North Rhine-Westphalia wants to promote university spin-offs

The federal state has launched the next round of its "Start-up Transfer.NRW" funding competition. It is aimed specifically at founders and start-up teams from universities in NRW.

The North Rhine-Westphalian state government has announced a new round of the "Start-up Transfer.NRW" funding competition. Here, founders and start-up teams from North Rhine-Westphalian universities and research institutions can receive financial support for their business start-ups. The state and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) are providing a total of 40 million euros until 2027.

Each start-up will be supported with up to 270,000 euros for a maximum period of two years. Funding is also provided for the further development of research results into products and services, the preparation of a business start-up and project-related advice from a coach with experience in the sector. The universities submit the funding applications. The current funding round runs until January 31, 2023.

The Start-up Transfer.NRW competition has been running since 2014 and there have been eleven rounds since then. By the end of the last funding round in 2020, 239 funding applications had been submitted, 120 of which received a recommendation. A total of 64 companies have emerged from the funding competition so far. A further 44 projects have not yet been completed.