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Center for Entrepreneurship & Transfer

Entrepreneurship & Founding a Business

Have you ever thought about starting an innovative business after graduation? The Center for Entrepreneurship & Transfer (CET) supports you in the concrete planning and implementation of your business idea.

The team of the CET is looking forward to speak with you or to welcome you at one of our events.

To the offers of the CET

Zwei Männer unterhalten sich. Vor ihnen liegen Dokumente auf einem Tisch ausgebreitet. © Pressmaster​/​Shutterstock.com
Kollage von zwei Wissenschaftlern in Schutzanzügen, die ein Hologramm mit wabenförmigen Symbolen betrachten. © Sergey Nivems​/​Shutterstock.com
Zwei Männer sitzen in Sesseln, einer von ihnen hat ein Laptop auf dem Schoß. © Pexels

Start-up service & consulting

We test your ideas or research results with the help of current entrepreneurial methods, support you e.g. in the design and conception of business models, value offerings, the identification of market opportunities, customer development and the creation of business plans. In addition, we offer extensive assistance with the application for early-stage funding programs and provide rooms for the further development of your projects. We also give you the opportunity to create a prototype in the Makerspace in cooperation with the Chair of Engineering Education. For all those who have either already founded an innovative start-up or have a founding idea for a knowledge and technology-based business, we offer the incubator program cetup.INNOLAB.

To the start-up consultation team

We offer spaces for students and employees who want to work on a start-up project. The open working environment and the direct exchange of knowledge and experience offer ideal conditions for creative development and help with the development of new projects. Even in the early stage of idea generating CoWorking already offers a platform for making new contacts and being part of a large, digitally and locally networked community.

To the CoWorking Space

The CET coordinates the cetup.INNOLAB, an incubator program that provides founders with the ideal conditions to test and develop their projects. The InnoLab offers experienced mentors, workshops in our Innovation Academy, intensive coaching and customized, individual trainings.

Applications are open for students, employees and graduates from universities in Dortmund and the region as well as other interested parties who have either already founded an innovative start-up or have a founding idea for a knowledge and technology-based business.

To the cetup.INNOLAB

Together with the Chair of Engineering Education, we offer prospective founders the opportunity to work on their product ideas in the MakerSpace. The MakerSpace can be used without extensive technical knowledge after a short introduction and is equipped with everything needed for prototyping (3D printer, laser cutter, CNC machines, etc.).

Further information about the MakerSpace

Data has become an important resource for economic success in the digital age. The DataSpace of the CET provides software and hardware tools for the development of state-of-the-art prototypes: Besides software tools for experienced programmers there are also tools available that can be used to solve complex problems without any prior knowledge about coding.

To the DataSpace

Four people are sitting at a desk writing something on a poster. There are also pencils and a cup on the table. © Pixabay
Ein großes weißes Blatt Papier mit Post-its hängt an einer blauen Wand. Auf dem Blatt ist eine Tabelle mit verschiedenen Begriffen aus dem Unternehmensgründungsbereich © Andreas Muck
Two students are talking to each other and sitting together on a bench with a laptop. © Roland Baege​/​TU Dortmund

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Location & approach

The campus of TU Dort­mund University is located close to interstate junction Dort­mund West, where the Sauerlandlinie A 45 (Frankfurt-Dort­mund) crosses the Ruhrschnellweg B 1 / A 40. The best interstate exit to take from A 45 is “Dort­mund-Eichlinghofen” (closer to South Campus), and from B 1 / A 40 “Dort­mund-Dorstfeld” (closer to North Campus). Signs for the uni­ver­si­ty are located at both exits. Also, there is a new exit before you pass over the B 1-bridge leading into Dort­mund.

To get from North Campus to South Campus by car, there is the connection via Vogelpothsweg/Baroper Straße. We recommend you leave your car on one of the parking lots at North Campus and use the H-Bahn (suspended monorail system), which conveniently connects the two campuses.

TU Dort­mund University has its own train station (“Dort­mund Uni­ver­si­tät”). From there, suburban trains (S-Bahn) leave for Dort­mund main station (“Dort­mund Hauptbahnhof”) and Düsseldorf main station via the “Düsseldorf Airport Train Station” (take S-Bahn number 1, which leaves every 15 or 30 minutes). The uni­ver­si­ty is easily reached from Bochum, Essen, Mülheim an der Ruhr and Duisburg.

You can also take the bus or subway train from Dort­mund city to the uni­ver­si­ty: From Dort­mund main station, you can take any train bound for the Station “Stadtgarten”, usually lines U41, U45, U 47 and U49. At “Stadtgarten” you switch trains and get on line U42 towards “Hombruch”. Look out for the Station “An der Palmweide”. From the bus stop just across the road, busses bound for TU Dort­mund University leave every ten minutes (445, 447 and 462). Another option is to take the subway routes U41, U45, U47 and U49 from Dort­mund main station to the stop “Dort­mund Kampstraße”. From there, take U43 or U44 to the stop “Dort­mund Wittener Straße”. Switch to bus line 447 and get off at “Dort­mund Uni­ver­si­tät S”.

The H-Bahn is one of the hallmarks of TU Dort­mund University. There are two stations on North Campus. One (“Dort­mund Uni­ver­si­tät S”) is directly located at the suburban train stop, which connects the uni­ver­si­ty directly with the city of Dort­mund and the rest of the Ruhr Area. Also from this station, there are connections to the “Technologiepark” and (via South Campus) Eichlinghofen. The other station is located at the dining hall at North Campus and offers a direct connection to South Campus every five minutes.

The AirportExpress is a fast and convenient means of transport from Dortmund Airport (DTM) to Dortmund Central Station, taking you there in little more than 20 minutes. From Dortmund Central Station, you can continue to the university campus by interurban railway (S-Bahn). A larger range of international flight connections is offered at Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), which is about 60 kilometres away and can be directly reached by S-Bahn from the university station.

The facilities of TU Dortmund University are spread over two campuses, the larger Campus North and the smaller Campus South. Additionally, some areas of the university are located in the adjacent “Technologiepark”.

Site Map of TU Dortmund University (Second Page in English).