Insights

The Start-Up Center at OTH Regensburg secured 2nd place in the "Universities of Applied Sciences/Technical Universities" category of the MöglichMacher Award 2024.

Within ten years, OTH Regensburg has succeeded in transforming itself into an entrepreneurial university. Entrepreneurship and start-up activities have become a central, profile-forming, strategic building block for the university. While start-ups were almost ridiculed at the beginning, entrepreneurship is now firmly anchored in the university development plan and the university contract. Students come to OTH Regensburg from all over Germany because of the excellent start-up conditions.

The jury acknowledged the extraordinary commitment of Prof. Dr. Saßmannshausen and emphasized the combination of qualification and further support offered by the center. By integrating regional and international networks, bridges are built that open up sustainable growth opportunities for the teams and strengthen the location. The award is both recognition and an incentive to continue this innovative work and to further anchor entrepreneurship as a valuable part of the university landscape.

Click here for the full article:Start-Up Center at OTH Regensburg wins prize

Pictures: Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts/ Axel König

A look back at 12 months of the OTH Regensburg Female Founders Programme: the closing event brought a year full of innovation, personal development and entrepreneurial success to a fitting conclusion. As part of this, the Female Founders and mentors came together to review the highlights.

At the beginning, Prof. Dr. Sevim Süzeroglu-Melchiors welcomed everyone to the event. "With this program, we are actively committed to attracting more women as founders." The Female Founders Program has set an important milestone in the Female Founder scene at the university. In addition, the proportion of female founders at OTH Regensburg was increased to 20%. The program made a significant contribution to this. A great success that will be continued in 2025 with the next cohort.

The EXIST Women-funded program laid the foundation for a productive year with the kick-off. In addition to financial support, the prospective female founders received various offers and services related to the topic of founding. In addition to practice-oriented workshops on "Stress Management & Resilience" with Christiane Böhm, "Marketing for Female Founders" with Kathy Groh and "Presenting & Speaking freely" with project coordinator Theresa Bodensteiner, the Female Founders received expert lectures, e.g. on the topic of AI with Dr. Sebastian Erdenreich. Start-up advice was also an elementary point. An important component was the support of the participants through the mentoring program. Volunteer mentors provided expert support, coaching and motivation for the female founders. "It gives you a real boost when a woman accompanies you on your journey!" said one Female Founder about mentoring.

A highlight of the program was undoubtedly the Hochschulgründertag (University Founders' Day). The Female Founders Award, sponsored by the OTH Start-up Center, was presented here for the first time. The winner, Celina Bauer, was honored for her project "Intelligent Workwear". Two other Female Founders took part in the pitch competition at the University Founders' Day and presented their ideas to a wide audience. Elisabeth Hockemeyer and her team were able to convince the jury with "Flowherb" and took 2nd place. The great success of the participants is one of the hallmarks of the program and its content.

Another central point of the closing event was the presentation of the start-up ideas by the participants. This showed the impressive development they had undergone over the course of the program. They presented their start-up project and demonstrated the extraordinary progress they had made in a year of intensive work. The personal development of each participant and the professional implementation of the project shows the great value of the program: "Without the Female Founders, my company would not exist," concluded one founder.

Special thanks go to the dedicated mentors who accompanied the participants throughout the year. Their support and expertise were an essential part of the program's success. The mentors were impressed by the development of the Female Founders, who not only honed their entrepreneurial skills in a short space of time, but also made significant personal progress.

This program not only enables the validation and realization of start-up visions, but also creates a cross-industry network of Female Founders and experts in the field of women entrepreneurship.

All program points and the possible participation in events and offers of all network partners (O/HUB, OTH Start-up Center, DGO, Biopark Jump) represent the unique OTH Regensburg Female Founders Programme.

Pictures: Start-up Center/ OTH Regensburg

From bouquets of flowers with a bite, to gamified recruiting and intelligent workwear for nursing staff: the start-ups that presented themselves at the Hochschulgründertag (University Founders' Day) surprised the audience with original ideas.

In addition to an award ceremony in the categories Sustainability Prize/Jury Prize and Female Founders Prize, new start-ups were able to demonstrate their skills in a pitch competition. Visitors were able to vote for their favorites in an interactive public vote and reward the ambitious founders with a total of four public prizes.

Click here for the full article: Innovative start-ups honored at the University Founders' Day at OTH Regensburg

Pictures: OTH Regensburg/ Florian Hammerich

Every year, the Christmas party at the OTH Start-up Lab provides the perfect opportunity to catch up with other creative minds, look back and say thank you. Prof. Dr. Sean-Patrick Saßmannshausen was proud and very satisfied with the strong development of the lab since its opening. Since the start of the project, students from the new Master's degree course in Digital Entrepreneurship (MDE) have moved into the listed building, as has the spirit of development and innovation thanks to the expansion of the workshops. The attendance of over 50 people who found their way to the Prüfening site on this Thursday evening illustrates the positive radiance of the project.

During the pre-Christmas period, the Makers Space was used diligently by OTH members, who made gifts from wood, textiles and other materials. As part of the "X-Mas Days" and with the support of the tutors, a successful series of events was held that attracted many (new) interested people to the workshops.

As part of the colorful Christmas party program, the Start-up Lab was able to showcase its wide range of possibilities: there were homemade little things from the Makers Space to be won at the Christmas Secret Santa, participants were able to demonstrate their manual dexterity on the game console and give free rein to their creativity in the "Ugly Sweater Contest". The Christmas party sealed a successful year overall for the OTH Start-up Center.

The OTH Start-up Lab team would like to thank all guests and supporters for the wonderful evening and the convivial time!

Pictures: Start-up Center/ OTH Regensburg