280 start-ups and entrepreneurship, more than 1000 new jobs: The funding period for the "Excellence Start-up Centre.OWL" (ESC.OWL) project, which has significantly shaped the start-up scene in Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL) since 2019, came to an end at the end of 2025. The project was implemented by Paderborn University's "Centre for Transfer through Business Start-ups" (TECUP) - which also operates garage33 - as consortium leader together with the "Campus Foundery" at OWL University of Applied Sciences and the "Centre for Entrepreneurship" at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences. With a funding volume of around 16 million euros, the project pursued the goal of generating innovative start-up ideas from excellent research and anchoring them permanently in regional ecosystems. The results after six years are extremely positive: The three universities have established an efficient, cross-university start-up ecosystem that has even significantly exceeded its ambitious goals.
A beacon for start-up culture in Ostwestfalen-Lippe
The ESC.OWL project was part of the state initiative "Exzellenz Start-up Center.NRW", with which the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy (MWIKE) promoted the targeted expansion and further development of high-performance university start-up networks. Alongside Cologne, Aachen, Münster, Bochum and Dortmund, East Westphalia-Lippe offered ideal conditions for this: As a region of cutting-edge technologies in NRW, a pioneer of digital transformation, home to the leading-edge cluster "Intelligent technical systems" and the Fraunhofer Institute IEM, OWL combines excellent university research with a strong SME economy and numerous world market leaders.
The combination of these prerequisites with the commitment of the three universities meant that the targets formulated in the application were not only achieved, but far exceeded. For example, instead of the planned 25,000 people, more than 40,000 people were sensitised and qualified for start-up topics. Over 20,000 participants took part in curricular and extracurricular formats alone - for example in ideas competitions, pitch events or networking events with business angels and investors.
This success is underlined by the number of start-up projects: A total of over 700 start-up projects were supported during the project period. These resulted in a total of 280 start-ups and entrepreneurships - almost twice as many as the 150 spin-offs targeted at the beginning of the project. In addition, the start-ups created more than 1,000 new jobs in OWL.
Consolidation and looking ahead
The end of ESC.OWL marked the conclusion of a successful project chapter, while at the same time laying crucial foundations for the future. At Paderborn University, for example, TECUP was established as a central operating unit and the support services for scientists and students interested in founding a company were thus stabilised in the long term. In addition, parallel to the ESC.NRW funding, the new Start-up Campus OWL building in the Zukunftsquartier in Paderborn - as part of Regionale 2022 - was moved into, so that the start-ups of garage33 now also have a physical home. "We are very pleased that we have been able to permanently establish the structures built up in ESC.OWL and thus ensure the long-term visibility and reliability of start-up support at Paderborn University. In this way, we ensure that those interested in founding a company can continue to receive continuous and high-quality support in the future if they want to translate their scientific findings into viable business models - from the initial idea to successful start-ups and entrepreneurship," says Professor Dr Sebastian Vogt, Director of TECUP.
The experience, networks and impetus gained in ESC.OWL will therefore have an impact far beyond the funding period. They form a solid basis for the sustainable development of innovation, entrepreneurship and the start-up ecosystem in East Westphalia-Lippe. The project is complete - the start-up journey in OWL continues at full speed.
This text was translated automatically.
