Promoting digital literacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania

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

Project duration: 02 January 2025 – 31 December 2028
Collaboration: TU Dresden (coordinating), HTW Dresden, HfBK Dresden, Fachhochschule Dresden (FHD), HSZG, HZDR, IFW Dresden, IPF Dresden

The project “Entrepreneurship Initiative dresden|exists (SMEI-ddex)” continues the long-standing success of dresden|exists—a network supporting entrepreneurship and academic spin-offs from research institutions in Dresden and Lusatia.

The goal is to empower students, academic staff, and alumni to develop innovative ideas and implement them entrepreneurially. SMEI-ddex supports participants through offerings in four key areas: information, qualification, idea generation, and start-up support.

Key questions addressed by the project include:

• How can entrepreneurship become a visible and attractive career option beyond traditional career paths?

• How can scientific knowledge be transformed into marketable business models?

• What barriers do young academics encounter on the path to self-employment?

• How can entrepreneurial thinking be sustainably embedded in teaching and university structures?

The project partners coordinate their activities under the umbrella of dresden|exists and focus on individual, practice-oriented support. The aim is to sensitize prospective founders early, strengthen their competencies, and support founding teams over the long term—without pressure to succeed, but with clarity, guidance, and access to networks.

Fachhochschule Dresden (FHD) in the SMEI-ddex Project

FHD contributes its expertise in user-centered design, UX design, prototyping, and creative business model development. Formats such as Startup Ideation and CrossFields provide students from various disciplines with space to develop innovative ideas, create initial prototypes, and test market viability.

Additionally, FHD offers individual start-up consultations, guiding students step by step on the path to self-employment.

Through cooperation with regional partners such as futureSAX and close collaboration with practical experts, FHD actively strengthens the innovation landscape in Dresden. Notably, the project supports a wide range of target groups: in addition to technology-focused projects, creative and social-economics start-ups are also fostered.

SMEI-ddex sees entrepreneurship not only as an economic goal but also as a tool for societal innovation. It is a strategic contribution to an open, forward-looking higher-education landscape, where founding a business is not an exception, but a lived perspective.