Innovation in Action: Recap of KTUR’s Summer Highlights

This summer, KTUR proudly participated in and hosted a series of impactful events across the Upper Rhine region. From cutting-edge industrial visits to startup forums, investor bootcamps, and sustainability-focused congresses, each event was a testament to KTUR’s commitment to cross-border innovation, collaboration, and knowledge transfer.

Here’s a look back at six key moments that made this summer unforgettable.

• LabVisit: Discovering Industry of the Future 5.0

📍 ICAM Strasbourg-Europe | June 18, 2025

ICAM also offers custom workshops in French, German, and English for companies exploring Industry 5.0.

• Venture Dates

📍 SIAK, Kaiserslautern | June 25, 2025

Held at SIAK in Kaiserslautern, Venture Dates brought together over 90 participants for a high-energy matchmaking event connecting startups, investors, and aspiring co-founders.

The event successfully fostered new connections, energized the trinational startup ecosystem, and sparked numerous follow-up collaborations.

• Venture Capital Seminar

📍 Online (Zoom) | June 25–26, 2025

Running in parallel with Venture Dates, the Venture Capital Seminar offered a two-day online bootcamp tailored for early-stage entrepreneurs, researchers, and students. Over 250 participants joined to gain practical insights into startup funding and investor expectations.

The agenda included:
– VC fundamentals and impact investing
– Funding stages from pre-seed to scale-up
– Team-building and pitching strategies
– Public funding in the Upper Rhine region
– Practical workshops on pitch decks and business models

Featured speakers included:
Dr. Christin Eckerle (KIT), Julian Faber (D11Z. Ventures), Arnas Bräutigam (AddedVal.io), Jessica Matta (Bpifrance), Claire Weiss (Phitrust), Leon Huck (LBBW VC), and Emilia Neuwirt (EMUNO Therapeutics), among others.

“A successful pitch deck convinces not only with numbers but especially through trust in the team and the vision.” – Arnas Bräutigam

Beyond theory, the seminar emphasized networking and mentorship to better prepare the next generation of entrepreneurs.

• Panel Talk "From the Lab to the Startup: Tech Transfer as a Success Factor"

📍 Karlsruhe | July 3, 2025

How does excellent research become a scalable company? What makes tech transfer work in deep tech?

On July 3, KTUR brought these questions to the forefront during a panel discussion in Karlsruhe featuring experts from science, industry, and academia.

The event welcomed a diverse audience committed to turning research into real-world solutions. A heartfelt thank-you to all contributors for their valuable insights and engagement.

• KTUR at the “Economy and Sustainability” Congress

📍 Johanniskreuz | June 17, 2025

KTUR was present at the opening of the "Wissen³" event series, focused on sustainability and co-organized by Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences, htw saar, and Trier University of Applied Sciences.

Held at the House of Sustainability in Johanniskreuz, the congress brought together participants from science, business, and civil society.

🎤 Representing KTUR:
Peter Starke, Vice President for Transfer at Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences, and PD Dr. Christian Joerg, KTUR² project coordinator.
Both emphasized the value of trinational cooperation in advancing sustainability efforts throughout the Upper Rhine region.

• KTUR at the Company Contact Fair

📍 Zweibrücken Campus | June 24, 2025

KTUR also took part in the Company Contact Fair hosted by Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences at its Zweibrücken campus.

With 40+ companies and numerous students in attendance, the fair offered a prime opportunity to showcase KTUR’s mission: connecting universities, industry, and society across borders to foster innovation and talent mobility.

The KTUR booth served as a hub for meaningful exchange and new collaborations between students, startups, and industry players.

In Summary

From digital transformation and startup growth to sustainability and venture funding, this summer’s events brought KTUR’s cross-border mission to life. Through workshops, panels, and fairs, hundreds of participants engaged with KTUR’s vision for a connected, innovative Upper Rhine region.

Want to be part of the next KTUR initiative?
Stay tuned — more knowledge-driven, innovation-focused events are coming soon!

🎙️ Is networking essential for founders?

That’s exactly what we explore in the very first episode of Rhinepreneurs – the
new podcast series presented by KTUR- Knowledge Transfer Upper Rhine.
Host of the podcast Sandra Schöttelndreier is head of the project at KIT and
works for the KIT-Gründerschmiede.

In the first episode she speaks with Rick Lindner, an experienced founder and
startup ecosystem expert. With a background in accelerators and a strong
presence across multiple innovation hubs, Rick shares his take on how networks
shape entrepreneurial journeys – and why building bridges between ecosystems
matters.

The conversation is in German, but after each section Océane Marie provides a
French summary, making the episode valuable for both German and Frenchspeaking
audiences.

Curious?

🎧 Listen to the episode here

You can also find an English article about the talk here

Innovation needs financing to exist. Yet 80% of start-ups fail, and only one idea in 58 becomes a commercial success. This observation lies at the heart of Axis 4 of the KTUR² “Financing” project, which aims to structure a trinational financing ecosystem linking capital and innovation in the Upper Rhine.

In this cross-border region, innovation potential is high, but investment opportunities are unevenly distributed. On the one hand, strong ideas struggle to find financing. On the other, capital exists, but without access to viable projects. KTUR²'s ambition is therefore clear: to connect the right players across the three countries and bridge the financing gap to accelerate technology transfer and bring innovations to market.

As Dennis Steininger put it at the KTUR launch conference,

The working group is deploying several flagship actions:

• Mapping of financing instruments (public and private) in the region;
• Organization of roundtables between investors, public institutions and innovation players;
• Creation of a trinational “speed dating” event, enabling targeted meetings between start-ups and financiers;
• Development of a roadmap towards a trinational innovation fund, inspired by European models such as those of the Bodensee and Meuse-Rhine regions.

The first editions of the KTUR Investor Speed-Dating, on June 25 in Kaiserslautern and November 4 in Landau, will enable project promoters to meet public and private investors directly, in a spirit of concrete impact and cross-border cooperation.

By building a coordinated financing network, KTUR² aims to reduce risks, strengthen cooperation and sustainably support the growth of start-ups in the Upper Rhine region.

With Work Priority 3, the KTUR² project focuses on entrepreneurship as a driver of innovation in the Upper Rhine region. The aim is to stimulate entrepreneurship, support the emergence of start-ups and promote the trinational ecosystem across borders.

The working group is coordinating a series of concrete actions to strengthen the region's entrepreneurial potential: development of joint training courses, organization of innovation challenges, inspirational podcasts, soft landing programs, innovation fairs, and support for internationalization.

A flagship event illustrates this ambition: the KTUR Summer School on Entrepreneurship. Every year for the past four years, this summer school has brought together some forty students from the three countries. Over the course of an intensive week, they travel between the partner universities of Freiburg im Breisgau (DE), Basel (CH) and Strasbourg (FR), learning about entrepreneurship from experts in the field. The program combines fundamental learning, intercultural immersion and the creation of a fictitious team project. The aim is to inspire lasting entrepreneurial vocations.

Dario Meyer, researcher at the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW) and representative of the working group at the KTUR² project launch conference, reminded us in his speech that :

This approach aims to create an environment conducive to the emergence of talent, while enhancing the international visibility of the Upper Rhine as a dynamic hub of innovation. A survey is currently being carried out at the 12 partner universities to measure students' entrepreneurial intentions and adjust future actions.

The next edition of the Summer School will take place from August 25 to 29, 2025, between Strasbourg, Basel and Freiburg im Breisgau. An eagerly-awaited highlight that promises, once again, to be a springboard for tomorrow's entrepreneurs.

Priority 2 of the KTUR² project “Continuing education” deals with a key challenge for the competitiveness of the Upper Rhine: meeting the skills needs of companies in a constantly changing technological environment. Its ambition is to transform specific practical requests into cross-border training courses with high added value.

The working group implements this strategy in close cooperation with the socio-economic players. Based on real problems expressed by companies, the teams identify or design tailor-made training measures that meet the requirements of each partner country. Two objectives are pursued: To support the skills development of skilled workers and to promote the transfer of knowledge to the local economy.

The method is simple and effective: needs assessment, analysis, adaptation of an existing program or creation of a new one, then organization of the session. The entire process is designed to be agile, concrete and results-oriented. The themes covered are strategic: artificial intelligence, industry 4.0, sustainability, innovation, data skills, health, soft skills… So many levers to anticipate tomorrow's professions.

As Romina Kolb, Managing Director of the HKA Institute for Continuing Education, and Charlotte Joumier, Continuing Education Project Manager at UNISTRA, emphasized at the KTUR² project launch conference:

The next step announced is a series of cross-training courses for future skills. These tailor-made events will be developed with the partner universities and co-constructed directly with the companies concerned.