Successful application: EXIST start-up grant for start-up supported by H-BRS

Immo Polewka and Julian Rose have their sights set on industrial SMEs with their newly founded company Zentio. The start-up founders aim to increase efficiency and sustainability in manufacturing. In their company, they develop solutions to optimise production processes in small and medium-sized companies. The two young entrepreneurs rely on artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies, which they make accessible to SMEs.

The two founders are now receiving support for the development of their company from the EXIST start-up grant, the best-known nationwide funding programme for young companies. They are the first H-BRS start-up team to receive this funding in more than five years. Co-founder Julian Rose is a graduate of the university, where he studied sustainability engineering. He brings his experience in process and logistics optimisation with a focus on sustainability to the joint start-up. At Ford, he managed CO₂ reduction projects and improved logistics processes.

The EXIST start-up grant is a funding programme of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, which is co-financed by the European Social Fund. The programme is aimed at students, graduates and scientists from universities and non-university research institutions who are interested in starting a business. The start-up teams receive a scholarship for a period of 12 months at attractive conditions, for example to develop a business plan. The most important prerequisite is that the planned business idea is an innovative, technology-orientated or knowledge-based product with significant unique selling points and good prospects of commercial success.

Immo Polewka thinks the funding is an "incredibly good idea", as it allows him to concentrate fully on the project without having to worry too much about making a living. Polewka and his business partner Julian Rose want to use the financial support primarily to employ freelancers, visit customers and be present at trade fairs.

The start-up team was supported in their application by the university's Start-up-Manufaktur and the Centre for Science and Technology Transfer. Professor Matthias Bertram from the Department of Computer Science acted as mentor. The Start-up-Manufaktur at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg has set itself the task of offering a comprehensive range of services in the form of counselling, events and courses on the subject of start-ups. The employees want to awaken an entrepreneurial spirit and support those interested in founding a company in the realisation of their ideas. The programme is open to students as well as H-BRS employees and alumni. They can all use the programmes free of charge. And the young entrepreneurs can also count on the university's support during the funding phase - including Immo Polewka and Julian Rose with their drive for a future-proof SME.