Start-up Initiative

Science

The Start-up Journey of the MAXpreneurs Initiative consists of the phases: Science, Ideation, Pre-Founding and Start-up & Scale-up. In the early science phase of a potential start-up, we would like to introduce you as a scientist to the world of entrepreneurship.

Do you have a scientific insight and want to identify, develop and evaluate its transfer potential?
Would you like to have access to scientists who have taken this step before you? Do you have no or little start-up knowledge and/or want to develop potential use cases of your idea?

Then join us at our Start-up School!

Together with about 15 other interested scientists of the MPG you will go through one of our structured programs offered three times a year.

What do we do for you at the Start-up School?

Our goal is to strengthen your motivation by introducing you to inspiring role models and their spin-off stories and by participating in exclusive discussion panels.
We help you to raise your agile skills to a new level and to check and test your scientific project for its transfer potential.
We will also introduce you to the founding players within the Max Planck Society and raise your awareness of the processes involved in founding a company, such as IP generation and project financing, at an early stage.
We also impart basic knowledge and methods in:
- Agile Methods: How can I use creative tools such as design thinking, idea generation and business modeling on the way from the initial idea to the potential business model?
- Communication: How do I present my idea outside the scientific community in a targeted way?
- Application Scenario & customer definition: How do I develop a solution that is both convincing from the user’s point of view and market and product-oriented? How do I identify potential markets and define initial customers?

The Max Planck Foundation supports your participation by covering your travel expenses.

The following events are planned for 2024:

11-12 April 2024, Saarbrücken (registration no longer possible)
08-09 August 2024, Munich/Garching (registration no longer possible)
04-05 November 2024, Potsdam (waiting list)

The following events are planned for 2025:

13-14 March 2025, Cologne
03-04 April 2025, Jena
02-03 June 2025, Munich
30 June – 01 July 2025, tbd
09-10 October 2025, Halle

Registration

Due to the high number of registrations for our Start-up School in Potsdam, we can currently only accept new registrations on the waiting list. Alternatively, interested parties can already register for the Start-up School next year. We ask for your understanding.

I hereby register bindingly for participation in the Start-up School.

Date:

First name

Last name

Mail address

MPI

My research area/potential idea:

That is how I became aware of the Start-up School:

This is why I would like to participate in the Start-up School:

I would like to participate together with the following colleagues:

I am already in contact with the Start-up Initiative:

Yes No

In addition, you will receive access to our Start-up Academy.

Upon completion of the training, you will receive a certificate and, if you wish, we will be happy to accompany you to the next phase: Ideation .