The next Start-up Spring School will take place from March 9 to 13, 2026, organized by the Transfer Center enaCom at the University of Bonn and the Start-up Manufaktur at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (H-BRS). In just five days, participants will work on their own ideas and develop initial business concepts. It is not necessary to have your own start-up idea prior to participating. Interested parties can register until February 25, 2026.

At the first Bonn Start-up Career Forum, around twenty start-ups from the University of Bonn and the surrounding region met with over a hundred interested talents. Participants exchanged ideas about possible career or co-founding opportunities, gave tips, and made new contacts. The forum is a joint event organized by the University of Bonn, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, DIGITALHUB.DE, and Witten/Herdecke University.

Aging in a familiar cultural environment—that's what Bianca Yang wants to make possible with her idea, Cultural Care. She is developing a retirement home concept that takes residents' cultural backgrounds into account and offers them a familiar environment. With funding from the Santander Innovation Grants of the Transfer Center enaCom, she traveled to the University of California in the USA this year, where she established new networks and completed a master class on smart health and artificial intelligence. She had already developed her business idea last year as a scholarship holder of the EXIST Women Program at the University of Bonn. In her report, she now recounts her international experiences.

The second round of the EXIST Women funding program for women interested in starting their own businesses has come to a successful end. At the closing event in November, the scholarship recipients looked back on what they had achieved. “EXIST Women is the best thing that could have happened to me!” said one participant, summing up the mood of the entire group. EXIST Women is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and implemented by the Transfer Center enaCom at the University of Bonn. 

At the Growth Alliance's Idea Camp, the start-up teams from the University of Bonn impressed the judges and took home all three prizes. They had developed their ideas in advance with the help of start-up consultants from the Transfer Center enaCom and in seminars at the University of Bonn's Institute for Entrepreneurship, among others. The Idea Camp promotes innovative solutions for the agriculture and food sectors.

Does your idea have the potential to change our society and, ideally, solve a pressing problem? Then apply to this year's ideas competition organized by the Transfer Center enaCom at the University of Bonn! Here you have the chance to present and develop your idea further, with the aim of turning it into reality. On top of that, there is prize money of €1,000 up for grabs. You can submit your idea outline until November 10, 2025.

It all started with an idea: to develop a reliable, standardised, body-like system for producing 3D cell models for use in preclinical studies. Researcher Yaroslav Zaplatnikov was among the winners of the Transfer Centre enaCom's 2024 Ideas Competition with this concept. The project “Cytosphere X” has now successfully secured a Go-Bio Initial grant from the BMFTR to further develop and validate the prototype. In the interview, the initiator explains how the idea came about, what support enaCom provided, and offers tips for participants in the ideas competition.

Learn practical methods and tools that will take you from your initial idea to a successful business model in the exciting workshops and events of the Transfer Center enaCom! As a highlight this winter semester, there will be two events that call on your creativity: the Ideas Competition and the Impact Pitch Night give you the opportunity to present your innovative ideas and win up to €3,000.