The “Start-up Radar,” Germany’s nationwide start-up ranking by the Stifterverband (Association for the Promotion of Humanities and Sciences in Germany), ranked the University of Potsdam, together with the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, at third place. In the “large university” category of institutions with over 15,000 students, the University advanced two positions from 5th place (2013), making it the best-ranked university in the Berlin-Brandenburg region. The University of Potsdam even took 1st place among non-technical universities nationwide. “This fantastic success shows once more how strong our transfer and start-up organizations are. These kinds of structures, and the almost 50 start-ups generated by them each year, are essential for the state of Brandenburg. This is how the University of Potsdam is creating the economy of the future,” said Prof. Oliver Günther, Ph.D., the president of the University of Potsdam. First and second place went to the Munich University of Applied Sciences and the Technical University of Munich.
The “Start-up Radar,” which is conducted by the Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany together with the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, regularly assesses the forms in which German universities support start-up businesses. The study compares which start-up activities exist and how they are anchored in institutions. The rankings also evaluate how students and staff are made aware of the subject, and how people interested in founding a start-up are supported. The evaluation also considers which founding activities are actually completed.
The University of Potsdam has regularly been ranked in the past among the top ten nationwide for start-ups. With funds from the federal programs EXIST II, EXIST III and EXIST IV, the University managed to establish a start-up culture in the comparatively underdeveloped economic region of Brandenburg and to tap into the potential of Potsdam as a place to do research. The University’s Transfer Strategy, adopted in February, defines all of the transfer processes, including support for start-ups as an institution-wide tasks for all of the University’s organizations, thereby reinforcing its identity as an entrepreneurial institution. The University promotes the application of the knowledge gained and generated in Potsdam. Staff, students and graduates with business ideas receive support from the University’s own center for start-ups, innovation, knowledge and technology transfer – Potsdam Transfer, which also conducts research and teaching in these fields.
Contact: Silke Engel, University Press Officer and Director of the Department for Press and Public Relations
Tel.: +49 331 977-1474
Email: presseuuni-potsdampde
Internet: www.uni-potsdam.de
Press release 21-02-2017 / No. 024
Antje Horn-Conrad
University of Potsdam
Department for Press and Public Relations
Am Neuen Palais 10
14469 Potsdam
Tel.: +49 331 977-1474
Fax: +49 331 977-1130
Email: presseuuni-potsdampde
Internet: www.uni-potsdam.de/presse
Published online by: Marieke Bäumer
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