From tech-focused to social, from sustainable to creative: at the Gründungsschmiede, a wide variety of ideas are developed into innovative products and services. Here, students, researchers and alumni benefit from a comprehensive range of advisory services, make use of the free co-working spaces and their facilities, draw inspiration from other founders, and thus lay the foundations for their businesses.
biotopolis has developed a movable window shading system made from living plants, allowing users to choose between an unobstructed view and shady greenery at any time.
FEM.iN1 offers high-quality, versatile business attire for women in middle and senior management, as well as all female professionals who wish to or are required to adhere to a formal dress code at work.
KulturEcho combines design, culture and digital interaction: everyday items such as postcards are transformed into interactive narrative objects that bring regional history to life. Emotional storytelling meets high-quality design. Digital interfaces lead to audio stories or animations. In this way, regional history is preserved, creatively communicated and brought to life in an emotional way – to be collected, shared and remembered.
FIREWOLFF is developing an innovative solution for firefighting in homes and buildings. The aim is to optimise the resources, operations and decision-making processes of local fire services and to reduce the risks faced by emergency personnel.
The Designerkollektiv is a workspace and meeting place where students, designers and businesses come together to exchange ideas and collaborate on creative projects.
The unimory team aims to bring people together through play, with a focus on inclusion. In this cleverly designed memory game, two identical tiles, whose unique textures fit together, form a pair. The tiles are easy to grasp, and their different textures can be felt and distinguished even by people with visual impairments. The level of difficulty is equally high for people with and without disabilities.
With Sani-Ellips, Tom Pilk and Vanessa Glöckner are developing a medical-cosmetic product for the treatment and prevention of intertrigo – a skin condition that manifests as skin irritation, eczema or fungal infections, particularly in women.
Just get started on setting up your business and taking your idea forward. There’s no perfect time to do it, but your time at university offers excellent conditions for doing so.
The SpeechMind team is developing AI-powered software for intelligent meeting transcription. To achieve this, individual meetings are recorded and the audio track is analysed using artificial intelligence algorithms. The result is automatically generated minutes with a customisable level of detail. With this solution, SpeechMind aims to ensure accurate and comprehensive documentation of outcomes and key decision-making processes from meetings. Participants who were previously responsible for taking minutes will, in future, be able to focus on their core tasks again.
Epic Escape specialises in city adventures. Marlon and Anton design challenging outdoor tours that allow locals and tourists alike to discover a city in an innovative way. Their city tours are based on the escape room concept. This means that, just as in an escape room where puzzles must be solved to progress to the next room, participants solve various puzzles around the city, with each solution leading them to the next location. In doing so, Anton and Marlon have turned their childhood passion into a business. Both have loved solving puzzles since they were little and now want to challenge friends, families and companies, encourage them and, through creative puzzles, provide them with experiences they will look back on fondly.
Munay Alfajores puts a new spin on the Argentine sweet "alfajor" and offers it as a personalised promotional product for the B2B market. By using regional, organic and fair-trade ingredients, we provide a sustainable promotional item that customers and wedding guests will remember for a long time to come. Cafés and restaurants can also purchase alfajores for their guests.
"We do this simply because it makes sense." – This motto from our mentor has guided us throughout our start-up journey. Acting in a truly sustainable way isn’t easy, but it is possible. Stand up for yourselves and your values!"
The COBACK team is developing software that helps companies produce sustainability reports more easily. Complex legal requirements are broken down into simple steps. Employees do not need any specialist prior knowledge of sustainability to use it. As they enter data, users learn what is important in sustainability reports. COBACK thus offers small and medium-sized enterprises in particular a simple, cost-effective and easy-to-understand alternative to expensive external consultants or complex programmes.
ALLPACKA develops foldable cargo boxes that can be mounted on any bicycle rack, enabling cyclists to transport even large and heavy loads by bike – without compromising on flexibility in their daily lives. This transforms the bicycle into a flexible means of transporting goods and the ideal everyday companion. It thus makes the switch to cycling as a sustainable form of transport easier.
Handcrafted collars and dog leads made from durable, weather-resistant BioThane® material. Stylish and customisable with a free personalised engraving.
Coby's is an innovative coffee start-up founded by three long-time friends, Bruno, Max and Martin. Their shared passion for coffee began back in their school days and continued in their bedroom, where they created various coffee recipes and shared them on their channel, "YourCoffeeDude". Coby’s specialises in high-quality coffee concentrates that allow you to make delicious coffee in seconds. The company places great emphasis on sustainability, using only sustainably grown coffee beans and avoiding the use of plastic in its packaging.
"Trust your ideas, ignore the doubters and don’t let the risk put you off. Even failure offers valuable experience that no degree can replace. The younger you are when you start a business, the better, because as you get older, your financial responsibilities increase – and so do your inhibitions."
Urban Beau – a fair trade streetwear label from Dresden. With T-shirts produced in Germany, Urban Beau aims to provide various artists with a canvas on which to share their thoughts and messages with the world. Furthermore, Urban Beau is committed to complete transparency regarding its supply chain and pricing. The project aims to create a network where these artists can connect with other sustainable and regional producers. The founders received the InnoStartBonus in summer 2022 for their business idea.
Nowadays, a company’s digital presence is its calling card. Many business owners already take it for granted that this should be appealing. However, if you can’t be found online, your calling card can be ‘as beautiful as you like’. BusyBusiness Marketing helps companies expand their local presence and thus build organic, sustainable relevance and visibility. Potential customers mustn’t overlook you – BusyBusiness Marketing ensures that doesn’t happen. 4. Feedback and criticism are gifts, and there’s a solution for everything.
Captis Space Systems is taking a new approach to improving Earth observation. Our satellite system is designed to capture images from an altitude of 250 kilometres. This means we operate at roughly half the altitude of current Earth observation satellites. This offers us a number of advantages, such as: no need to avoid space debris and higher resolution with conventional camera systems. To achieve this, our satellite combines a number of innovations to enable high resolution with fast acquisition times at low cost.
clever handwerk is a business information system tailored to the needs of the skilled trades sector. The system operates as a platform-independent web app and, thanks to its mobile functionality, supports technicians whilst they are on site with customers. The programme’s simple and intuitive operation is impressive in every respect. It supports operational organisation, process quality assurance, commercial decision-making and invoicing. The company is provided with a unified, software-based and simple solution for intelligent business management, meaning no further programmes are required.
With our software, we aim to make complex economic and bureaucratic processes appear simple and intuitive, and perhaps also to alleviate future business managers’ fears of the vast world of business administration – after all, they primarily became tradespeople to engage in manual and creative work, not to sit in an office all day juggling figures.
Zaalya is creating a green network of businesses that gives consumers greater peace of mind when shopping through transparency.
The sustainability market is growing rapidly, and environmental protection has long been firmly established in consumers’ minds. However, the daily shopping routine is often dominated by conflict and confusion due to new standards and guidelines regarding sustainable products. By carefully selecting our partner companies, we aim to simplify the decision-making process for end customers when shopping. To this end, we reward shoppers through our cashback system. Consumers are rewarded for sustainable consumption with loyalty points, thereby strengthening the incentive to purchase environmentally and climate-friendly products. The Zaayla loyalty points earned can be redeemed as a discount on further products and offers.
Time is precious. This is something to bear in mind when applying for funding, as the process takes time. You should therefore find out in advance about the exact requirements and about projects that have already received funding.
Mates & Mate
Whilst a small stake often keeps the risk of losing something low, conversely it usually also reduces the chance of winning something. This should be understood less in a financial sense and more in a general context.
Mates & Mate is a young start-up from Dresden, founded in 2019 by three friends and now run by two of them. Alongside our love for traditional South American mate, we share the goal of establishing this iconic, history-steeped drink in Germany.
We want to enable people in Germany to embrace the lifestyle associated with mate tea. After all, mate in its purest, healthiest and most energising form is part of everyday life for many people in South America and is rightly known as a superfood.
In Germany, we usually only know mate as a fizzy drink, loaded with sugar and other additives that run counter to a healthy lifestyle. For us, mate is more than that. Our mate is healthy, has centuries of history to tell, and fits perfectly with current trends.
The norrdesk team builds compact mobile offices for hire. These enable holidaymakers and remote workers to work wherever they are most productive and creative. Each unit provides a fully equipped workspace for one person, whilst also offering a professional environment for communicating with managers, business clients or for giving presentations. Customers book mobile micro-offices via the norrdesk app and third-party platforms. The offices can also be purchased outright as a secondary business option.
VRT SteinhauserUG offers virtual and interactive learning and training solutions in the fields of virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality. The current focus is on the further development and marketing of a virtual welding trainer. Through engaging tasks, the basics of welding can be practised cost-effectively and with virtually no risk in a realistic environment.
Jonas Hölzel and Justus Iserhagen aim to bring the effects of a cinema screen to videos using a camera dolly. Thanks to its compact and lightweight design, the camera dolly is set to become a standard piece of kit for every photographer and videographer.
Welcome to Lobsterwork, Felix Hoffmann’s start-up that is revolutionising the outdoor world. Our innovative products make your adventures safer and more exciting, whilst putting sustainability and quality at the heart of everything we do. Immerse yourself in a new era of outdoor experiences – with Lobsterwork!
The Gräser & Lichtenberg Watch Atelier specialises in the repair and maintenance of mechanical timepieces. In our workshop, we devote ourselves to our customers’ watches with dedication and uphold the traditional craftsmanship of Glashütte. Yet even in watchmaking, the need for digitalisation is becoming increasingly pressing. By integrating digital tools into our repair process, we are able to attract customers from across Germany and involve our clients in our workflow.
Digital Roof Solutions stands for progress and innovation in the roofing sector. Firstly, we offer aerial photographs of roofs, enabling Dresden-based roofers to carry out their roof inspections with greater safety and efficiency. Secondly, we are developing an innovative solution for cleaning gutters without the need for laborious climbing or expensive cleaning contractors. In this sector, Digital Roof Solutions aims to pave the way for a new era in gutter cleaning.
If every foot is unique, why shouldn’t every shoe be? – We focus on producing innovative shoes tailored to the customer’s actual needs. The concept is simple: scan, print, wear! Individuality – and therefore a perfect fit and comfort – is what sets us apart, because special circumstances call for special solutions. This is made possible by combining innovations in scanning, modelling and printing, creating a truly unique experience and product.
The GT_Rolley heralds the dawn of a new era in urban goods transport within the trolley sector. It sets new standards in sustainability by doing away with an aluminium frame and being made almost entirely of wood. Thanks to its innovative origami folding mechanism and wheels that can be rotated through 90°, the GT_Rolley can be carried effortlessly and on the fly when folded. With a load capacity of up to 30 kilograms and various wheel and tyre combinations for different terrains, nothing stands in the way of your next big shopping trip on foot or your next outing into the countryside with a barbecue and friends.
"Don't talk about it, just do it!"
Even if starting a business and the sense of self-fulfilment that comes with it may seem like an insurmountable hurdle at first glance, on closer inspection it offers plenty of opportunities for learning and personal growth.
Markus and Daniel have set up their own company, NamNam Natura, specialising in regenerative agriculture, with the aim of tackling environmental problems caused by farming. Using agroecology, agroforestry and permaculture, they produce fruit, vegetables, herbs and edible mushrooms using organic methods. These farming methods help to stabilise nature, the ecosystem and the landscape, preserving all their vital functions. They market their produce regionally, for example via the online platform Marktschwärmer or zero-waste shops. With Arboreal, the pair have founded another company and produce self-growing furniture from trees. The trees are shaped into the desired form as they grow and develop directly into finished pieces of furniture. Once dried and sanded, they result in an ecological, unique and practical design product.
With courage, a firm belief in your start-up venture and a touch of audacity, you can literally move mountains.
Brief profile
Michael Tischer and Saskia Schmidt aim to revolutionise the showering experience with ShowerHead. Their innovative shower head, inspired by the mechanism of modern coffee capsule machines, brings the pleasure and variety of a soothing bath into the shower cubicle. Whether frothy or creamy and fine: with their specially developed pod system, they create a distinctive sense of well-being in every bathroom. They place particular emphasis on sustainability and aim, above all, to contribute to the long-term expansion of the start-up network in the Free State of Saxony through local partnerships with industry and the cosmetics sector.
As a doctoral candidate in occupational psychology, Franziska Bielefeldt sees herself, in an era of skills shortages and digitalisation and automation, as a vital link between managers and employees in the German healthcare sector.
In her freelance work, the workplace designer therefore supports companies and managers in this sector in boosting their employees’ job satisfaction and sense of personal responsibility from within – with or without robotic colleagues – without placing an unnecessary strain on already scarce operational resources.
At the same time, she helps confident healthcare professionals to strengthen their inner resources for pursuing their calling, without relying solely on help from above or outside.
Thanks to her needs-, relationship- and requirement-oriented approach, she holistically empowers companies and their employees through consulting and coaching to take a leading role in the participatory and proactive shaping of the workplace of tomorrow – for the optimal realisation of the potential of both people and technology.
One thing is clear to me: the journey towards self-employment holds incredible potential for personal growth. As uncomfortable as it can be at times to step outside your comfort zone, it’s just as impossible to fail. My advice: give it a go and rise to the challenge!
The klareau team develops measurement technology to monitor various performance indicators in wastewater treatment plants, such as the efficiency of oxygen injection or the settling behaviour of activated sludge in the secondary clarifier. Their aim is to optimise the treatment process and reduce energy consumption. Using highly specialised and advanced technology, they measure the performance of aeration systems and identify opportunities for optimisation. Their stated aim is to act in the interests of the environment. Through their solution, they aim to better protect the connection between human infrastructure and the natural environment.
You need to have a clear idea of where you want to go and be able to visualise success. Then the whole thing stands a chance. Of course, you also need the tools of the trade, such as a business plan that answers key questions like ‘What do we need?’ and ‘What is our roadmap?’.
AidBoards develops, manufactures and distributes sustainable, single-use furniture made from natural fibre materials for use in humanitarian aid and disaster relief. With its camp beds, tables and stools made from corrugated cardboard, AidBoards aims to provide quick and straightforward support to people affected by drought, displacement and epidemics. The furniture is easy to transport to affected crisis areas and can be sustainably disposed of locally after use. The three founders are united by their motivation to help people, protect the environment and make the world a little more sustainable.
With kunst21.com, John Felipe Branch has created a platform for trading shares in works of art. It allows several people to buy a painting on a share-by-share basis in a straightforward manner. Ownership is divided into shares; the painting is insured, stored and, at the investors’ discretion, sold at auction, with the profits distributed amongst the investors. The platform is based on blockchain technology. Distributed ledger technologies (blockchains) enable the creation of scalable and transparently documented services that facilitate interaction between peers, using secure and robust business logic approaches suitable for financial products. He discovered his love of art in Magala (Spain), Picasso’s birthplace, and paints himself in his spare time.
The team led by Stefan Titze and Otto Maurer is developing a digital solution for recruitment via service providers and headhunters, aimed primarily at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The aim is to reduce the recruitment workload for these companies whilst simultaneously lowering the barrier to entry for the digitalisation of HR and recruitment processes. To this end, Byder brings together companies and recruitment agencies on a shared platform, digitally maps the applicant management process and simplifies communication and coordination. Using intelligent recommendation management, a skills analysis is generated for each applicant and matched against the job requirements. The results support HR managers and simplify the shortlisting of top candidates. This not only improves the quality of recruitment but also significantly reduces administrative workload. With Byder.io, companies gain access to a large network of recruitment agencies and their candidate pools without having to enter into contracts with the service providers. This gives recruiters and HR managers the freedom to focus more closely on the personalities behind the CVs. For recruitment agencies, this eliminates the tedious task of cold-calling new clients. They can immediately see which roles can be filled via service providers and have the option to easily propose candidates by dragging and dropping their CVs.
The SHARK is an electric catamaran-style watercraft that can be operated efficiently and emission-free. It is designed to tow water skiers and wakeboarders across the water on a towline, whilst being steered by the athlete themselves or navigating pre-programmed routes. Furthermore, the SHARK can be used for sea rescue, clearing debris from waterways, as a manoeuvring vessel in ports, or for beach safety.
Stay determined and don’t get bogged down in the details!
Offerista (formerly Marktjagd) is the first comprehensive platform for local shopping. Here, consumers can find information about products, retailers and offers in their immediate vicinity quickly, easily and free of charge. The motto is “research online, buy offline”. Marktjagd was founded in February 2008 by a three-person founding team consisting of Jan Großmann, Thomas Harzer and Thomas Mattick. The three Dresden-based entrepreneurs now work alongside six other creative minds.
We’ve all been there! Plants end up either drying out or getting waterlogged because they haven’t been watered properly. We offer our customers modern planting solutions for easy plant care. At the heart of our shop are our carefully selected and tested self-watering planters, designed for optimal growth. Absolutely stylish, easy to use, these self-watering pots give (almost) anyone a green thumb, because customer satisfaction is very important to us. A planting solution consists of a planting set comprising + a flower pot or planter + the appropriate amount of growing medium (soil or mineral substrate) + high-quality liquid fertiliser in a handy size. Unfortunately, the idea was not pursued further for personal reasons.
Small gifts keep friendships alive. Small gifts bring a smile to someone’s face, brighten up their day, or say “thank you” or “sorry”. Small gifts add a bit of colour to everyday life – even without a specific occasion. There’s now a platform for bringing great joy through small gifts: verschenx.com! Unfortunately, the idea was not pursued any further for personal reasons.
onFire digital makes companies visible online and ensures they are successfully positioned. The focus is on the analysis, optimisation and monitoring of websites and social media profiles. The target audience consists mainly of start-ups and young companies. They particularly enjoy working on projects for these clients, as they find it extremely exciting to support their development and grow alongside them.
The Kulturbahnhof hosts cultural events, concerts, and music and dance workshops. The cultural centre also provides a space for local cultural initiatives, youth clubs and creative professionals in the region. At the same time, local businesses can showcase their products and services. bahnhof-leisnig.de
“The HTW Start-up Incubator provides support, particularly during the pre-launch phase. Not only are the office spaces a real boon, but the opportunity to network with other founders is also very helpful.”
“The HTW Start-up Incubator – The place for start-up founders in Dresden!”
“We were able to benefit in particular from the wealth of experience gained through many years of supporting start-ups. The tireless team at dresden|exists was always there for us, offering both encouraging feedback and critical insight.”
“The support we received from the HTW Dresden start-up incubator enabled us to take the decisive step towards setting up our business.”
“During the start-up phase, the Start-up Incubator gave us a helping hand. Even today, we are still able to work rent-free on the premises of the HTW.”
“Applying for the EXIST grant was a major hurdle, but we successfully overcame it with the help of the HTW Start-up Incubator and dresden|exists.”
