Start-up Campus OWL - a regional center for university spin-offs
Promoting innovation and entrepreneurship
The Start-up Campus OWL offers a platform for innovation and entrepreneurial success: the campus gives young entrepreneurs the opportunity to turn their ideas into reality and thus contributes to both strengthening the economic ecosystem and creating jobs and growth in Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The project is therefore a significant step towards a sustainable and innovative economy in the region, which is known for its strong industrial and technology companies.
The modern property on the former barracks site on the Berliner Ring in Paderborn offers the start-up scene a new home on around 7,000 square meters. In addition to workspaces, there are three floors of event space, a fully equipped media studio and conference and event rooms for up to 150 start-up teams. A special feature is the dedicated makerspace. Under the supervision of specialist staff, equipment such as 3D printers can be used in metal, wood, welding and textile workshops to develop and test prototypes.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia funded the construction of the building with 16 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the state and provided a further 16 million euros to set up and operate the Excellence Startup Center (ESC) there. The opening of the new building was accompanied by the "moonshots & moneten" start-up summit, at which experts exchanged views on supporting start-ups from universities.
Start-up ecosystem for OWL
The Start-up Campus OWL aims to establish itself as a regional beacon for university spin-offs, sustainably strengthen the start-up culture in Paderborn and beyond and significantly increase the number of B2B start-ups in close cooperation with science and the technology-oriented economy. To this end, the innovative environment enables start-ups to implement their ideas while at the same time giving them access to a network of mentors, investors and industry experts. In this way, a forward-looking start-up ecosystem is being created in Paderborn, laying the foundations for further growth in the region.
12.918.903 Euro
EU-Fördermittel
At a glance
Total investment: 25,837,807 euros of which:
EU funding: 12,918,903 euros
NRW state funding: 10,335,122 euros
Project partners
University of Paderborn
Runtime
27.02.2020 to 30.09.2023
Thematic focus
Further offers for founders in North Rhine-Westphalia
The campus is part of a larger funding program. Start-ups from the world of science are important sources of inspiration and problem solvers. They help to master current challenges such as the climate-neutral transformation of the economy and society. To ensure that research projects find their way into society via start-ups, the state has been supporting six Excellence Start-up Centers with a total of 116 million euros since 2019. In addition to Paderborn, these are located at the universities in Aachen, Bochum, Dortmund, Cologne and Münster. In addition, supplementary projects at the universities in Bonn, Düsseldorf, Duisburg-Essen, Siegen and Wuppertal are being funded with 19 million euros. The aim is to expand the services for those interested in starting a business and to motivate students and researchers to put their ideas into practice.
