With Gründen@Ostfalia, Ostfalia is pooling its activities to support people interested in setting up a business and young companies. The initiative helps students, researchers and those interested in founding a company to develop concrete business models and projects from ideas. As part of this, the Barcamp will take place for the first time on 9 June at the Wolfenbüttel campus (Am Exer site).
From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., interested parties will have the opportunity to exchange ideas, projects and experiences relating to start-ups in a relaxed atmosphere. Instead of traditional lectures, the participants themselves take centre stage at the Barcamp: they contribute their own topics, questions and perspectives and actively shape the discussions. (Click here to register)
The concept behind Gründen@Ostfalia
Dagmar Wilgeroth, project coordinator of BASS (Building Awareness for Science Startups), a sub-project of the initiative, explains in advance how Gründen@Ostfalia strengthens the start-up culture and knowledge transfer at the university in the long term and helps to put innovative ideas from research and studies into practice.
Wilgeroth has been advising entrepreneurs since 2014 and therefore knows exactly what is important. The economist combines many years of experience with youthful freshness. Wilgeroth: "That's exactly what founders need in order not to get stuck in the idea phase, but to transform the business idea into an economically viable business model."
To this end, she has developed a concept that consists of integrated start-up support along the entire start-up process and is based on the assumption that start-ups are not the result of a single decision, but should be understood as a dynamic, multi-phase development process.
Wilgeroth says: "We have students here who have no idea that this could interest them, and others who have heard about it but have no personal connection to it. That's also the difference to entrepreneurship teaching: usually only people who have already dealt with the topic go there - I start one step earlier."
The aim of the Gründen@Ostfalia team (which includes Wilgeroth, Burak Dönmez, Frauke von Freeden, Maximilian David Kuzaj, Katharina Rother-Schönfeld and Andrea Leticia Moysén Mason) is to systematically translate start-up intentions into actual start-up behaviour. Factors such as start-up intention, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and the perceived feasibility and attractiveness of an idea play a central role in this.
This results in a four-stage model of start-up support:
- Sensitisation: This phase is about arousing interest in the topic of starting a business in the first place and creating initial points of contact.
- Orientation: This phase involves reflecting on one's own ideas and strengthening the perception that starting a business can be feasible in principle.
- Qualification: In this phase, specific skills and competences are developed in order to be able to prepare a start-up with confidence.
- Implementation and growth: Finally, the aim is to realise specific start-ups and subsequently support the establishment and further development of the company.
Wilgeroth emphasises: "Start-up support is only effective if it combines all phases, enables individual entry points and provides both methodological and technological support." Ostfalia offers various programmes to inspire students to start a business. These can be divided into three stages:
- Entry and orientation
In this phase, the main aim is to create initial points of contact with the topic of founding. According to Wilgeroth, many students are still at the very beginning and say: "I just want to get to grips with it." Accordingly, the focus is on low-threshold access, for example through events and inspiring formats, personal approaches and initial non-binding contacts that arouse interest and provide orientation. - Realising a start-up
According to Wilgeroth, when interest turns into a concrete start-up idea, the programme is aimed at those who say: "I really want to do this." In this phase, the focus is on individual coaching, support in the development of business models and structures as well as help with financing. In addition, founders are given access to programmes, networks and other support structures. - Growth and scaling
After the start-up, the question is: "What happens next?" According to Wilgeroth, Gründen@Ostfalia has strict limits here: "As a public corporation, we can only provide support up to the day the company is founded." However, support is provided through follow-up programmes and access to networks and collaborations, and strategic steps are taken to scale up and stabilise the business model in the long term.
Offers such as start-up coaching, workshops to review business ideas, online courses, webinars, start-up seminars, start-up advice, mentoring programmes, start-up events, networking formats and incubator and accelerator programmes are aimed directly at students.
As the aim is to get the university's teaching staff on board, Gründen@Ostfalia offers modular, practical formats that can be integrated into teaching. These include a short impulse to raise awareness of entrepreneurship, a "transfer check" to test student research projects for marketability and a "business check" in which business ideas are structured using the business model canvas.
Wilgeroth: "We talk directly to the lecturers and check together in advance where there is room for start-up expertise in the semester plan." It is also made clear that start-up expertise is more than just founding a company. "It strengthens students' key skills such as problem-solving and innovative thinking, taking initiative and responsibility, teamwork and dealing with uncertainty and is therefore relevant for all career paths, not just start-ups."
Next date of Gründen@Ostfalia
9. June 2026, Barcamp - Am Exer, Wolfenbüttel, 4 to 7 pm.
Relaxed atmosphere, exciting discussions, new contacts, creative exchange and pizza to round off the event. Click here to register!
