Worldfactory Start-up Center

Knowledge is an excellent reason: The WORLDFACTORY promotes start-ups originating from the university an boosts transfer from science to business.

In the world of academia and science, ideas are born every day. They are the foundation for creating something new and shaping the world of tomorrow. The only question is:

How does an idea become a marketable product or service? How will the transfer of research results into practice succeed? How do people from academia and science become entrepreneurs?

The answer to all these questions is the WORLDFACTORY Transfer and Start-up Center (WSC). It is the central hub at Ruhr-Universität Bochum for all issues concerning start-ups and transfer. With its services, the WORLDFACTORY taps creative potential and prepares individual paths to entrepreneurship for clever minds.

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The WORLDFACTORY holds the “Excellence Start-up Center.NRW” award from the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is one of six university centres in NRW to receive special funding.

WORLDFACTORY International is backed by the "EXIST-Potentiale" funding guideline of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

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Supervised
start-up projects

So far, WORLDFACTORY has accompanied more than 678 start-up projects. The founding ideas come from different departments and subject areas.

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Events
per year

In over 248 events per year, we provide you with exciting insights into all aspects of entrepreneurship and start-ups.

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Successful
start-ups

More than 26 teams have successfully founded their company in 2023.

Feedback Of Our Founders

“A strong partner for all issues”

“With the WORLDFACTORY, we have a strong partner for all issues. WORLDFACTORY has been helping us since our foundation in 2020. No matter what stage of the company we are at and how complex our challenges are, WORLDFACTORY has always been able to support us.”

Deniz Ates (Co-Founder and CEO of Who Moves)

“Active support”

“For us, the WORLDFACTORY provides a valuable network of numerous contacts, exciting workshops and challenging start-up competitions. In addition, we always have a start-up coach there who is available at all times and actively supports us as a start-up.”

Torben Soennecken (Co-Founder and CEO of asyoube)

“Financial and entrepreneurial perspective”

“As medical students, we both find it very difficult not to focus on the medical side of things, but instead to approach the start-up from a financial and entrepreneurial perspective. Through the WORLDFACTORY, we have the opportunity to acquire new knowledge in these areas and enjoy the support of people who have worked in this field for years. It saves us both a lot of work and worry.”

Sebastian Paschen (Co-Founder of acadim)

“Great support and a very valuable network”

“WORLDFACTORY is a great support and provides us with a very valuable network. We've been attending the WORLDFACTORY start-up consultancy for around 1.5 years now. We always take away new motivation, inspiration and tips from the discussions. Just being able to reflect regularly and to share our progress and planned milestones with a third person and not being alone with open questions and challenges helps us a lot to move our start-up project forward. In addition to the personal support, WORLDFACTORY's large network was a great help and opened a few doors for us, for example for the live tests of our app.”

Svenja Schilling (Co-Founder of Flock)

“Dedicated support and great advice”

“For us, WORLDFACTORY primarily offers dedicated support and great advice. The WORLDFACTORY staff provides in-depth and helpful support, especially on topics such as funding applications and similar. On top of that, they provide a good network and increased visibility. It has also enabled us to get in touch with other start-ups and founders.”

Jan Löwer (Co-Founder of deeplify)

“Paving the way to self-employment”

“For us, the WORLDFACTORY was the first step towards entrepreneurship and the starting point of our start-up. As employees, we didn’t know anything about university spin-offs. In that early start-up phase, the WORLDFACTORY always had an open ear for a wide range of questions and was there to help us in word and deed – be it about the planned business model, organisational processes, funding applications or simply by sharing experiences and networking. The WORLDFACTORY was an essential partner for us, especially during the application process and during the project period of the university spin-off. The WORLDFACTORY definitely paved our way to self-employment and was a key partner in our decision to become entrepreneurs.” 

Christian Els (Co-Founder and CEO at sentin)  

“A well-connected hub”

“Assisted by the WORLDFACTORY, we learn those things that we can’t bring to the table ourselves. Its unique feature is that it employs highly experienced people who know exactly what is important when setting up a business. They ask the right questions and broaden our own perspective. They are also available and ready to help at any time. Truly a well-connected hub.”

Maria Schnober (Co-Founder and CFO at House of Plasma)  

“Pleasant, comprehensible and optimistic advice”

“I am very grateful to the WORLDFACTORY, as they guided me through the process of setting up a business by providing pleasant, comprehensible and optimistic advice. The team pointed out solutions and possibilities that I hadn’t thought of that quickly or that I simply didn’t know about. For me, the WORLDFACTORY is a wonderful contact point for all start-up questions: the network is huge, and everyone is willing to offer true and authentic support. I have felt very comfortable with the services offered.”

Jennifer Carmen Kubistin (Founder of Movimientos Auténticos – Jennifer Carmen Kubistin e.V.)
 

“Significant improvement of the product”

“With the WORLDFACTORY’s assistance, we were able to expand our network in and around Bochum in a very short time. Thanks to experienced coaches, we took a huge step forward in our development and significantly improved our product in all respects. It was great fun to work with the WORLDFACTORY and we are immensely grateful for their support!”

Constantin Soffner (Co-Founder and CTO at Who Moves)