The federal state of Baden-Württemberg ranks third among the world’s most innovative regions[1] — just behind the U.S. states of Massachusetts and California — and also boasts a thriving ecosystem of global market leaders, established hidden champions, a robust and technologically advanced Mittelstand, internationally renowned universities and research institutions, growth-oriented startups, as well as an active and successful startup support system. Despite all its progress, there remains significant potential for professionalization and optimization in identifying and activating entrepreneurial talent at universities and fostering the development of the Next Generation Mittelstand.

This is where the new NXTGN Startup Factory aims to make an impact, building on the successes of the Gründermotor initiative, the region's most startup-friendly institutions, and its most ambitious projects, taking the offerings for startups to the next level. The shared goal is to unite the strengths of its partners under the umbrella of the NXTGN Startup Factory and establish it as a global force.

[1] Source: https://tinyurl.com/27o9ytak

The network behind NXTGN consists of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the University of Stuttgart, University of Heidelberg, University of Ulm, Stuttgart Media University (HdM), IPAI (Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence), and Campus Founders. With the addition of NXTGN GmbH, the network is expanded by private-sector anchor partners and the anchor VC, Mätch VC.

With their core competencies and offerings, the network partners complement one another and have been collaborating in the context of entrepreneurship for years in a trusted manner. Similar to a factory, the institutions act as developers and suppliers, while the NXTGN GmbH coordinates their collaboration with each other and with additional partners. A key focus is placed on deep tech startups emerging within the ecosystem of these technologically leading institutions.