The “Gateway Factory” is one of the ten startup factories to be awarded funding by the Federal Government. As a result, the company initiated by Marien University Hospital & School Gelsenkirchen (MUHS), the University of Cologne and Aachen University of Technology (RWTH) together with the Munich-based Start2 Group will receive up to ten million euros from the Federal Government over the next five years to support DeepTech startups. The initiators also include Cologne University of Applied Sciences, the German Sport University Cologne, the Rheinische Hochschule university of applied sciences in Cologne and the CBS International Business School. The partners have thus now cleared the final hurdle in the prestigious competition run by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie – BMWE), as Minister Katherina Reiche announced in Berlin.
The BMWE launched the competition to find cross-university startup centres, which cultivate and leverage ecosystems with international appeal. The aim is to establish a new generation of globally successful and technologically innovative companies. The startup factories are structured and managed as private-sector companies, and backed by alliances of universities and established companies in the region.
The “Gateway Factory” focuses on promoting DeepTech startups via cross-sector growth programmes, while also providing more comprehensive support in certain areas including Future Health & Life Sciences, Sustainable Infrastructure & Mobility, Future Computing & Engineering and Future Regulatory Demands. In these areas of innovation, the Gateway Factory brings startups together with industrial partners and investors, as well as partners from the field of research. It also supports them in acquiring personnel, customers and capital. DeepTech startups will profit in particular from the opportunity to use production facilities and laboratories provided via the Gateway Factory. Marien University Hospital & School Gelsenkirchen will focus its support on the “Future Health & Life Sciences” area, pooling its strengths with University Hospital Gelsenkirchen.
The Gateway Factory has already acquired private funding in the amount of around ten million euros from companies, venture capital providers and private individuals based in the region for the implementation of the concept.
“We complement each other well: In Gelsenkirchen and Cologne, we have outstanding management and finance expertise, as well as a broad spectrum of excellent research in the life sciences and humanities,” says Professor Dr Anja Steinbeck, President of Marien University Hospital & School Gelsenkirchen. “We are also leveraging the advantages of our business metropolises to promote growth.”
“We are delighted that our alliance has impressed the competition judges with its concept. The universities involved offer outstanding research potential. Through the Gateway Factory, we can also offer optimum support for the transfer of significant technological breakthroughs from research into application,” says Professor Dr Joybrato Mukherjee, Rector of the University of Cologne.
“The selection of the Gateway Factory as one of ten Startup Factories in Germany represents a strong endorsement of Aachen as a DeepTech site. We are already in an excellent position to provide support in the early phase of ideation and incubation and – thanks to this funding – we can now also advance the scaling phase on a targeted basis with our partners. The unique focus on production support makes the Gateway Factory a real catalyst for DeepTech innovations. As the Rector’s Delegate for Translation at RWTH Aachen, I am delighted about this milestone for our innovation ecosystem,” says Professor Dr Michael Riesener, Managing Director of RWTH Aachen Innovation GmbH.
Caption:
The Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche presented the Gateway Factory delegation with the funding certificate today in Berlin. From left:
- Marius Rosenberg, Start2 Group
- Heinz Möllenkamp, Marien University Hospital & School Gelsenkirchen
- Professor Dr Rainer Minz, University of Cologne
- Professor Dr Kai Thürbach, Cologne University of Applied Sciences
- Dr Tim Hiddeman, Gateway Factory
- Tanja Zirnstein (image), Gateway Factory
- Professor Dr Matthias Notz, Start2 Group
- Professor Dr Malte Brettel, RWTH Aachen
- Roland Oetker, Marien University Hospital & School Gelsenkirchen
- Dr Andrea Greven, RWTH Aachen
- Professor Dr Michael Riesener, RWTH Aachen
- Petra Schadeberg-Herrmann, Gateway Factory
- Professor Dr Eva Lutz, Marien University Hospital & School Gelsenkirchen
- Professor Dr Steffi Haag, Marien University Hospital & School Gelsenkirchen
- Katherina Reiche, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
@Bundeswirtschaftsministerium, Thomas Imo