HdM Stuttgart is part of the NXTGN consortium in the EXIST flagship competition “Startup Factories”
The Hochschule der Medien (HdM) in Stuttgart has submitted an application for the project phase of the EXIST flagship competition “Startup Factories” in collaboration with leading universities and innovation partners from Baden-Württemberg. The interdisciplinary consortium NXTGN (derived from “Next Generation”) aims to become one of the five to ten Startup Factory projects to receive funding nationwide.
In addition to the HdM, the consortium includes the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Universities of Stuttgart, Heidelberg and Ulm, NXTGN GmbH, the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (IPAI) and Campus Founders.
The consortium is complemented by the pre-seed venture capital fund Mätch VC and strong partners from the business sector, who are closely integrated into the NXTGN concept via a sustainable service model: ADS-Tec Industrial IT, Balluff, Festo, Koehler Group, L-Bank, Scharr, Schwarz Digits, Vector Informatik, the Baden-Württemberg Foundation, VfB Stuttgart, Campus Schwarzwald and the Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation as strategic partners, as well as over 30 other companies as corporate members.
Cooperation and Objectives
The aim is to establish a scalable, cross-regional innovation ecosystem that effectively connects academia, industry and start-ups. Prof. Dr Nils Högsdal, Vice-Rector for Innovation Management at the HdM: “As one of the universities with the highest number of start-ups in Germany, we are delighted to be part of this strong consortium. We are contributing our specialist expertise in entrepreneurship education and academic continuing education. At the same time, we look forward to learning from our partners’ experience in the areas of IP transfer and PhD activation.”
The HdM brings its strong practical focus and experience in the fields of digitalisation, media and innovation methodology to the NXTGN consortium. With the Generator Startup Centre, initiatives such as the Sandbox or The Migrant Accelerator, and many other offerings, it ranks among the universities most active in start-up creation in southern Germany.
The EXIST flagship competition “Startup Factories” was launched by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) to sustainably increase the number and quality of knowledge-based spin-offs from universities. Fifteen projects have already received funding in the concept phase. From autumn 2025, five to ten projects are set to begin the five-year funding programme, each receiving up to ten million euros. A decision on this is expected in summer 2025.
Any questions about the Startup Factories?
h.c. Magdalena Weinle
Startup Center