Supporting Start-ups in the Region

RWTH contributes to EU-supported project aiming to support young entrepreneurs and foster start-up companies.

 

According to a report by the Meuse Rhine Euroregion, there are still very few young people who are trying to start up a business. In particular, there is a lack of start-ups with a truly international outlook. This is where SEE-V-Lab comes in, an Interreg V EMR project which receives 800,000 euros in funding from the EU. The aim of the project, to which RWTH contributes, is to provide young people with a basis for launching a business and thus to encourage entrepreneurship. To this end, entrepreneurs involved in cross-border projects are provided with expert knowledge and educational support. Furthermore, the project encourages the exchange of best practice between partner institutions.

The project has now launched OPEN, the “Online Platform for Entrepreneurship Network,” which offers instructions and practical tips on launching a business. The key target group is students who are interested in starting a company.

In close collaboration with HEC Liège and Eindhoven University of Technology, RWTH’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group (WIN) headed by Professor Malte Brettel is contributing to the project. The group and its associated entrepreneurship center have joined forces with the partner universities’ Venture Labs to develop approaches on how to promote internationally active start-ups in the region.

SEE-V-Lab is largely financed by the Interreg V EMR program for the support of cross-border projects with means from the European Regional Development Fund EFRE. Further funding is provided by the states of the partner universities, North Rhine-Westphalia, the Province of Liège, and the Province of Limburg.

The total budget of the Interreg program is over 140 million euro. The Euregio Meuse-Rhine is one of the oldest collaborative associations of this kind within the European Union.