HIGHEST sees the recognition of the Rhine-Main Universities as an opportunity to strengthen networks, raise international visibility and create new momentum for research-based start-ups.
Foto: Patrick Bal und Julia Gonné
Creating stronger links between research and entrepreneurship: the recognition of the Rhine-Main Universities (RMU) as a University Consortium of Excellence also provides fresh momentum for knowledge and technology transfer. From 2027, TU Darmstadt, Goethe University Frankfurt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz will receive joint funding under the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. HIGHEST, TU Darmstadt’s Innovation and Start-up Centre, welcomes this achievement and sees new opportunities for research-based start-ups.
The universities are already demonstrating how they combine their strengths in supporting entrepreneurship through the Startup Factory FUTURY – The Future Factory. Together with Frankfurt School and FUTURY, they bring together research expertise, start-up support and entrepreneurial networks. Recognition as a University Consortium of Excellence offers an opportunity to deepen this collaboration and raise the international profile of start-up teams.
“The RMU Consortium of Excellence demonstrates what strong universities can achieve when they pool their expertise. Excellent research can have an even greater impact when it leads to innovations and new businesses. Together, we can develop the Rhine-Main region into an internationally leading hub for research-based start-ups,” says Harald Holzer, Managing Director of HIGHEST.
Through its strategy, “RMU-EXCITE – Excellent. Collaborative. Transformative”, the alliance aims to establish Frankfurt-Rhine-Main as an internationally leading research region. Planned initiatives include the further development of shared research infrastructure, strategic academic appointments and new training and professional development opportunities. The alliance aims to put research insights to use through dialogue with society, business and policymakers.
For HIGHEST, the consortium offers further opportunities to bring the three universities’ expertise together, connect start-up teams with new networks and increase the international visibility of research-based spin-offs from the region. This shared strategic direction also supports TU Darmstadt’s commitment, set out in its xchange strategy, to embedding knowledge and technology transfer as a third core mission alongside research and teaching.
HIGHEST congratulates everyone at the three universities who contributed to this shared success.