IGZ

What IGZ does

IGZ Innovations- und Gründerzentrum Nürnberg-Fürth-Erlangen GmbH is one of Germany's longest-running technology business incubators, operating continuously since 1986 from a single facility in Erlangen, Bavaria. It provides physical workspace (individual offices at EUR 7.60 per sqm, production space at EUR 5.10 per sqm, storage at EUR 3.10 per sqm, coworking at EUR 230 per month all-inclusive, and Virtual Office BASIC/PREMIUM at EUR 55-80 per month), shared meeting infrastructure (conference room up to 60 persons, seminar room, meeting room), coaching and founding-support services, and curated networking with regional partners. Tenant focus is on technology-oriented startups and SMEs in robotics, automation, AI, software, medical technology, and blockchain; since 1986 the incubator has supported more than 180 companies through market entry, supported by a network of 30+ partners including Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Medical Valley EMN, Bayern Innovativ, and BayStartUP.

The business is privately held as a GmbH, with the City of Erlangen as majority shareholder since January 2024 (or 2025, depending on source) and IHK Nürnberg and Handwerkskammer Mittelfranken each holding 0.7%. Its core revenue model is recurring subscription-like rental of workspace and virtual office services, supplemented by pay-as-you-go meeting room hire. Beyond the real-estate core, IGZ runs structured open-innovation programming: the TRANSFUSION cross-industry hackathon connecting robotics with clinical and logistics challenges, the ModelOne sandbox program linking Bavarian founders with regional SMEs for prototype development, and the EU Interreg Alpine Space TIGER project (EUR ~2.7 million total budget, running to summer 2027) on eHealth and senior care innovation. Go-to-market is event-driven and community-led, relying on the partner network, regional reputation, and targeted programs rather than broad external sales. The core staff is small (5-10 employees), and revenue is not publicly disclosed.

Name

IGZ

Legal name

IGZ Innovations- und Gründerzentrum Nürnberg-Fürth-Erlangen GmbH

Website

https://igz.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

IGZ is a long-running German technology business incubator in Erlangen that rents offices, coworking, virtual offices, and meeting rooms to startups, and runs open-innovation programs including TRANSFUSION, ModelOne, and the EU TIGER eHealth project.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Business Incubation Services

NAICS

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (54)

SIC

Services-Facilities Support Management Services (8744)

akta.pro primary industry

Workplace/Occupancy Data, Utilization & IWMS Administration (BPABAFAF)

Keywords

• Business incubation services
• Technology startup incubator
• Coworking office space
• Virtual office services
• Open innovation programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Erlangen

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Office and Workspace Rental: Monthly rental of office spaces, production areas, and storage facilities to startups and technology companies. Rental fees are charged per square meter plus service costs.
2. Virtual Office Services: Virtual office packages providing business address and mail handling services for remote companies
3. Coworking Space Rental: Monthly all-inclusive coworking workspace rental
4. Meeting Room Rental: Rental of conference, seminar, and meeting rooms with optional beverage service for both tenants and external customers

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

IGZ is a technology-oriented business incubator that rents flexible office spaces, coworking, and virtual offices to technology startups and SMEs in the Nuremberg-Fürth-Erlangen metropolitan region. Beyond physical workspace, it provides startup coaching, funding advisory, and open innovation programs (TRANSFUSION, ModelOne, TIGER) that connect startups with regional SMEs and research institutions.

Product overview

IGZ (Innovations- und Gründerzentrum) is a technology-oriented business incubator providing a comprehensive ecosystem for startups and young companies in the Nuremberg-Fürth-Erlangen metropolitan region. The offering consists of physical workspace solutions including Individual Office Spaces, Coworking Space, and Virtual Office services (BASIC and PREMIUM tiers), complemented by meeting facilities (Conference Room, Seminar Room, Meeting Room). Beyond real estate, IGZ provides Coaching Services covering founding advice, strategic conception, financing support, and project accompaniment. The Open Innovation arm includes the TRANSFUSION hackathon program and ModelOne sandbox program connecting startups with regional SMEs. IGZ also participates in the EU-funded TIGER project for ehealth innovation. The focus areas include robotics, automation, AI, blockchain, software/hardware development, and medical technology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TIGER: EU-funded project (Interreg Alpine Space) fostering eHealth and social innovations for senior and remote care, running until summer 2027 with a project volume of approximately 2.7 million euros.
• TRANSFUSION
• ModelOne

Products and services

• Individual Office Spaces Flexible office spaces for different company sizes, offering customizable solutions for technology-oriented startups and companies in the Nuremberg metropolitan region.
• Coworking Space Flexible coworking workspace available at 230.00 EUR per month all-inclusive, providing an alternative environment for remote and virtual companies.
• Virtual Office BASIC Virtual office service providing a business address and mail handling at 55.00 EUR per month. Tenant is responsible for mail collection.
• Virtual Office PREMIUM Virtual office service with mail collection and weekly shipping to one address at 80.00 EUR per month.
• Conference and Seminar Rooms Meeting spaces including a conference room (up to 60 persons, 80 sqm), seminar room (up to 20 persons, 32 sqm), and meeting room (up to 4 persons, 15 sqm). Free for tenants.
• Production and Storage Space Rental of production areas (5.10 EUR/sqm/month) and storage/basement spaces (3.10 EUR/sqm/month) for technology companies requiring light production or warehousing alongside office space.
• Coaching Services Comprehensive startup support including founding advice, strategic conception, financing and funding assistance, and project accompaniment.
• TRANSFUSION Open Innovation Challenge Cross-industry Open Innovation challenge that connects robotics and automation with challenges in clinical application and logistics. A hackathon-format initiative bringing together experts from engineering, AI, data science, robotics, and healthcare.
• ModelOne Sandbox Program Sandbox program supporting sustainable collaboration between startups and SMEs. Connects founders with technical know-how gaps to regional SMEs for prototype development, covering all costs and supporting funding applications.
• TIGER EU Project EU-funded project (Interreg Alpine Space) running until summer 2027 with a budget of approximately 2.7 million euros. Focuses on ehealth and social innovations for senior and remote care, supporting SMEs in healthcare product development.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 180 companies successfully supported on their way to market entry since 1986
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• City of ErlangencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Majority shareholder of IGZ since January 2022. The city of Erlangen leads the innovation and business incubator as the primary shareholder, supporting the regional startup ecosystem.
• IHK Nürnberg (Chamber of Industry and Commerce)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Co-shareholder with 0.7% stake. Provides industry connections and Chamber support services to IGZ and its tenant companies.
• Handwerkskammer Mittelfranken (Chamber of Crafts)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Co-shareholder with 0.7% stake. Provides handicraft and SME expertise connections to the IGZ ecosystem.
• Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor university partner providing research collaboration, talent pipeline, and academic connections for IGZ tenant companies.
• Bayern InnovativmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBavarian innovation agency partner supporting technology transfer and innovation projects in the region.
• Medical Valley EMN e.V.majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMedical technology cluster partner focusing on healthcare innovation and medical technology companies.
• BayStartUPmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBavarian startup funding network connecting startups with investors and support programs.
• FAPS – Lehrstuhl für Fertigungsautomatisierung und ProduktionssystematikmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerChair for manufacturing automation and production systems at FAU, providing research collaboration and engineering expertise.
• Bayerisches LaserzentrummajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBavarian laser center providing laser technology expertise and R&D collaboration opportunities.
• Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon OhmmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnical university partner providing applied research collaboration and graduate talent.
• TIGER EU Project Partners (11 organizations)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEU Interreg Alpine Space project with 11 partners from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Slovenia focusing on eHealth innovations for senior and remote care. Project volume approximately 2.7 million euros with EFRE co-financing of 2,004,720 euros. Partners include ICS Internationalisation Centre Styria, Human.technology Styria, Geriatric Health Centres of Graz, OTH, Chamber of Commerce Nice Côte d'Azur, Association EUROBIOMED, Upper Adriatic Technology Park, Ca' Foscari University Venice, Technology Park Ljubljana, and IZRIIS Institute.
• ARGE TGZminorOthersWorking group of technology and business incubators in Germany.
• ASQFminorOthersAssociation focusing on software engineering quality and certification.
• Bundesverband Deutscher InnovationszentrenminorOthersFederal association connecting German business incubators and innovation centers.
• nik – Netzwerk der DigitalwirtschaftminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDigital economy network in the region connecting digital businesses.
• Gründerinitiative MittelfrankenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounders initiative for Central Franconia supporting entrepreneurship.
• STABILOminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEstablished company partner in the IGZ network.
• Forum MedTech PharmaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMedical technology and pharma network partner.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Design Offices: Design Offices is a German provider of premium flexible workspaces, meeting rooms, and coworking environments in multiple German cities. It is comparable to IGZ in offering meeting room and coworking rentals with subscription pricing, but does not provide incubation programs or regional innovation ecosystem services.
• WeWork: WeWork is a global coworking and flexible office operator with presence in major German cities. It competes with IGZ for tenants seeking shared workspace but does not focus on a single regional innovation vertical or offer incubation-style programs.
• Regus / IWG: IWG (parent of Regus and Spaces) provides flexible office, coworking, and meeting room products globally, including in Nuremberg and Erlangen. It is comparable to IGZ in offering subscription-based workspace services but is a broad incumbent rather than a regional incubator.

Direct peers

• Factory Berlin: Factory Berlin is a large innovation campus and member-based technology community offering coworking, event, and program services to startups and corporates. It is comparable to IGZ in combining physical workspace with curated open-innovation programming for tech companies.
• Mindspace: Mindspace operates premium coworking and flexible office space across Germany and Europe. It is a direct peer to IGZ in providing subscription-based workspace products (offices, coworking, meeting rooms) to companies, though at larger scale and broader geographic footprint.
• BayStartUP: BayStartUP is the Bavarian startup and investor network supporting founders across Bavaria, including investor readiness programs and funding matchmaking. It overlaps directly with IGZ in serving Bavarian technology founders and is also listed as one of IGZ's partners.
• Impact Hub Berlin: Impact Hub Berlin is part of a global network offering coworking, incubation, and innovation programs focused on social and technology entrepreneurship. It is comparable to IGZ in combining workspace rental with structured programs (incubators, challenges, EU project participation).
• HUB31 (Technologie- und Gründerzentrum Gießen): HUB31 is a technology and business incubator in Gießen providing offices, coworking, and consulting to tech startups. It is a structurally similar TGZ model to IGZ — public-backed incubator offering workspace plus coaching — and competes for the same class of early-stage technology tenants in Germany.
• TUM Startup Incubator: TUM's startup services at Technical University of Munich provide incubation, coworking, and venture support to technology founders in Bavaria. Comparable to IGZ in combining academic/regional ecosystem access with workspace, though anchored in Munich rather than Erlangen.

Regional players

• Werk33 (Munich): Werk33 is a Munich-based innovation and event space that combines coworking, event hosting, and community programming for the Munich startup scene. It is a regional peer to IGZ serving Bavarian technology founders with similar bundled workspace-plus-community offerings.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/igz-innovations-und-gr%C3%BCnderzentrum-n%C3%BCrnberg-f%C3%BCrth-erlangen-gmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about IGZ