Upper Franconia Jul 20, 2016

Bavaria is the state for growth in digital start-ups

Bavaria as the state for start-ups is growing – and indeed to a considerable extent. The Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs plans on further expanding the achieved successes in its start-up funding, as exemplified by Werk1.Bayern; to this end, the state has initiated a competition for digital business incubators.

Comprehensive network


The new centres are intended to support young entrepreneurs across Bavaria with far more than just a chair and a desk. The assessment by an independent panel of experts incorporated the following criteria:
 

  • Potential for the concept region
  • Collaboration with universities and research institutions
  • Participation by companies, industry chambers and associations
  • Sustained involvement by the municipalities
  • Concepts for knowledge transfer
  • Development of the regional network
     

A total of 12 centres will be established at 19 locations, some of them completely new; others will build on existing initiatives. 
 

  • Swabia: The Digitale Zentrum Schwaben benefits from its close proximity to the universities in Augsburg and Kempten; the interfaces are not only designed to assist start-ups, but are also intended to provide new inspiration for the local economy.
  • Upper Bavaria: The dallwigk in Ingolstadt supports start-ups which have specialised in digital applications for the mobility sector. In addition, cross-sectional technologies, especially for media, trade, health and medium-sized businesses, have found a new home here. The concept behind Stellwerk 18 in Rosenheim is supporting digital start-ups, preparing local companies for digitization and networking the creative input.
  • Lower Bavaria: The cities of Landshut, Deggendorf and Passau teamed up for a joint application which brings their respective university-related expertise together in the form of the Gründerzentrum Digitalisierung Niederbayern (GDN). LINKWORK, ITC1 and InnoRivers already provide Lower Bavaria with excellent starting points for technology-oriented entrepreneurs.
  • Upper Palatinate: The R-Tech GmbH in Upper Palatinate is striving to expand its start-up funding. After the TechBase celebrated its opening this year, the location has now also secured the involvement of the Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg and the Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Amberg-Weiden in a joint business incubator.
  • Middle Franconia: The high-tech location of Nuremberg invites start-ups to do-it-yourself at the Zollhof. The local TechSpace provides entrepreneurs with an ideal infrastructure for producing initial prototypes.
  • Upper Franconia: Industry 4.0 is a hot topic in Bamberg. The new business incubator is the right place for start-ups in the digital business models, future logistics, Crafts 4.0 as well as Big Data and E-Commerce sectors. Big Data also plays a major role at the new centre in Hof, where entrepreneurs benefit from the immediate proximity to an ITC-oriented university landscape.
  • Lower Franconia: With its proximity to the campus, the Zentrum für digitale Innovationen (ZDI) Mainfranken provides ideal support for start-up ideas generated by the university, and is thus a key interface for the direct knowledge and technology transfer in the region.
  • Additional models for business incubators are being developed for the regions including Cham, the rural district of Neustadt/Aisch-Bad-Windsheim and Alzenau; all of which were subsequently added as winners of the competition.
     

Unique ecosystem for start-ups
 

Bavaria wants to use the new digital business incubator as a unique ecosystem for start-ups, within which entrepreneurs can network state-wide with existing collaborations and count on respective support measures. To make this happen, the state is providing subsidies to the new centres totalling EUR 80 million.

 

Thus, start-ups will benefit from an ideal environment in which they can fully explore the options provided by digitization for their products, services and ideas. But the business incubators in the respective administrative districts are not the only ones providing assistance; entrepreneurs can also count on the existing network of initiatives such as BayStartUP, Zentrum Digitalisierung.Bayern or BayernKapital.