Article published on 07. August 2026Knowledge Transfer III

The third and relatively new area of knowledge transfer at universities involves their spin-offs. Spin-offs have the advantage of benefiting from the existing resources of the parent company or organization. These can include, for example, infrastructure, capital, consultants, and expertise. They should not be confused with startups (a modern term for newly founded companies), as the latter do not emerge directly from a university, organization, or company, but rather are founded later by aspiring entrepreneurs and pioneers who have already left the university or company - or who never attended it in the first place. This is quite confusing, since many companies and universities operate startup centers but primarily support a large number of spin-offs.

Start-ups and spin-offs aside, according to Gründungsradar, universities in Germany are among the key players when it comes to start-ups and can be drivers of economic growth, with the primary focus on fast-growing, technology-based companies. Examples of university-generated unicorns (companies valued at more than $1 billion), such as Celonis and Lilium from TUM or CureVac from Tübingen, demonstrate that this can indeed be successful from time to time - though the latter was acquired by its former competitor BioNTech SE in January 2026 and subsequently dissolved. It’s important to note here that the valuation of a new company is also tied to a great deal of hope and a gold-rush mentality, and thus falls into the realm of “high-risk speculation” - comparable to a coin toss where many millions are at stake, especially in the biotech industry. The startup scene tends to be driven by such enormous “success stories” which aren’t actually success stories yet, since the new companies often haven’t brought a product to market and are therefore not yet innovative, but are driven purely by hope. The innovation-rich state of Baden-Württemberg, with its often-touted status as an “innovation engine,” was for decades driven not by unicorns at all, but rather by long-established family-owned businesses, particularly in the textile and automotive industries.

Nevertheless, the entire country is striving for breakthrough innovations, and universities are now expected to lead the way. For this reason, many universities have created conditions for students and researchers that enable them to generate knowledge transfer in the form of spin-offs. Among the various activities designed to pave the way for the commercial use of their own research results are initiatives such as startup consulting, idea competitions, prototyping workshops, maker spaces, and incubator and accelerator programs. Let’s take a closer look at these initiatives:

It’s also important to know how to make ends meet as a self-employed person. If financing your own business is relatively straightforward, “Triple F” financing (FFF—Family, Friends, and Fools) or crowdfunding could certainly be an option. However, if you’re facing major initial purchases - perhaps because you want to move prototypes into mass production - you should seek out financially strong backing right away. This includes traditional banks, private equity firms, business angels, and federal and state government grant programs.

But be careful…nothing comes for free, whether in your personal or professional life. Anyone who lends money wants something in return - or as Americans like to say: “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” and “There’s always a catch.” For example, corporations protect themselves against third-party claims through their capital contributions. Banks know this and use piercing the corporate veil to offset this risk when granting loans. Venture capital firms, too, have nothing to give away for free and often insist on a significant stake in the company - or even on appointing their own management - when providing financing. They like to push young companies toward expansion very early on in order to generate quick profits for their investors. Good startup consulting can help identify funding opportunities and assist with the application process. The federal and state governments regularly launch a wide variety of funding programs to help young founders get started. When it comes to money, issues like taxes, legal matters, and insurance are never far behind.

Some initial, guiding tips can help you avoid critical mistakes right from the startup phase. Once you’ve taken the plunge into the vast corporate landscape, the goal is to get noticed by potential customers. To achieve this, there are marketing strategies that outline which tools you can use to define your target audiences and how—or where—they can best be reached. These strategies are essential for the survival of your business, since marketing efforts are expensive and need to yield results right away; otherwise, demand could quickly fizzle out and the venture could be over before it’s even really gotten started. Last but not least, the consulting should include tips and tricks for building a team, unless you want to try to do everything on your own like a jack-of-all-trades. In particular, guidance on selecting the right personnel to build an effective team is essential for the success of a spin-off or startup.

In addition to general startup consulting, there are also specific topics and resources that should now be available at every university. Good startup consulting can help you identify funding opportunities and assist you with the application process. The federal and state governments regularly launch a wide variety of funding programs to help young entrepreneurs get started. When it comes to money, issues such as taxes, legal matters, and insurance are never far behind.

A prototyping workshop is a specialized facility designed to enable entrepreneurs to transform their market-ready ideas into an initial prototype. To this end, the workshop typically provides a 3D printer capable of processing various materials. Prototyping workshops may, for example, be located at universities as a supplement to advisory services or form part of a makerspace.

But what does prototyping actually mean? According to TechNavigator.de, prototyping is a fundamental step in the world of product development and design. It enables the transformation of abstract ideas into concrete models and plays a key role in identifying errors, improving design, and gathering customer feedback. Prototyping shortens development time and accelerates the innovation process. Prototypes are divided into two categories: 1) Low-fidelity: These prototypes are quick and easy to create and are used to test the product’s basic functions and design. 2) High-fidelity: These prototypes are more complex to create and are used to test the product at a later stage of development.

Despite all the support from universities, according to a 2020 article in VC-Magazin.de, there are enormous hurdles in the academic sector that need to be overcome, such as:

1. Many researchers and students find it very difficult to adapt to their new role as founders, especially when they are expected to move away from “academic perfectionism” and embrace “business pragmatism,” where a suboptimal solution is often sufficient - or must suffice.
2. In addition, challenges in putting together interdisciplinary teams are frequently identified. It is important for founders to collaborate with team members from other disciplines and develop a shared team identity so that they can follow a common business strategy. To this end, an effective exchange of information within this interdisciplinary team is essential. And this is often where the problems begin, because information shared by team members with different professional backgrounds is sometimes perceived, interpreted, and evaluated differently. This process is strongly influenced by the potentially limited level of trust among the various team members. It is important to recognize and address these dynamics right from the start. Another challenge for interdisciplinary startup teams lies in developing and pursuing a shared vision and the resulting strategy for their startup venture. This is quite difficult because the startup process generates a wealth of new information that can be interpreted and evaluated differently by team members with varying educational backgrounds, which will lead to a divergence in vision and strategic preferences.
3. In the startup scene, the potential for commercialization is often given too much emphasis, while a playful approach to entrepreneurship is neglected. In particular, interdisciplinary, hands-on formats such as hackathons or makeathons should be viewed as a welcome playground for testing ideas. This approach particularly appeals to and motivates students who are not primarily interested in commercial technology applications. However, through the experience of working on a team project, their interest in entrepreneurship can develop. This creates a real opportunity to form interdisciplinary startup teams that can continue pursuing the projects they’ve developed or tackle new challenges together.