Current projects
EXIST-Women is a one-year pilot funding line of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) to promote women in transfer and start-ups. EXIST-Women gives women at their university who are interested in starting up a business and have an affinity for entrepreneurship the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the topics of start-ups and self-employment at an early stage. The new EXIST funding line includes events, advice and support services as well as a financial grant for prospective female founders.
The "EXIST-Women Uni-Stuttgart" project is coordinated by TRACES.
The state of Baden-Württemberg wants to increase the percentage of women in start-ups. To this end, the pilot project of a Female Founder Agency was set up as part of "Start-up BW Women", which was initiated by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Tourism and is coordinated by TRACES, the Transfer Center at the University of Stuttgart. The aim of the project is to increase the visibility of female start-ups and encourage more women to become active in the field of entrepreneurship and start-ups.
The Transfer Center TRACES at the University of Stuttgart works closely with the InnovationCampus Future Mobility (ICM). The ICM Early Ride Program is an incubator program for innovation projects from the university environment in Baden-Württemberg with a strong focus on sustainable mobility and production. Together with the ICM and its partners at the University of Stuttgart and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), we help students, PhD students and post-docs from research institutions to explore the potential of their research and awaken their entrepreneurial spirit. As part of this program, the University of Stuttgart supports students and academic staff in founding their own company in the field of sustainable mobility and production. A large number of sustainability-related start-ups have been successfully founded through the Early Ride Program of the InnovationCampus.
Examples of startup projects supported by the Transfer Center TRACES and the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Science (ENI), funded transfer projects and founded companies in the fields of mobility, production and low carbon technologies:
- Bottom-Up transfer projects BUP32 DynaCharge (s.a. Story),
- BUP34 NaturStoff (s.a. Story) und
- BUP38 AeroFlex (s.a. Story)
Selection of news and events from the ICM Early Ride Program:
- Turning ideas into innovations (05.24.2023)
- Kick-Off ICM-Accelerator: Science meets entrepreneurship!(14.06.2023)
- Demo Day to conclude the Intrapreneurship Program (20.07.2023)
- Kick-off of the ICM Early Ride Program (08.11.2023)
- Start-up life begins in the end (08.02.2024)
- Minister of Science on a two-day start-up tour at four universities in Karlsruhe and Stuttgart (27.03.2024)
The Startup Campus 0711 is a project funded by EXIST-Potentiale. Support structures are set up and operated in partnership with the Hochschule der Medien (HdM)
More information on Startup Campus 0711.
Promote and support the transformation at the automotive location Stuttgart and strengthen the innovative power and competitiveness of the regional automotive and mechanical engineering industry in the Stuttgart and Neckar-Alb region as sustainably as possible! With this goal in mind, a university partner network is being set up at TRACES, Transfer Center of the University of Stuttgart, as part of the project "Cluster Automotive Region Stuttgart 2.0 - Transformation Network for Automotive and Mechanical Engineering (CARS 2.0, funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection)".
The network's ideal partners are universities in the region, the "hidden champions" from small and medium-sized companies and start-ups. The focus is on networking, knowledge and technology transfer through InnoRegioChallenges and events as well as establishing sustainable collaborations.
Partners involved at the University of Stuttgart: Transfer Center of the University of Stuttgart (TRACES), InnovationCampus Future Mobility (ICM). The project is funded by the Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation (WRS) and is coordinated by TRACES.
Completed projects
"AWAKE - Become a Startup in Six Weeks" is a key qualification that is offered every semester in cooperation with the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Science (ENI).
Access to investments and investors is important in almost every phase of a start-up. The Finance Day, which was offered as part of the Startup Campus 0711 and carried out in cooperation with the Fraunhofer High Performance Center Mass Personalization, brings early-stage start-ups together with business angels and potential pre-seed, seed or Series A investors.
Contact

Rubina Zern-Breuer
Dr.Head of Transfer Center
[Image: Universität Stuttgart]