The European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) is one of the best places for start-ups in the German higher education landscape. In the Stifterverband's start-up radar, which was published on March 3, 2025, Viadrina was ranked 6th out of 63 participating smaller universities. The importance attached to start-ups at Viadrina, the sensitization of members of the university to the topic of start-ups and the start-up activity were rated particularly positively. Viadrina was ranked among the top universities in the country in a total of five out of seven assessment criteria.
"The fact that we are once again among the top group in the current start-up radar and were able to secure an excellent 6th place among small universities in Germany shows that our continuous work in promoting start-ups is having a lasting effect," says Anja Rillcke, employee of the start-up center. "We are particularly proud of the fact that we scored so well in the areas of awareness-raising, qualification and active support for start-up projects - this confirms that we are providing the right impetus to anchor a vibrant start-up culture at our university."
Background of the Start-up Center
The Viadrina Start-up Center offers students, graduates and academic staff at the European University support in setting up a business. The help ranges from initial discussions about the business idea to professional qualifications and individual coaching with lawyers, tax or management consultants. In close cooperation with all university areas of start-up support, numerous people have been able to take advantage of the services offered by the start-up service in recent years and set up companies in the state of Brandenburg. For example, a training platform for hunter training (Jägerschmiede), a company for smart business cards with a cloud function (Conntect) and several start-ups in Frankfurt's creative industries (LAVA ArtCafé, Kukuryku! and Kulturmanufaktur Gerstenberg). The team behind KARA-Limo was also supported in the implementation of their idea for a sustainable soft drink. Current start-up projects deal with issues relating to smart city solutions, the employment market integration of refugees and digital master craftsman examination preparation.
Background start-up radar
Since 2012, the Stifterverband, with the support of the current Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, has been compiling the start-up radar with the common goal of providing impetus for the further development of start-up support at universities. A total of 191 universities for which the topic of start-up support is important took part in the latest edition of the start-up radar. They are divided into three groups according to size and compared within these groups using seven thematic modules.
Further information and the detailed results: https://www.gruendungsradar.de/