Lower Franconian Start-up Hub Takes Off

05/15/2024

Five new start-up hubs are to promote the entrepreneurial spirit at Bavarian universities. One of them is the ZENTRIA.hub in Lower Franconia. The hubs have now been officially opened by Bavaria's Science Minister Markus Blume.

From left: Dr Felix Liedel, Stefan Homes, Venture Lab at TH Aschaffenburg, Tanja Golly, Prof. Dr Boris Bauke, Head of the Venture Lab at TH Aschaffenburg, Minister Markus Blume, Prof. Dr Lukas Worschech, Prof. Dr Eva-Maria Beck-Meuth, President of TH Aschaffenburg. (Image: Uwe Niklas / FAU)

"Every great idea starts small: If you have a real vision, you can turn it into reality in Bavaria with our support. Bavaria is the best base for start-ups," explained Markus Blume at the opening of all Bavaria's start-up hubs on Thursday, 2 May 2024, in Nuremberg.

"Our start-up hubs help students and academic staff to get off the ground. We are funding the establishment and expansion of the start-up hubs with around three million euros and ten permanent positions - for systematic start-up training. The combination of talent and new technology creates products and services for the economy and society. This is how we secure prosperity and the future of Bavaria," continued Bavaria's Science Minister.

The ZENTRIA.hub

Three universities are working together in Lower Franconia: Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), Technische Hochschule Würzburg-Schweinfurt and Technische Hochschule Aschaffenburg. With their new Entrepreneurship Into Action Centre - ZENTRIA.Hub for short - they offer students and employees a certificate programme with particularly practical training to promote entrepreneurial skills. "This is another building block for advancing entrepreneurship education, with the added bonus that universities of applied sciences and universities are working more closely together. Both are of great strategic importance for our university," emphasises Professor Dr Jan Schmitt, Vice President Research and Entrepreneurship at THWS.

"The joint start-up hub in Lower Franconia strengthens our start-up support at the university, which we bundle in the Venture Lab. We very much welcome the collaboration!" says a delighted Professor Dr Eva-Maria Beck-Meuth, President of the TH Aschaffenburg.

The University of Würzburg is in charge of the new course, which is coordinated by the Service Centre for Research and Technology Transfer.

"ZENTRIA.Hubs marks a milestone in the Lower Franconian start-up ecosystem. It pools the strengths of the universities and integrates the expertise and offerings of the network partners, in particular the regional start-up and technology transfer centres and regional commercial enterprises," emphasises Professor Lukas Worschech, project manager at JMU.

"The certificate programme focuses on the entire spectrum of the start-up process and also covers company succession and intrapreneurship. We thus offer our students the opportunity to test their entrepreneurial skills in a variety of ways with our domestic and international partners in the start-up ecosystem," adds Tanja Golly, Project Coordinator of the ZENTRIA.Hub.