Vivatechnology 2025 - Partners

As part of Bochum’s economic development agency, the Startup Team Bochum supports founders from idea to scale with expertise and commitment. Whether you're founding, relocating, expanding, or seeking funding and networks—we connect, advise, and create opportunities for your success.

is the economic development agency of one of Europe’s most dynamic metropolitan areas - the Ruhr. Representing 53 cities and municipalities, we are driving the Ruhr region’s transformation into a sustainable, innovative, and future-ready business hub. At the crossroads of tradition and innovation, the Ruhr is evolving from its industrial heritage into a powerhouse for tech, green energy, and digital industries. BMR unites stakeholders and supports startups and scaleups looking to thrive in one of Germany’s most diverse and opportunity-rich ecosystems. The Ruhr region offers space to grow, talent to scale, and a community that welcomes bold ideas. With world-class infrastructure, top universities, and an ever-growing innovation network, we are where Germany’s future industries take shape.

supports with its Office of Economic Development a vibrant startup ecosystem by offering various services aimed at fostering innovative ideas and entrepreneurship.

a flagship project of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), connects Germany’s innovative startups with established corporates, SMEs, and world-class research institutions. Its goal is to foster the development of future-oriented technologies and to enable new digital business models. The Initiative strengthens Germany's global position as a key player in digital and technological innovation and transformation. Across 25 nationwide innovation hubs, actors from business, academia, and the startup scene work together on solutions for tomorrow’s challenges—ranging from Artificial Intelligence and GreenTech to Mobility, Health, and Smart Infrastructure. There are hubs located for example in Berlin (FinTech & DeepTech), Dresden (Smart Systems), Karlsruhe (AI), Munich (Mobility & Security), and Cologne (InsurTech).

is a driving force, matchmaker and enabler in the Rhineland-Palatinate innovation ecosystem. It was founded by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in 2023 to network innovation players, transfer research knowledge into practice and promote the development of new ideas. It is the point of contact for companies, researchers, networks, start-ups and anyone else who wants to help shape the future in Rhineland-Palatinate.

stands for innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, and forward-thinking. With more than 20 universities, universities of applied sciences, and research institutions, the state is a powerful driver of new technologies and business models. Here, bright minds find excellent conditions to thrive.

Technology centers and a strong network of business and science offer startups exactly what they need: room for ideas, access to expertise, and the best environment for growth. Whether it's research, development, or market entry – Rhineland-Palatinate provides founders with an inspiring and supportive ecosystem.

is the digital innovation hub for start-ups, investors and corporates in the Ruhr area.
As a joint initiative of the state of NRW and six major Ruhr cities, ruhrHUB drives digital transformation across the region – smart, collaborative and impact-driven. It connects ecosystems, opens up new markets and ensures that public funding reaches where it matters most: start-ups and businesses.

is tasked with guiding public decisions and providing the scientific and technical means that civil society (businesses and local authorities) needs to better manage major societal changes, such as the energy transition, digital transformation, future healthcare, defence and global security. Its mission is supported by 20,000 employees and 9 research centres equipped with major research facilities that provide an innovative environment conducive to academic and industrial partnerships in France, Europe and abroad. For more information www.cea.fr.

we explore cybersecurity, privacy, and trustworthy artificial intelligence in all their many facets. A national Big Science institution within the Helmholtz Association, CISPA is the world's leading research center in the field of cybersecurity. Providing a first-rate research environment and extensive resources to our researchers, CISPA strives to be an extraordinary place for the world's best scientific talent. Translating our research into practical applications is one of CISPA’s core missions. Only in this way can society and the economy benefit from groundbreaking innovations, state-of-the-art technologies, and the latest scientific insights. The mission of technology transfer is to support aspiring entrepreneurs in transforming their pioneering research in cybersecurity and AI into innovative products or services. 

is a program supported by Université de Lorraine, the University of Strasbourg and their partners (CNRS, Inria, Inserm, Nancy University Hospital, Strasbourg University Hospitals) and funded by the French government (via ANR under France 2030), the Grand Est Region, Métropole du Grand Nancy, Eurométropole de Strasbourg and companies, which aims to make Grand Est a European leader in AI training, research and innovation. The research part intends, among other objectives, to triple the number of doctoral students in AI in all disciplines by 2030, with a stronger focus on 3 themes of excellence (natural language processing and multimodal LLMs, AI for engineering and scientific discovery, digital health), and to increase interdisciplinarity, internationalization and relations between the Lorraine and Strasbourg university sites. ENACT is supported by France 2030.lution.

headquartered in Germany, is one of the world’s leading organizations for applied research. Since its founding as a nonprofit organization in 1949, Fraunhofer has held a unique position in the German research and innovation ecosystem. With nearly 32,000 employees, the research organization operates 75 institutes and independent research units across Germany. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft plays a major role in innovation by prioritizing research on cutting-edge technologies and the transfer of results to industry to strengthen Germany’s industrial base and for the benefit of society as a whole.

was established as an international institution following an intergovernmental agreement (the Weimar Agreement) in 1997. The FGU provides expert guidance on relations between French and German universities with the aim of improving cooperation in the areas of university study programmes and research in both countries. The FGU’s main tasks include initiating, coordinating and funding structured academic programmes for each of the three Bologna cycles. These degree programmes are subject to external evaluation by French and German academic experts. Nearly 6,000 students are currently enrolled on 194 bi-national and tri-national study programmes managed by the FGU in France, Germany and other countries. In the case of tri-national degree programmes, students also study or do an internship in a third country. 

is a European initiative aimed at developing a common data infrastructure. Gaia-X provides standards and tools that enable all players in the economy to create interoperable data spaces, where participants can exchange data securely, in confidence and with control. The Gaia-X Hub France serves as the representative and contact point for Gaia-X in France. The objectives of the Gaia-X Hub France: Bring together stakeholders of the Gaia-X initiative, whether they are members or not. Promote and organize activities related to Gaia-X in France. Structure meetings and exchanges among professionals and stakeholders involved in data spaces compliant with Gaia-X. Accelerate co-innovation of services and use cases and incubate data spaces that will foster the development of service offerings under Gaia-X. Ensure dialogue with Gaia-X, other national hubs, and the French administration.

a French Federal Institute of Technological Universities of science and management for sustainable economic development Through research and the training of engineers, managers and PhDs, IMT is addressing the major industrial, digital, energy and ecological challenges facing France, Europe and the entire world. Today, we are designing and building – together – a world that reconciles science, technology and economic development with respect for the planet and its inhabitants.

Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.

is the French national institute for research in digital science and technology, and since January 2024 has been responsible for the Agence de programmes dans le numérique (Digital Programs Agency), designed to strengthen the collective dynamics of higher education and research. Its DNA is based on world-class research, technological innovation and entrepreneurial risk. Within 220 project teams, most of which are shared with major research universities, more than 3,800 scientists are exploring new avenues, often in interdisciplinary collaboration with industrial partners, to meet ambitious challenges. As a technology institute, Inria supports a wide range of innovation paths: from open source software publishing to the creation of technology startups (Deeptech).

is a global marketplace of knowledge. A place where we actively promote creativity. At TUM, talents from all over the world come together to inspire each other, learn from one another and create innovations together. Our mission? As one of Europe’s most outstanding universities in research and innovation, we find solutions to the most important scientific and social challenges of our time.

is committed to accelerating the environmental transition, becoming one of the largest investors in impact-driven projects. This commitment is reinforced by a strong belief : Data and AI must play a key role in accelerating this transition. CDC TechSprint was launched to both promote data sharing and leverage the impact of green Data/AI solutions in support of this ambition and public policies. This comprehensive program is supported by subsidiaries of CDC Group and institutional partners. It has been deployed across key sectors for environment such as real estate, energy, logistics, mobility, water and natural resources management, through 3 main action avenues: 1. Acceleration program focused on innovative green projects 2. Work on the emergence of sector-specific dataspaces 3. Leading an ecosystem of private and public players. 

has operated as a non-profit, Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) since 1988. Today, it maintains sites in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Bremen, Lower Saxony, and Darmstadt, laboratories in Berlin, and Lübeck, as well as a branch office in Trier. DFKI combines scientific excellence and commercially-oriented value creation with social awareness and is recognized as a major "Center of Excellence" by the international scientific community. In the field of artificial intelligence, DFKI has focused on the goal of human-centric AI for more than 35 years. Research is committed to essential, future-oriented areas of application and socially relevant topics. Currently, with a staff of about 1,560 employees from more than 76 countries, DFKI is developing the innovative software technologies of tomorrow.