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Panoramic view on the North Campus © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
„Think.Try.Transform.“

Podcast Explores How the Ruhr Innovation Lab Supports Start-Ups

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  • Founding & Transfer
  • Top News
Photo: Michelle Twardzik and Dr. Thomas Seidensticker are sitting on a blue couch and a yellow chair, smiling at the camera. © Meike Drießen​/​RUB
In the podcast, startup advisor Michelle Twardzik and chemist Dr. Thomas Seidensticker discuss how ideas take off.
Starting your own company? TU Dortmund University and Ruhr University Bochum support researchers and students in turning their start-up ideas into reality and transferring their research findings into practical applications. In the fifth episode of “Think.Try.Transform.”, the podcast of the Ruhr Innovation Lab, two guests share their expertise in this area: Michelle Twardzik advises researchers at Ruhr University Bochum on founding a start-up. Chemist Dr. Thomas Seidensticker from TU Dortmund University has already successfully translated his innovation in green chemistry into the start-up Simplyfined.

Simplyfined emerged from Seidensticker’s junior research group Renewlysis at the Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering. There, he tasked his doctoral researcher and co-founder Maximilian Spiekermann with developing a technology that processes plant oils into universally applicable platform chemicals for industrial use. This approach could help replace climate-damaging fossil raw materials in the chemical industry in the future. The idea proved successful: the start-up received around 1.7 million euro through the EXIST Research Transfer program and won first place at the TU Start-up Award, organized annually by the Center for Entrepreneurship & Transfer (CET) at TU Dortmund University. In the new episode of “Think.Try.Transform.”, Dr. Thomas Seidensticker shares the success story behind his start-up. Looking back, he says that a mix of people with different academic backgrounds is particularly valuable when a company is growing.

Michelle Twardzik can confirm this. As a start-up advisor and project manager at WORLDFACTORY, the start-up and transfer center of Ruhr University Bochum, she advises anyone considering founding a company. Her recommendation is to seek advice early and simply give it a try. Even if it later turns out that founding a company is not the right path, the experience gained is still extremely valuable.

In the podcast, both guests share tips on networks and funding programs and provide insights into start-up advising. When should you start thinking about founding a company? What support do the universities offer? What should aspiring founders be prepared for? The fifth episode of “Think.Try.Transform.” answers these questions.

To the new episode (German only)

Center for Entrepreneurship & Transfer

About the Podcast

The podcast “Think. Try. Transform.” showcases major ideas behind the joint application of Ruhr University Bochum and TU Dortmund University as university consortium of excellence and discusses them with those who know best: Rectors, researchers, founders and advisors. Hosted by Sven-Daniel Gettys, each episode covers topics such as clusters of excellence, support for doctoral candidates, and start-up activities. Under the lead of Ruhr University Bochum, new episodes are released monthly—accompanying the application phase until the announcement on October 2. During summer there will be a special episode featuring audience questions addressed to both rectors; submissions can be sent anytime via email to: hochschulkommunikation@ruhr-uni-bochum.de. Most of the episodes are in German.

All episodes