The Upper Rhine Metropolitan Region is set to become a cross-border innovation hub: The new KTUR project (Knowledge Transfer Upper Rhine) will aim to explore and advance the innovative capacity and especially the financing of startups in the Upper Rhine region. To this end, the Chair of Entrepreneurship at RPTU, together with renowned partners from Germany, France, and Switzerland, has received funding of 2.5 million in EU for three years.

The financing of innovations and startups is critical to their success. The objective of the new project will be to research and promote the innovative strength and in particular the financing of startups in the Upper Rhine region. To this end the Chair of Entrepreneurship at RPTU, together with renowned partners, has receivedEU funding of 2.5 million euros for three years.

The project “KTUR2: Boosting trinational innovation” brings together science and business in order to mapping the region's innovation ecosystem, analyzing the needs of the different stakeholders and identifying existing challenges. Through the development of best practices, the Upper Rhine is to become an internationally visible lighthouse for innovations and startups while at the same time strengthening their funding.

“Our ecosystem already offers a lot of support for startups, but we showed in a study in 2022 that there is still a particular lack of venture capital in the region,” says RPTU project manager Prof. Dr. Dennis Steininger. He emphasizes the importance of the project: “We know from research that a lack of financial resources is one of the most important factors in the failure of innovation and startup projects. This project therefore marks a critical milestone in our joint efforts to better understand the financing of technological innovations and thereby strengthen and internationalize the startup ecosystem in the region.”

About the funding program:

The KTUR2 project is supported by the Interreg VI Upper Rhine Program 2021-2027 and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). With a total budget of 5,682,940 euros, it represents a significant investment in the future of the region.

Further details on the project can be found on the program's website: https://www.interreg-oberrhein.eu/projet/ktur2-trinationale-innovation-vorantreiben/ 

The Chair of Entrepreneurship, together with partners from the University of the Greater Region, has successfully acquired a pioneering project to promote innovation in the circular economy. This 4-year project, supported by European funding of almost 4 million euros, aims to strengthen sustainable innovation in the circular economy in the Greater Region and beyond.

The project, entitled "UniGR Interdisciplinary Competence Center Metals and Materials in a Circular Economy", is being carried out in close cooperation with start-ups, SMEs and other partners. It aims to provide a platform for the exchange of knowledge and resources in order to accelerate the development and implementation of circular business models and technologies. Through interdisciplinary research teams, the University of the Greater Region will develop innovative solutions that offer both economic and environmental benefits. The aim is to initiate sustainable change in the region and serve as a model for other regions.

RPTU project manager Prof. Dr. Dennis Steininger emphasizes the importance of the project: "This project marks an important milestone in our efforts to be a leader in the research and development of innovations and business models in the field of sustainable and digital technologies."

About the University of the Greater Region:
The University of the Greater Region is a network consisting of seven universities (the universities of RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Liège, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Saarland, Trier and htw saar as an associated partner) located in the border area of the Greater Region (Germany - Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, Belgium - Wallonia, France - Grand-Est region - Lorraine, Luxembourg).
More than 10,250 researchers work at the University of the Greater Region. Together, more than 141,000 students and around 7,050 doctoral students are educated there.