Institut für Entrepreneurship & Innovation (IEI) der Uni Bayreuth

What Institut für Entrepreneurship & Innovation (IEI) der Uni Bayreuth does

The Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (IEI) is an academic institute at the University of Bayreuth, a public state university in Bavaria, Germany, established in 2020 to combine research, education, and transfer activities in entrepreneurship and innovation. It serves students, university members, and external founders across the Upper Franconia region through four endowed chairs: Entrepreneurship & Digital Business Models (Prof. Dr. Matthias Baum), Entrepreneurial Behavior (Prof. Dr. Rebecca Preller), Human Resource Management & Intrapreneurship (Prof. Dr. Rodrigo Isidor), and a Junior Professorship for Social Entrepreneurship (Prof. Dr. Eva Alexandra Jakob), supported by a Director for Transfer and Innovation (Dr. Petra Beermann). Its product surface spans educational programs (GO! Programm, M.Sc. Digitalisierung & Entrepreneurship, Gründungssemester, Young Leaders Program, Zusatzstudium Entrepreneurship & Innovation), free one-on-one foundation consulting and mentoring, patent and IP advisory (in conjunction with BayPat and Bayern-Innovativ), a Co-Founder Matching platform, and a recurring events portfolio including Bottles & Founders, Bayreuth Start & Connect, Pitch it right, and Playtest & Pancakes.

The institute is the primary university intermediator for federal and Bavarian funding programs — EXIST-Gründerstipendium, EXIST-Forschungstransfer, FLÜGGE, and Start?Zuschuss! — and refers founders to specialized partners including BayPat, Bayern-Innovativ, IHK Oberfranken, HwK Oberfranken, and Bayern-kreativ. It publishes the annual Intrapreneurship Monitor (since 2020) on nationwide intrapreneurship activity. There is no commercial monetization: services are free, the institute is funded through the University of Bayreuth budget and public grants (DFG, ESF), and revenue is explicitly not applicable.

Distribution is entirely direct and campus-anchored, headquartered in the Zapf Building on campus with extensions to the University of Bayreuth e-learning platform and active social channels (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube), plus earned media through UBT-Aktuell. Until the Regional Start-Up and Innovation Center (RIZ) is completed on campus in 2026, the institute refers founders needing physical workspace to the StartUp Point in Bayreuth city center. The operating model is non-profit public sector; headcount is approximately 30 across chairs, research staff, transfer managers, and consulting/administrative roles.

Name

Institut für Entrepreneurship & Innovation (IEI) der Uni Bayreuth

Legal name

Universität Bayreuth

Website

https://iei.uni-bayreuth.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (IEI) is a University of Bayreuth department combining entrepreneurship research, education, and transfer services for students, founders, and regional companies in Upper Franconia, Germany, operating publicly funded startup consulting, mentoring, and funding intermediation since 2020.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

IEI is a university institute at the University of Bayreuth that combines entrepreneurship and innovation research, education, and practical transfer. It sells structured degree programs, certificates, and supplementary studies; free foundation consulting, mentoring, and property-rights/IP advisory for aspiring founders; and publishes applied research outputs such as the annual Intrapreneurship Monitor.

Product overview

The Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (IEI) at the University of Bayreuth is an academic institute that uniquely combines research, education, and transfer. The institute offers a portfolio of educational programs (GO! Programm, M.Sc. Digitalisierung & Entrepreneurship, Gründungssemester, Young Leaders Program, Zusatzstudium Entrepreneurship & Innovation), research publications (Intrapreneurship Monitor), and startup support services (Foundation Consulting & Mentoring, Co-Founder Matching, Property Rights Consulting). It facilitates access to funding programs including EXIST-Gründerstipendium, EXIST-Forschungstransfer, Flügge-Bayern, and Start?Zuschuss!. Additionally, the institute organizes networking events and workshops such as Bottles & Founders, Playtest & Pancakes, and Bayreuth Start & Connect to build the regional startup ecosystem.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Intrapreneurship Monitor: Annual publication by the Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation that systematically elaborates the potentials and challenges of nationwide intrapreneurship activities in Germany. First published in 2020.

Products and services

• Master of Science "Digitalisierung & Entrepreneurship"

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Bayerische Patentallianz GmbH (BayPat)coreTechnology or IntegrationOfficial exploitation partner of the University of Bayreuth for patent and IP matters. Acts as the central service provider for Bavarian universities in patents, facilitating the transfer of research results into commercial applications. The institute refers founders and inventors to BayPat for professional patent searches and IP exploitation services.
• Bayern-InnovativsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerBayern-Innovativ serves as a referral partner for founders requiring comprehensive and free patent searches beyond initial preliminary research. The institute connects inventors with Bayern-Innovativ consultant Harald Rietsch for in-depth IP due diligence.
• Handwerkskammer Oberfranken (HwK Oberfranken)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional chamber of crafts serves as a referral partner for founders with business ideas in the skilled trades sector. Dr. Dirk Haid is the designated contact. The institute refers external inquiries to HwK based on the nature of the founding idea.
• IHK Oberfranken (Chamber of Industry and Commerce Upper Franconia)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional chamber of commerce serves as a referral partner for founders with commercial business ideas. Matthias Keefer is the designated contact. Provides additional consulting resources for entrepreneurs outside the university's direct reach.
• Bayern-kreativsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerBavarian creative industries agency serves as a referral partner for founders in the creative sector (film, music, games, design, performing arts). Bayern-kreativ offers consulting appointments in Bayreuth, extending the institute's reach into creative entrepreneurship support.

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM): Joint interdisciplinary center of TUM and LMU offering entrepreneurship and digital-business education to top students. Comparable to IEI's M.Sc. Digitalisierung & Entrepreneurship and Zusatzstudium offerings, though with a more selective, joint-degree model.
• Center for Entrepreneurship at TU Berlin: TU Berlin's entrepreneurship center offering courses, mentoring, and start-up services to students and researchers. Mirrors IEI's role as a one-stop university entrepreneurship office within the EXIST program network.
• Entrepreneurship at RWTH Aachen University: RWTH's central entrepreneurship unit providing founder support, EXIST intermediation, and innovation transfer. Directly comparable to IEI's mission of combining research, teaching, and transfer in entrepreneurship at a large German research university.
• KIT Entrepreneurship (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology): Entrepreneurship office of a leading German technical university that provides start-up consulting, founder programs, and links to federal EXIST funding. Closely mirrors IEI's academic-institute model combining research chairs, EXIST intermediation, and free founder consulting.
• TUM Entrepreneurship (Technical University of Munich): University-affiliated entrepreneurship unit at a major Bavarian technical university, offering degree programs, founder support, and access to start-up funding. Directly comparable to IEI as an academic institute combining entrepreneurship education with start-up incubation, though operating at materially larger scale in Munich.
• LMU Entrepreneurship Center (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München): Central entrepreneurship hub at LMU Munich supporting students and researchers in venture creation through courses, mentoring, and funding-program intermediation. Highly comparable to IEI's combination of academic programs, consulting, and ecosystem coordination, and located within the same Bavarian state system.

Regional players

• Wirtschaftsförderung & Start-up Support Region Bayreuth: City of Bayreuth's StartUp Point, to which IEI currently refers founders for workspace and coworking until the on-campus RIZ opens. Closely adjacent ecosystem partner and the natural geographic complement to IEI's academic offering.
• FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg - Center for Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship unit of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, another Bavarian university providing founder support, courses, and EXIST applications. Comparable regional academic peer operating in the same state ecosystem as IEI.

Broad incumbents

• UnternehmerTUM GmbH: Large-scale entrepreneurship and innovation center affiliated with TUM, operating as a separate GmbH with extensive incubator, accelerator, and corporate-partnership programs. Comparable to IEI in mission but materially larger, more commercialised, and broader in scope.
• EXIST - Federal Programme for Start-ups from Science: Federal BMWK program under which IEI intermediates grants. Defines the rules, funding instruments, and reporting obligations that channel much of IEI's founder activity; comparable as the upstream policy and funding framework that IEI operates within.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCc09BnI1icf0ZR2-jn4OFpQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/GruenderUni.Bayreuth
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/iei-uni-bayreuth
• Instagraminstagram.com/gruenderuni_bayreuth

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 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 →

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