provides up to 50,000 euros annually for specific GIZ projects.
The university's start-up and innovation centre in co-operation with the Jade University of Applied Sciences was established in 2012 with the help of EXIST funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). This funding ends in one year. The federal government's EXIST programme is aimed at start-ups from science - a field in which the University of Oldenburg scores highly with a significantly above-average number of spin-offs compared to the rest of Germany.
"The GIZ does outstanding work and plays a pioneering role in Lower Saxony. It can be proud of the large number of spin-offs worthy of support and awards," said Economics Minister Lies, "especially when these ultimately create permanent jobs in the region. My thanks also go to the Barthel Foundation, which supports this important work."
Vice President Al-Shamery also thanked the foundation for its commitment. "The GIZ is a success story as a central contact point for students and university employees interested in starting a business: In relation to our size, we can certainly keep up with recognised start-up strongholds," said Al-Shamery. "We want to continue this success story in the long term with the new model."
Universities and their surroundings are a particularly attractive environment for innovative knowledge-based and technology-orientated start-ups, added Evers, the foundation's CEO. "It is very important to us to support the next generation of entrepreneurs in north-west Germany with our support for the GIZ - and to connect them with us regional SMEs."
According to the agreement, the new GIZ structure will combine "the strengths of universities with the dynamism of entrepreneurial agility". The university-based GIZ will therefore continue to sensitise students and university employees to the topic of business start-ups and support them conceptually and, for example, with EXIST funding applications.
The new non-profit limited company will focus on events and marketing as well as more market-orientated start-up advice and innovation support. "The two pillars complement each other and are two sides of the same coin, so to speak," says Al-Shamery.
In recent years, the GIZ with its four employees has provided "its" start-ups with funding of more than three million euros through the EXIST programme alone, and several of the newly founded companies have also won start-up awards. The most recent examples are EXIST start-up grants for a1robotics (robotic systems), STORM 2 (sustainability management software), infopixel (graphic visualisations) and Nutramo (organic fish food) or the main prize in the BMWi competition "IKT Innovativ" for the MiCROW team (micro-assembly).
