Cottbus start-ups present current projects

Cottbus/Potsdam - The Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg is one of the most important authorities when it comes to promoting the founding of start-ups in the Brandenburg region. As such, the BTU was awarded the university prize "Ideenschmiede" of the Berlin-Brandenburg Business Plan Competition (BPW) for the third time in 2021.

For the Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB), too, the financial support of start-ups and those willing to found companies as well as Brandenburg's higher education landscape are two key priorities. On Thursday, March 17, 2022, representatives of the ILB therefore visited the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg and were introduced to current projects and ideas of start-up companies and founding teams based there during presentations and tours.

Tillmann Stenger, Chairman of the Board of Brandenburg's development bank ILB, said on the occasion of the visit: "The BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg has been one of our most important partners in the context of start-up support for many years. The spin-offs from the university have not only won various business awards in recent years, solid companies have also emerged from them. That's why I'm very pleased to be able to take a look at current start-up projects on site and talk to the founding teams and the university about possible funding needs."

Ilka Seer, press spokeswoman and head of the Corporate Identity Department at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, is grateful for ILB's great interest in the BTU's start-up activities: "Supporting young start-up companies and innovative ideas sends the right signal - especially in a region that is facing great challenges and a unique departure with its structural transformation. Attracting new companies to Cottbus and, above all, retaining skilled workers in the region who have been trained at the BTU is the goal of us all. In this respect, we are pleased about the creative exchange on how ILB can continue to support us and our teams in the future."

In the new STARTBLOCK B2 startup center, the BTU's ESF-funded Startup Service project presented successful examples. The company SCYtech, as an innovator in the power tool industry with its glove-sized cordless screwdriver, and ismartC with the idea of a charging management system for optimizing the power supply of electric vehicles. These examples once again illustrate the importance of the interplay between startup consulting and funding opportunities at universities.

"In 2021, we supported 179 Brandenburg founders* with funding amounting to a good twelve million euros. In addition, there was equity financing amounting to 27 million euros for start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises. Brandenburg is very well positioned as a start-up state," Stenger continued.

Since 1990, ILB has supported 470 BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg projects with funding totaling around 140 million euros. University funding will also remain an important cornerstone in the new EU funding period 2021-2027.