This means that the second largest amount of funding to support research-based start-ups in Lower Saxony goes to Osnabrück. A total of seven initiatives from universities in Lower Saxony are being funded.

"We are delighted with this success. It will enable us to further develop our joint start-up support in the long term," says Prof. Dr. Bernd Lehmann, Vice President for Research, Transfer and Academic Qualification at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences. "Our aim is to close the gap between our research strength and the development of innovative start-ups. In this way, the latest research findings can be transferred directly into practice. We want to place a particular focus on science-based spin-offs from the research areas of agriculture & food, health and artificial intelligence."

Large pool of start-up talent and ideas at Osnabrück universities

Prof. Dr. Kai-Uwe Kühnberger, Vice President for Research, Social Dialog and Outreach at Osnabrück University, adds: "With over 25,000 students, 2,000 academics, a broad range of subjects and our close contact with the regional economy, we have immense potential for creative ideas, entrepreneurial activities and forward-looking spin-offs. Our initiative will enable us to exploit this potential to a greater extent in the future."

Networking scientists and players in the local start-up scene

The project is supported by the joint Technology Transfer Office of the Osnabrück universities. Head Dr. Daniel Kalthoff presents some of the planned measures: "Among other things, we want to network interested scientists with our regional start-up scene and thus promote new start-up ideas. We are also planning to examine innovative ideas from third-party funded projects or research groups for start-up potential. We also want to integrate start-up skills as an integral part of the curricula of numerous degree courses." The university and the college attach particular importance to creating an inclusive and equal-opportunity start-up environment. As women are still underrepresented in the start-up scene, both institutions will pay particular attention to promoting female founders.

The university has already been very successful in recent years in acquiring third-party funding for the field of founding, start-ups and entrepreneurship. The projects "Startup!Lab - RISE" (financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research) and Room for Innovation (financed by the European Regional Development Fund) enable students in particular to create start-up ideas, expand their knowledge and develop initial prototypes in innovative premises at Osnabrück harbor. The "SCIENCE X SPIRIT" project complements these projects so that Osnabrück can also establish itself as a leading location for science and research-based start-ups in the long term.

Further information for editorial offices:
Dr. Daniel Kalthoff Head of Transfer and Innovation Management at Osnabrück Universities Tel.: 0541 969 2060
 d.kalthoff@hs-osnabrueck.de

Background: The Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and the Volkswagen Foundation are funding seven projects at universities in Lower Saxony with around € 15 million from the joint zukunft.niedersachsen program. All projects applied for were scientifically assessed and the most convincing concepts were recommended for funding by an independent jury. These projects pursue a common goal in various ways: to motivate and enable more students and researchers to start science and research-based spin-offs by imparting entrepreneurial know-how.  Further information