With the start-up and creative center SQuArE, Fachhochschule Dortmund offers 200 square meters of space for innovative ideas and start-up ambitions. In addition to the co-working space and PC pool, the workshop is now also fully equipped at the new location at Lindemannstraße 79. The SQuArE offer is aimed at students, lecturers and employees of Fachhochschule Dortmund - regardless of how concrete their ideas already are.
"SQuArE is not only a place of implementation, but also a place of encounter," says Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Schwick, Rector of Fachhochschule Dortmund. The close exchange with like-minded people and experts from Fachhochschule Dortmund's start-up service promotes the creative development of ideas. The free offer deliberately starts early and low-threshold on the way to a start-up. Having your own start-up idea or a completed business plan are not prerequisites for using the facility. Instead, the focus is on interest in the topic and having fun discovering and trying things out.
A lot of excellent devices
It is not without reason that the word "Basteln" ("handicrafts") adorns the door to the workshop. However, this deliberately downplays what is behind it. "Because there is a lot of excellent equipment here," emphasizes Raimond Filges, Head of the Transfer Office at Fachhochschule Dortmund.
This includes 3D printers for resin and plastics, a CO2 laser cutter, electrical measuring devices, microcontrollers and multimeters, milling, grinding and drilling machines and a computer-controlled free-arm sewing machine. "And if that's not enough, we have a direct line to the research laboratories and training workshops at the faculties of Fachhochschule Dortmund," adds project coordinator Christina Schönberger. In other words, there are virtually no limits to the ideas.
With SQuArE, idea generation and start-ups will become even more visible and tangible at the university. From the summer semester of 2022, various offers from the new start-up and creative center will also be integrated into the curriculum. Ideas with potential can be funded directly with up to €7,500 with the help of Kickstart funds.
Successful with the TraFo principle
The close integration of the third-party funding department and the transfer office is extremely beneficial for the implementation of the project: "With the TraFo principle, we have created a unique combination of transfer and research in NRW," praises Jochen Drescher, Chancellor of Fachhochschule Dortmund. This approach to project management is a basis for developing and launching innovative solutions for social challenges.
SQuArE stands for "Training, Qualification and Working Environmentfor (Future) Entrepreneurs". The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the "Research at Universities of Applied Sciences" program.