Find your starting point
Not sure where to start? Start with what you have.
Our Offerings
Four offerings, four starting points. Start where you are – no previous program participation required.
What if you knew there was a founder in you?
Entrepreneurship isn’t something you either have or don’t – it’s something you can try out and learn.
Our short, hands-on formats are for students – from Bachelor to PhD – and researchers who are curious about entrepreneurship and what their ideas or research could become. You’ll learn the entrepreneurial skills you need to get started. No startup idea, business background or fees required.
iF Academy Formats
iF Academy Summer School
Six days, PhD students from different disciplines, one question: where could breakthrough science create real-world impact? Get mentored by professors and founders, pitch your own opportunity and earn 7.5 ECTS.
Open Calls
Call for Courses
Teaching at a university or research institution in Northern Germany? We support new and enhanced courses that bring innovation and entrepreneurship into degree programs and graduate schools. Needs-based support – from budgets and digital tools to experts and coaching. Joint applications welcome.
What if you could build more than an idea?
Turn your idea into a validated startup concept and first prototype in three focused months.
iF Pioneers is a testing ground for students, researchers and young professionals: bring your own idea and we’ll help you build the right team – or join one as an equal co-founder.
Together, you’ll gather evidence that your idea meets a genuine need, build a first prototype and pitch it to investors – guided by experienced founders and experts.
iF Pioneers Formats
iF Pioneers Sprint
A short, intense sprint to spark ideas, learn from founders and investors and pitch your concept to a jury on Sunday. One weekend, one team, one idea built from scratch. Open to everyone, with or without an idea – and if you want to keep building, iF Pioneers is your next step.
What if you could prove your research has market potential?
You have a technology, maybe still in the lab, maybe with your first co-founders – incorporated or not. Turning it into a fundable, scalable venture takes more than technical excellence: it takes business clarity, market validation and a structure to execute.
In a series of hands-on workshops, you’ll work through everything a Deep Tech founder needs – from legal and IP to product, market and finance – while developing and sharpening your investor pitch along the way. Learn from experienced entrepreneurs, investors and domain experts and grow with a community of peers.
Fully funded, with rolling intake – join whenever you’re ready.
What if your startup was ready to scale?
Your technology is validated and your team is in place – the next question is how to scale. What often stands in the way is industrial proof, a market-tested value proposition and an investor-ready story.
In our highly selective six-month program for Deep Tech startups, you stay in the driver’s seat: we build a roadmap around your priorities, from pilot and venture-client pathways with industry, public and research partners to commercial validation and investor readiness.
You’ll leave with a completed pilot or industrial proof point and a fully prepared investor-readiness package. Need more flexibility? We can also work towards individually defined milestones together. Support can include 1:1 coaching, access to senior mentors and investors from our network, funding and Venture Credits.
Program team
The people behind our programs are dedicated to turning breakthrough science into real-world impact.
Andreas Kitzing
Anna Lena Paape
Christian Luethje
Gina Melchner von Dydiowa
Hannah Stolzenberger
Jisu Hong
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Kushal Agarwal
Lilli Hessler
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Lizzy Harmstorf
Priyanka Shah
Sanna Leinius
Sebastian Henley
Simon Stroiakovskii
Timo Christian
Our mentors
Our mentors bring hands-on experience, deep expertise, and diverse perspectives to help founders navigate the challenges of building a Deep Tech venture.
Dr. Uve Samuels ist als Diplom Ingenieur, Mechatroniker und promovierter Microsystemtechniker Experte für Exponentielle Effekte in Technologie und Wirtschaft. Als ehemaliger Geschäftsführer der privaten Hochschule der Hamburger Wirtschaft, der HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration und als CEO des Exponential Innovation Institute besitzt ein umfangreiches Netzwerk in der Wirtschaft und Erfahrung aus der Begleitung von über 100 Startups.
Heidrun Twesten is an entrepreneur, executive advisor, business angel, and certified Designing Your Life Coach (Stanford University). As Managing Director of Impacct GmbH since 2002, she advises startups, scale-ups, and blue-chip companies on capital markets and transformation processes. With more than 20 years of experience in the startup ecosystem, she has supported numerous companies through growth and IPO journeys and actively mentors founders across national and international programs.
Claudio (M. Sc. Molecular Biosciences University of Heidelberg) has been working in bio-inspired technologies for more than 10 years and is co-founder and CEO of Mimotype, a bionanotechnology company that deploys optically active matter for tissue engineering, soft robotics and materials science.
Lorenz Jellinghaus is partner at LUTZ | ABEL in Hamburg and is one of the leading lawyers for Venture Capital in Germany. With his team he is supporting start-ups, founders and investors in financing rounds and exit-transactions.
Rita Katona is a Cyprus and Berlin based tech entrepreneur, angel investor, and startup mentor with nearly 10 years of experience coaching and advising early stage founders. She has founded two tech startups in Germany and held leading marketing and growth roles at Rocket Internet ventures and ZOLLHOF, one of Germany’s fastest growing startup incubators.
Through continuous hands on work with well known early stage accelerators like Startup Wise Guys and Plug and Play, Rita now focuses on startup support and advisory, helping founders with go to market strategy, market validation, B2B sales, investor readiness, and turning early traction into scalable growth.
Success Stories & Startups Proof
From breakthrough ideas to ventures with real-world impact. Explore the startups and success stories emerging from our programs, and see how science, talent, and entrepreneurship come together to build the technologies of tomorrow.
Building an autonomous factory for lightweight hardware.
Holy Technologies is building a factory that runs itself at the pace and reliability that fast-growing hardware markets need. Its fully recyclable carbon-fiber parts were first proven in Formula 1. Founded by Bosse Rothe Frossard and Moritz Jonathan Reiners.
Running millions of experiments in parallel.
Surfacto has patented a device that generates microdroplets small enough to enclose a single human cell or molecule. This enables scientific experiments to reach up to 100,000 times greater statistical significance while running faster and at lower cost. Founded out of the Max Planck Institute by Dr. Martin Schröter, Dr. Jacqueline De Lora and Benedikt Eikmanns.
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Closing the carbon cycle instead of feeding it.
Universal Carbon is building the infrastructure for a defossilized carbon economy, using pressure and a closed advanced loop to separate carbon. Several units built during the team's time at Airbus are already in operation. Co-founded by Antje Bulmann, Viktor Fetter and Leon Dario Ketscher.
Turning the tide for a livable future.
Planeteers has built an end-to-end carbon capture and storage solution. It captures CO₂ directly at the source and uses the natural weathering process of limestone to convert it into bicarbonate dissolved in water, storing the CO₂ permanently and safely, all in one process step. Founded by Florian Birner, Prof. Jens Hartmann and Dr. Frank Rattey.
Where X-ray stops. MuRay begins.
MuRay Tech develops Active Muon Imaging with a laser-driven muon source. These particles pass through meters of solid material, revealing hidden flaws in components for aerospace, energy and defense non-destructively. Further ahead, the technology could support container screening, nuclear decommissioning and medical imaging. Founded by Dr. Kristjan Põder and Dr. Andi Hektor.