UA Ruhr Strong in Start-up Support
- UA Ruhr
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The Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e. V. published its “Gründungsradar 2025” ranking on 3 March. It evaluates how universities support start-ups on the basis of seven factors. In the latest edition, TU Dortmund University ranks 8th out of a total of 48 large universities in Germany (higher education institutions with over 15,000 students). Three years ago, it occupied 13th place. Ruhr University Bochum rose from 9th to 6th place, and the University of Duisburg-Essen moved up 18 places and now ranks 20th. This means that the three UA Ruhr partners, when taken together, have moved up a total of 26 places. Overall, 227 universities took part in the voluntary survey, which compares start-up activity and start-up support at German universities approximately every two to three years.
Tailwind for the national “Startup Factories” competition
The management at all three universities in the UA Ruhr is highly satisfied with the result: “Our excellent performance confirms that our strategic support for start-ups is on the right track. Our very good rankings in the ‘Gründungsradar’ are giving us further tailwind for our joint application in the ‘Startup Factories’ lighthouse competition, where we as the BRYCK Startup Alliance, together with the RAG-Stiftung, the Initiativkreis Ruhr and the BRYCK Startup Initiative, are already among Germany’s top 15 alliances in the race,” say Professor Barbara Albert, President of the University of Duisburg-Essen, Professor Manfred Bayer, President of TU Dortmund University, and Professor Martin Paul, President of Ruhr University Bochum. To further strengthen the alliance, the partners established the joint UA Ruhr Transfer GmbH at the beginning of the year. “This will enable us to make even better use of the potential offered by excellent research and to continue bundling our strengths,” said Albert, Bayer and Paul.
According to the “Gründungsradar 2025” ranking, both the number of start-ups and start-up projects as well as the number of people working in start-up support at universities in Germany continues to rise overall. At the three UA Ruhr universities, individuals interested in setting up a business and those already in the process of doing so can expect to find competent partners:
- In Dortmund, the Center for Entrepreneurship and Transfer (CET), which has been funded by the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia as an “Exzellenz Start-up Center.NRW” since 2019
- In Bochum, the WORLDFACTORY Start-up Center (WSC), which also has been funded as an “Exzellenz Start-up Center.NRW” since 2019
- In Duisburg and Essen, GUIDE, the Zentrum für Gründungen und Innopreneurship, which has functioned as a central contact point for all potential start-up entrepreneurs at the University of Duisburg-Essen since 2020 and was expanded with funding from the “Exzellenz Start-up Center.NRW” initiative
TU Dortmund University ranks 8th among Germany’s 48 large universities in the “Gründungsradar 2025”. It was especially able to improve its score through a strong increase in the start-up activities recorded, moving up five places in the overall ranking in comparison to 2022. TU Dortmund University achieved top marks for the two factors “Start-Up Support” and “Evaluation & Monitoring”. Over the past three years, the Center for Entrepreneurship and Transfer (CET) has also extended its support for start-up entrepreneurs and embedded “Transfer” on an even broader scale in its portfolio, for example by providing seed funding via TU Capital GmbH, introducing the “Entrepreneurship” certificate for students of all subjects and formulating the Transfer Mission Statement. With its growing number of spin-offs, TU Dortmund University also made it into the Top 10 in the “ Deutschen Startup Monitor” in 2024.
In the latest edition of the “Gründungsradar” ranking, Ruhr University Bochum occupies an excellent 6th place out of 48 in the category “Large Universities”. Seven factors were assessed, and the university achieved top marks in three of them: “Start-Up Support”, “Networking” and “Evaluation & Monitoring”. The jump in “Start-Up Activities” was particularly big in terms of points, while the university improved the most in “Start-Up Support”. With an improvement by three places in comparison to the last survey, Ruhr University Bochum was once again able to increase its success rate under the leadership of Professor Günther Meschke, Vice President for Research and Transfer, and Marc Seelbach, Managing Director of the WORLDFACTORY Start-up Center (WSC). The university already achieved a very good 9th place in the last “Gründungsradar” ranking in 2022 and 15th place in the previous ranking in 2020.
In the latest “Gründungsradar” ranking, the University of Duisburg-Essen improved its position from 38th place in 2022 to 20th place in 2025. Especially the establishment of the Vice Rectorate for Transfer, Innovation & Digitalization under the leadership of Vice President Professor Pedro José Marrón in 2022 has seen to a substantial improvement for the university for all factors. The University of Duisburg-Essen earned full marks in “Evaluation & Monitoring”. It has also improved significantly in “Anchoring Start-Ups” and “Start-Up Qualification”, achieving almost full points in both (9.56 and 9.75 out of 10). GUIDE, the Zentrum für Gründungen und Innopreneurship at the University of Duisburg-Essen, headed by Bernhard Schröder, has also made a substantial contribution to this positive development. Targeted measures and programs further encourage entrepreneurial thinking and action.
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