Success in the EXIST flagship competition Startup Factories: DFKI is a partner in award-winning Southwest X consortium

The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) is a partner in the Southwest X startup and innovation ecosystem, which was named one of ten winning projects in the nationwide EXIST Lighthouse Competition Startup Factories organized by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

DFKI plays a central role within Southwest X (original application title “The Bridge”) as a technical innovation driver. With its internationally recognized AI expertise and close ties to networking with local business players as well as those from all over Germany and France, DFKI contributes valuable know-how to identify technology-oriented start-up ideas at an early stage, develop them in a targeted manner, and bring them to market maturity. By directly integrating excellent AI research into start-up support, DFKI significantly contributes to the quality and innovative strength of new business models. A particular focus is on sustainable and trustworthy AI applications that address specific social and ecological challenges.

“As a partner in the Southwest X consortium, DFKI can specifically support start-ups from its own innovation ecosystem – not only in Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, but also at our locations, laboratories, and branch offices in Bremen, Lower Saxony, Hesse, and Schleswig-Holstein,” explains DFKI CEO Prof. Dr. Antonio Krüger. 

“Our long-standing strategic partnership with the French research institute Inria offers particular added value: it enables us to provide targeted support to German and French AI start-ups in evaluating and further developing their technological potential, and connect them to markets and networks within their respective country.” adds Prof. Dr. Philipp Slusallek, Managing Director of DFKI Saarbrücken and Inria coordinator. “The Startup Factory gives us the opportunity to significantly strengthen DFKI's commitment to start-ups and to play a central role in the development of a cross-border AI start-up ecosystem,” Slusallek continues.

Southwest X has ambitious goals: Over the next ten years, around 1,500 technology-oriented start-ups with a total of 20,000 jobs are to be created across the region. The total budget for the first five-year project phase is over 20 million euros, almost half of which will be provided by the federal government. 
The consortium brings together renowned partners from science, industry, and innovation promotion: In addition to DFKI, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Vallendar), the htw saar with its transfer company FITT gGmbH, Max-Planck-Innovation GmbH, Trier University of Applied Sciences (Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld) RPTU Kaiserslautern and the Collège des Ingénieurs (Munich and Paris) also participate. Numerous other partners from Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, France, and Luxembourg complement the strong network.
Southwest X is creating a powerful innovation driver in the greater region for research-based start-ups, international exchange, and sustainable economic structural change. 
Other successful consortia include UNITE, with the participation of DFKI's university partners TU Berlin and Humboldt University, and Futury, with the participation of DFKI shareholder TU Darmstadt.

Background: EXIST lighthouse competition “Startup Factories”. 
With the EXIST competition, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) is supporting the establishment of up to ten high-performance startup ecosystems in Germany. The aim is to significantly increase the number of science-based start-ups, improve access to private investors, and enable sustainable financing with private-sector co-financing. The competition is part of the German government's start-up strategy.
 

southwestX | THE BRIDGE TO INNOVATION