Entrepreneurship Initiative Dresden|exists (IMEI-ddex2024-FHD)

Funding: European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), Free State of Saxony
Project team: Marius Brade, Jonas Ludorf

Project duration: 02 January 2025 – 31 December 2026
Collaboration: TU Dresden (coordinating), HTW Dresden, HfBK Dresden, Fachhochschule Dresden (FHD), HSZG

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The ESF Plus funding guideline for Start-up Initiatives supports actors at academic institutions in Saxony—so-called “founding initiatives”—to further develop a culture of entrepreneurship, self-initiative, and entrepreneurial thinking.

Through innovative modules, including the project “Entrepreneurship Initiative dresden|exists (IMEI-ddex2024)”, measures are implemented that go beyond standard offerings to address founding-relevant questions, test new solution approaches, and strengthen networking.

As a new approach, the Saxon universities have decided to combine part of their support offerings for start-up projects within these innovative modules to create a statewide program. The university partners focus on three sub-modules:

1. Prototyping

2. Bootcamp and Masterclass

3. Founder personality development and Co-Founder Matching

The target groups are students, graduates, and academic staff of the participating institutions. The project partners coordinate their activities under the umbrella of dresden|exists, emphasizing individual, practice-oriented support.

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Fachhochschule Dresden (FHD) in the IMEI-ddex2024 Project

FHD plays a key role in the Prototyping sub-module. The focus is on making existing infrastructures and associated competencies more accessible and usable for a broader target group involved in start-up projects. The detailed context, objectives, and framework are described in the application of the coordinating founding network in Leipzig.