Our offers for you

Individual start-up support
You don't need a business plan to contact us! Write us an e-mail to: ec@uni-ulm.de and make an appointment for an initial meeting. We usually meet online first and then agree on all the next steps. Ultimately, we see ourselves as a source of inspiration, but you set the pace, speed and intensity. We will be happy to connect you internally with the relevant funding advice centers or the office responsible for invention disclosures.

What we offer:

  1. Empathy and experience - we are all human and bring our talents and weaknesses with us. What matters most to us is that you feel comfortable and have the opportunity to realize your vision. This path is individual and looks different for every team. Everyone on campus has different start-up experiences and can put themselves in your shoes.
  2. Our network, and your stage - embedded in the regional and Germany-wide network, it's usually easy to find a contact person. But sometimes you don't have to travel far to stand on a stage and inspire the audience: yes, with your vision!
  3. Sustainability - we can't do without it. Period.

We will guide you to suitable financing.  We mainly work through the federal state program (Junge Innovatoren) or the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (exist: Existenzgründungen aus der Wissenschaft).

Scholarship overview

Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection:
exist - Existenzgründungen aus der Wissenschaft:

  1. EXIST Gründerstipendium
  2. EXIST Forschungstransfer

Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts:

Junge Innovatoren

We mainly accompany early-stage ideas. This means that there is often no fixed team, funding or financing, company forms, visions or strategies. All this forms the core of a business start-up and requires time and space to deal with it. We help you to find your way. As with all other businesses, the right marketing plays a crucial role for deep tech companies. However, deep techs differ from other industries due to greater product complexity, regulatory oversight, and longer time to market. On the road to market, deep techs should leverage the strength of their intellectual property. To land collaborations with large companies, creative avenues should be used such as demo videos or pitch decks. This visualizes the future product and conveys trust, which can be used to build long-term relationships. Communication is key! Original content should find its way into social media channels. The more a company communicates with its customers, the more trustworthy it appears. Since DeepTechs invest in the future, trust is also the be-all and end-all. The content should not only promote the product, but also the brand of the company should be communicated authentically. We support you with pictures, videos, podcast recordings or website creation!

Our current startup teams

Over the past few years, a large number of spin-offs have emerged that are making an impact both inside and outside the region.

Engineered NV Diamond for Quantum Technologies
The two are working on a novel regulator for the complement system, part of the immune system.

Press release: EXIST research transfer for immunology startup QTX

Customized tools to improve your skin's appearance. Taking control of your skin has never been easier.
OSORA is a software simulation tool for patient-specific predictions of the fracture healing process in bones.
We use optical measurement systems to monitor the dynamics and stability of biological processes.
Applications for the construction industry from life science research
The power of understanding: With our self-developed explainable AI technology

Start-up support at the Entrepreneurs Campus

We see ourselves as a base that accompanies you and your idea - no matter what exactly that means. You don't need to have any previous business knowledge or think that your idea is not yet fully developed. Just the thought or the question: could application-oriented research be useful for society and how do I bring it to the market, is the ignition. Now is the time to start thinking about whether you want to become an Entrepreneur. We will help you to find an answer to these and many other questions. We cannot always help you immediately. We also need a network to support us. If, in the course of our support, you need to submit a grant application or an invention disclosure, the university has contact persons for this. We will put you in touch with them and, if necessary, prepare you for the interviews. Furthermore, the Entrepreneurs Campus is embedded in a regional innovation ecosystem and works closely with other university and non-university institutions. We are currently working to expand our industry network and to find more industry experts for you, so that specialists can answer industry questions you might have. We are guided in our work by the EU framework EntreComp. Following EntreComp, we are concerned with educating students not only primarily to create successful companies and establish a start-up culture, but rather to strengthen them in the competence to sustainably shape their future living environment by being able to conceptually solve problems in an innovative and transformative way and generally having the courage to tackle challenges in different demand systems (energy, mobility, health, etc.). Because it is precisely these competencies that are in demand in a VUCA world, in addition to analytical problem-solving skills.

Thus, our start-up support is embedded in a network, which has different levels:

  1. Internal university structures: submission of grant applications or invention disclosures.
  2. Regional ecosystem: early stage is followed by possible inclusion in accelerators
  3. EntreComp and the SDGs: we and the founding teams have an impact on society