University of Bremen shines in ranks

The start-up radar 2022 of the Stifterverband documents the very good performance of the University of Bremen in start-up support: It is ranked 15th among the 48 large German universities.
The start-up radar of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft has been examining the climate for start-ups from science since 2012 and shows which universities support the start-up of companies particularly well. Among other things, the building blocks anchoring and raising awareness of start-ups, monitoring and evaluation as well as start-up networks are taken into account. The results of the nationwide comparison prove that the University of Bremen and the Bremen university start-up network BRIDGE fulfill their social obligations with their activities and create a positive start-up climate.

If Bremen is in 15th place in the overall ranking of the major universities with more than 15,000 students, the success with individual methodological components is even greater. The university performs particularly well in the area of ​​start-up qualifications (9.9 out of 10 points), where it ranks third. It is also one of the leading universities in the area of ​​monitoring and evaluation (10 out of 10 points). The University of Bremen is in 6th place for the networking module (9.8 out of 10 points).

Success through networks and start-up qualification
Professor Michal Kucera, Vice President for Research and Transfer at the University of Bremen, is pleased with the good performance again. “We are proud that the University of Bremen is still in the top group in Germany in the start-up radar. It is important to build on the good starting position and to further develop our start-up culture with new impulses.”

dr Martin Heinlein, head of the knowledge and technology transfer office UniTransfer and managing director of BRIDGE, emphasizes: “In the start-up qualification, our established programs such as the start-up workout have been confirmed. We have also taken up the topic of sustainability as part of the Bremen-Cardiff Initiative on Entrepreneurship & Sustainability’ and embedded it internationally through our cooperation with Cardiff University.” BRIDGE advises around 160 start-up projects per year and organizes over 50 events to raise awareness of start-ups and provide qualifications with over 1,200 participants, such as the StartUp Workout or the StartUp Lounge.

Many foundation-related events also in teaching
Start-up topics are also increasingly playing an important role in teaching at the University of Bremen. “It’s nice to see that we now also offer numerous start-up-related events in teaching. This runs through all departments of the University of Bremen – whether as a career perspective in the geosciences, in the areas of health, eco, and social entrepreneurship or in the area of ​​artificial intelligence,” summarizes Heinlein.

A particularly large number of events take place at the Chair for SMEs, Business Start-ups and Entrepreneurship (LEMEX). “For years, our student teams working on startups have been getting more – and better! Entrepreneurship on campus hasn’t just become fashionable, it’s become a staple. And the students come from more and more courses, so that the activity is becoming more and more interdisciplinary,” explains Professor Jörg Freiling, head of the LEMEX chair.

About start-up support at the university and in the state of Bremen
The BRIDGE university network is the central point of contact for students, alumni and members of Bremen’s universities on the subject of starting a business. The sponsors of the BRIDGE university network are the University of Bremen, the Bremen University of Applied Sciences, the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences, the University of the Arts, the Constructor University and the Bremer Aufbau-Bank GmbH. BRIDGE has set itself the goal of improving the start-up climate at all participating universities and promoting promising ideas with start-up potential at an early stage.

Since 2007, the network to support a large number of science start-ups has raised over nine million euros in funding from the nationwide EXIST program. The annual competition “CAMPUSiDEEN” with prizes worth around 20,000 euros completes the offer. Since 2003, 800 contributions have been submitted in almost 20 years. This makes CAMPUSiDEEN one of the most continuous and largest competitions of its kind nationwide.

UniTransfer is the central interface at the University of Bremen between the university, business and society. The experts at the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Office support collaborations and projects across the entire range of university subjects. This ranges from business start-ups, the exploitation of inventions or the placement of specialists and executives through the coordination of school projects to the management of the university foundation and university fundraising.

Professor Jörg Freiling’s Chair for SMEs, Business Start-ups and Entrepreneurship (LEMEX) imparts relevant theoretical and practical knowledge in numerous courses in the field of start-ups and business start- ups .