How can entrepreneurship at universities be digitally redesigned and accelerated through artificial intelligence? The University of Duisburg-Essen is stepping up to provide a forward-looking answer with its SMART GUIDE project—making it one of 14 universities in North Rhine-Westphalia that will receive funding from the state and the European Union over the next three years through the Start-up Center.NRW program. A total of 18 million euros is available for this purpose across the state, 1.5m will go to UDE.

The goal is clear: “We are developing the University of Duisburg-Essen into a driving force for AI-based products and business models,” says Prof. Dr. Hannes Rothe. He is a professor at the Rhine-Ruhr Institute of Information Systems, head of Place Beyond Bytes, and coordinator of the SMART GUIDE project, which is now receiving around 1.5 million euros in funding. The aim is to automate parts of the start-up process using existing AI technologies. “These new AI technologies will help us to create forward-looking solutions that actively contribute to the sustainable transformation of the entire region,” Rothe continues.

Together with the Center for Startups and Innopreneurship GUIDE at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), SMART GUIDE combines the outstanding expertise of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (IKIM), the Department of Distributed Systems (VS), the Networked Embedded Systems Group, and the Co-Creation Lab Place Beyond Bytes (PBB). The interaction of technological know-how and specialist knowledge significantly accelerates start-up processes at the UDE. This is because, especially for innovative start-ups, every week counts in the start-up phase when it comes to successfully bringing an idea to market.

A central element of the project is an AI fabrication laboratory. Here, experience gained from the expiring Exzellenz Start-up Center.NRW initiative will be used and typical challenges of the start-up process will be automated via AI in the future. Start-up teams will have access to special training and AI software solutions tailored to their needs. This accelerates the entire innovation process – from data-based decision support and automated development and testing of prototypes to addressing future users. Event formats such as “AI for Good” hackathons are used to develop new use cases in areas such as health, logistics, and 5G/6G.

SMART GUIDE also specifically targets start-ups whose core product is based on AI. In the “Entrepreneurs-in-Residence” format, for example, experienced entrepreneurs pass on their knowledge and take on temporary management positions in start-ups.

Furthermore, the UDE is closely linked to national and European initiatives, for example through accompanying projects such as ZaKI.D, EHDS4ALL, and KI4KMU in the Lower Rhine region. Coordination with leading accelerator programs such as the BRYCK Startup Alliance and UNITE – KI Entrepreneurship Zentrum (K.I.E.Z.)further enhances the impact of the measures.

Further information

Project coordination: Prof. Dr. Hannes Rothe, Sustainability and Innovation in Digital Ecosystems / PBB, Hannes.Rothe@ris.uni-due.de

Editor: Sophia Herrlich, GUIDE, Tel. 0203/379-5193, sophia.herrlich@uni-due.de