Northern Bavaria successful in nationwide competition for startup funding: University of Bayreuth involved as key partner

Federal Minister Katharina Reiche honoured the most promising concepts on 10 July 2025. The ZOHO Factory concept demonstrated excellence across the board. Northern Bavaria will thus become the location of one of the federally subsidised start-up factories in Germany. The University of Bayreuth is the core partner with its ZOHO Lab Bayreuth. The ZOHO Lab Bayreuth is part of the ZOHO Factory based in Nuremberg and brings together founders from the various locations, promotes growth-oriented start-ups and brings them together with private investors across the region. In this way, the offer to support startups during their scaling can be further expanded.

At the University of Bayreuth, Vice President Prof Dr Susanne Tittlbach provided strategic support for the application. As Vice President for Digitalization, Innovation & Sustainability, she has been a strong advocate for the further expansion of Bayreuth as a startup hotspot since 2021. "At the University of Bayreuth, we have created optimal conditions for innovative research, teaching and transfer that contribute to the necessary transformation processes in society and the economy. The ZOHO Factory in Nuremberg is continuing along the path we have taken and offers the best support in the early startup phase. We are very happy to be part of the ZOHO Factory as a partner of science. And it is particularly important for us that our startups benefit from better access to growth financing in the future."

The Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (IEI) was founded in 2020 to provide ideal support for startups and innovations at the University of Bayreuth. It supports startups from all departments at the university. For its success in promoting startups, the University of Bayreuth was awarded first place in the current startup radar of the Stifterverband in the category of medium-sized universities in 2025.

To provide even stronger support for startups, efforts are now underway to improve access for aspiring founders across regions, strengthen connections with private investors, and enhance collaboration with technology-focused experts. In addition, the ZOHO network is working to raise thematic visibility both nationally and internationally. Established formats—such as the annual Impact Festival, co-hosted with the Nuremberg Institute of Technology—serve as a key foundation for this effort. Emerging focus areas like Food & Health offer additional potential. One example is the already well-established Food Valley Kulmbach project led by the University of Bayreuth.

The topic of ‘energy’ also plays an important role in Bayreuth. With formats such as innovation projects, hackathons and other events relating to the energy transition, further exciting collaborations are set to emerge in the future. "Our entire entrepreneurial ecosystem will be able to benefit from the collaboration in the ZOHO Factory in the Northern Bavaria network in the future. We want to bundle our strengths, set thematic priorities and thus further strengthen our startup activities and network and promote our growing startups even better," emphasises Prof. Dr Rebecca Preller, Professor of Entrepreneurial Behaviour at the University of Bayreuth. "And all these activities show that Bayreuth is providing impetus - for innovation, sustainability and the startup culture in the entire region and beyond.

About ZOLLHOF and ZOHO Factory

ZOLLHOF in Nuremberg was founded in 2017 and has since supported over 100 start-ups. 70% of these startups are sustainably successful. As one of the fastest growing startup hubs in Germany, it is a key pillar of the entrepreneurial ecosystem - in the region and beyond. Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg has now set up the ‘ZOHO Factory’ with its partners. The aim is to create one of the best startup hubs in Europe by 2030 with a focus on deep tech innovation. Scientists in particular will be encouraged to set up companies and will be supported by a central prototyping lab and suitable venture funding. In the coming years, a leading location for technology-driven spin-offs is to be created in the innovation region of Northern Bavaria - with a measurable impact on employment, competitiveness and sustainable value creation.

The German federal government's decision once again emphasises the region's innovative strength. Now the next phase begins: the construction of the ZOHO Factory will start this year. The aim is to develop Northern Bavaria into an internationally visible startup hub - sustainable, technology-oriented and with strong regional roots.