Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Michael Woywode, the Mannheim Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MCEI) at the University of Mannheim successfully applied for the "Pre-Start BW" funding programme of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts. The programme aims to inspire interested students and academic staff to become entrepreneurs through start-up-related events or topic-related workshops, in addition to the general awareness-raising and support measures of the universities in Baden-Württemberg. Founders who are already active can also be supported in developing their start-up ideas further. A potential outcome would be a successful application to the start-up-related funding programmes of the federal government (e.g. EXIST Start-up Grant or EXIST Research Transfer I) or to public or private venture capital providers. Pre-start BW especially addresses strategic future fields such as artificial intelligence, digitalisation, BioMed and BioTech, Green Mobility and GreenTech. In these areas spin-offs from science have proven to be a particularly effective transfer instrument from research to practical application.
Through the "Pre-Start BW" programme, the existing offer and support for Uni Mannheim students interested in founding their own company can be expanded at the MCEI. The expanded offer includes workshops on topics such as design thinking, pitch trainings, sensitisation and support with regard to legal and tax aspects in the context of a start-up as well as information and exchange on financing possibilities (e.g. funding possibilities of the EXIST programmes). Furthermore, the existing start-up-related networking events (Startup Lounges, Founder Talks) can be prolonged and further enhanced.
The approved funding covers the years 2021 and 2022.
Expansion and extension of MCEI offers through the "Pre-Start BW" programme
Startup BW
