The University of Oldenburg today opened a central point of contact for those interested in setting up a business at regional universities in the form of the Start-up and Innovation Centre (GIZ). Lower Saxony's Science Minister Prof Dr Johanna Wanka was among the guests.
"A university-based, regionally anchored start-up culture sharpens the profile of universities in the north-west. It has the potential to be a central driving force for economic structural change in the region," explained Wanka. The topic of business start-ups has been a high priority at the University of Oldenburg for years, emphasised University President Prof. Dr Babette Simon. "With the establishment of the GIZ Start-up and Innovation Centre, we are pursuing the goal of anchoring the topic of business start-ups in our university in terms of content and organisation. In this way, we want to become a centre of attraction for students and academics interested in founding a company and thus contribute to the innovative capacity and competitiveness of the entire region," said Simon at the opening ceremony.
In 2011, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology recognised the University of Oldenburg as one of the three best start-up universities in Germany in the competition "EXIST-Gründungskultur - Die Gründerhochschule". With the associated funding under the EXIST IV programme, the GIZ is being created in close cooperation with Prof. Dr Alexander Nicolai, Chair of Entrepreneurship. Nicolai has been a leading figure in entrepreneurship research and teaching at the University of Oldenburg since 2005. For five years, he held an endowed professorship funded by the Oldenburg Employers' Association, NORDMETALL and the Oldenburg Economic Association DER KLEINE KREIS e.V. as well as the Oldenburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK).
The GIZ offers professional counselling, coaching and training before and after the start-up. Regular events - such as the monthly start-up café - shed light on the topic of start-ups from different perspectives and aim to encourage entrepreneurship. "We want to create a vibrant culture of creativity and entrepreneurial independence on campus. Because it provides the breeding ground for excellent research and innovative start-up ideas," said Prof Dr Katharina Al-Shamery, Vice President for Research. Dr Petra Buchholz, Head of the GIZ, added: "Anyone with innovative ideas can sit down at their desk and formulate their business idea in a sketch. We at GIZ then advise them on how the idea can be successfully realised."
In addition to setting up the GIZ, other projects have been developed as part of the EXIST IV programme, which are supervised by the Chair of Entrepreneurship. These projects aim to further intensify the partnership with industry. "As a leading start-up university, we now have the opportunity to attract entrepreneurial personalities from beyond the region," emphasised Nicolai. The trump card here is the regional economy, which is actively involved in many funding programmes. This ensures the necessary market orientation in start-up support.
The services offered by the GIZ are also available to students, employees and academics at the cooperating Jade University of Applied Sciences. Prof. Dr Manfred Weisensee, Vice President for Research and Transfer, emphasised: "The cooperation with the Start-up and Innovation Centre offers an excellent range of advice for all our study locations. We expect demand from applied research and development projects in particular."
A panel discussion was also on the programme to mark the opening of the GIZ. Moderated by Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, experts discussed "Start-up culture as an impulse for science and business" and explored the creative and economic potential of start-ups from science.
