The O-Werk and the Makerspace reflect the successful start-up activities of Ruhr University Bochum, which took an impressive 6th place in the Start-up Radar 2025.
University Alliance Ruhr High Up in the Start-up Ranking
The University Alliance Ruhr has made significant gains in the nationwide start-up radar, with all three universities improving their rankings.
The current edition of the Start-up Radar 2025 puts Ruhr-Universität Bochum in 6th place, an improvement of three ranks compared to 2022. TU Dortmund University also makes it into the top ten in 8th place (from 13th place in 2022), while the University of Duisburg-Essen improves from 38th to 20th place. A total of 227 universities took part in the voluntary survey conducted by the Stifterverband, which evaluates start-up activity and start-up support at German universities approximately every two years.
Tailwind in the flagship competition
The rectors of the partner universities are delighted with the result: “Our excellent performance is confirmation that we are on the right track in our strategic promotion of start-ups. The very good rankings in the start-up radar now lend us extra momentum for our joint application in the Startup Factories flagship competition. Together with the RAG-Stiftung, the Initiativkreis Ruhr and the BRYCK start-up initiative, we are already among the top 15 alliances nationwide,” say Professor Barbara Albert (Duisburg-Essen), Professor Manfred Bayer (Dortmund) and Professor Martin Paul (Bochum). To this end, the partners founded the joint UA Ruhr Transfer GmbH early this year. “This means we can now exploit the potential of excellent research and pool our strengths even more effectively,” point out Albert, Bayer and Paul.
Numbers show strong positive trend
According to the Stifterverband’s start-up radar, both the number of start-ups and start-up projects as well as the number of people working in start-up support at universities in Germany continues to rise overall. Prospective founders and start-ups have access to competent contact points at the three universities in the UA Ruhr:
- in Bochum, the Worldfactory Start-up Center (WSC), which has been funded as an “Excellence Start-up Center.NRW” by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2019,
- in Dortmund, the Center for Entrepreneurship & Transfer (CET), which has also been funded by the state as an “Excellence Start-up Center.NRW” since 2019
- in Duisburg-Essen, GUIDE, the Center for Start-ups and Innopreneurship, which has been the central point of contact for all prospective start-ups at the University of Duisburg-Essen since 2020. GUIDE was also financed by the state of NRW, including funding for two co-creation labs.
The performance of the Ruhr University Bochum in detail:
In the current edition of the start-up radar, Ruhr University Bochum scores an excellent 6th place among large universities (out of a total of 48 in this category). Seven building blocks were evaluated, in three of which Ruhr University Bochum took first place nationwide: Start-up Support, Networking and Evaluation & Monitoring. There was a significant leap in the number of points in the start-up activities module, with Ruhr University Bochum improving the most in Start-up Support. By improving by three ranks compared to the last survey, Ruhr University Bochum has once again boosted its ranking under the leadership of Vice-Rector Professor Günther Meschke and WSC Managing Director Marc Seelbach. Ruhr University Bochum already took a very good 9th place in the last Start-up Radar 2022, and 15th place in the previous ranking in 2020.
The performance of the TU Dortmund University in detail:
TU Dortmund University was ranked 8th among the 48 large universities in the Start-up Radar 2025. It improved its score primarily due to a sharp increase in the start-up activities recorded, moving up five places in the overall ranking compared to 2022. TU Dortmund University achieved top marks in the two modules of Start-up Support and Evaluation & Monitoring. Over the past three years, the Center for Entrepreneurship & Transfer has also expanded support for founders and anchored the topic of transfer even more firmly, including through a seed fund at TU Capital GmbH, the Entrepreneurship Certificate for students of all disciplines and the development of the Transfer Mission Statement. With its growing number of spin-offs, TU Dortmund University also made it into the top 10 in the German Startup Monitor in 2024.
The performance of the University of Duisburg-Essen in detail:
In the current Start-up Radar for 2025, the University of Duisburg-Essen improved from 38th place in 2022 to 20th place. Specifically, the establishment of the Vice-Rectorate for Transfer, Innovation & Digitalization under the leadership of Vice-Rector Professor Pedro José Marrón in 2022 has ensured a significant improvement for the university across all building blocks. The University of Duisburg-Essen achieved full marks in Evaluation & Monitoring, ranking first in this category. It also improved significantly in the categories of Anchoring Start-ups and Start-up Qualification, achieving almost full marks in each case (9.56 and 9.75 out of 10). The Center for Start-ups and Innopreneurship at the University of Duisburg-Essen (GUIDE), headed by Bernhard Schröder, also played a key role in the positive development. Targeted measures and programs further strengthen the promotion of entrepreneurial thinking and activity.