Germany ranks among the global leaders in AI research, but there remains a need for improvement in translating this research into marketable applications. In particular, Germany lags internationally in fostering startups emerging from academia. The MISSION KI initiative, funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV), is addressing this challenge with its new AI Founder Fellowship program.
As part of this new spin-off program, doctoral students have access to comprehen-sive support to rapidly transform their leading AI research into successful startup ventures. Interested candidates can apply for one of the ten fellowship positions from now until December 15, 2024. The program begins in February 2025 and runs through October 2025, combining research excellence with entrepreneurial spirit to strengthen Germany's innovation potential.
Dr. Volker Wissing, Federal Minister for Digital and Transport: “We’re building a bridge between AI research and startup creation. With the AI Founder Fellowship, we ensure that innovation-driven ideas don’t get shelved but actively support the market entry of AI innovations in Germany. We want young talent to stay in the country and top researchers to found their startups here. That’s why we’re committed to supporting our dynamic AI startup scene in every way possible.”
Manfred Rauhmeier, Chairman of the acatech Foundation and Secretary of the acatech Coordination Committee: “The AI Founder Fellowship is a sustainable investment in Germany’s innovation capacity. By offering comprehensive support to founding teams and connecting them with key players, we’re fostering effective AI research transfer into the market. If successful, this program could significantly help retain more international AI talent in Germany.”
Prof. Dr. Andreas Dengel, Executive Director of the DFKI Kaiserslautern: “We are delighted to support the AI Founder Fellowship with our expertise and in-frastructure. Through the synergies with the Innovation and Quality Center at DFKI, we create an optimal environment for young AI talents: By offering the fellows ac-cess to our deep learning computing infrastructure, training data and the expertise of our researchers, we are helping to unlock the start-up potential of AI even more effectively. The fellowship is therefore a prime example of how we can bring cutting-edge research into application faster and more effectively and thus accelerate the transfer of AI “Made in Germany” into practice."
Prof. Matthias Nießner, TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology: “There are two major challenges to retaining AI expertise in Germany. Barriers to founding companies are high, meaning many innovative approaches fail to make the leap into practice. Additionally, there’s a lack of attractive opportunities for young talent, leading to brain drain abroad. Our fellowship program directly addresses both of these challenges.”
The AI Fellowship program adds a new support option for aspiring academic entrepreneurs. It offers a comprehensive support package:
Financial Support for Innovative AI Startup Ideas
Participants receive financial assistance through a part-time employment contract (up to 50%, E13 TVöD), providing the necessary flexibility to focus on transferring their research into startup projects without losing their university affiliation.
Specialized Training and Investor Presentations
At the core of the AI Founder Fellowship is a curriculum tailored to developing en-trepreneurial skills, team formation support, and hands-on workshops, or “Bootcamps.” These equip fellows with business, entrepreneurial, and technical competencies necessary for their ventures. Fellows will create business plans and deliver investor pitches.
Operational Support and Technical Coaching
To expedite market readiness, fellows receive personalized operational support. Venture developers—experts in building digital businesses—assist with team for-mation and business model development. Additionally, AI expert and successful entrepreneur Prof. Dr. Matthias Nießner coaches participants as a “sciencepreneur” on technical aspects of their projects, with additional feedback on market rele-vance from industry mentors.
Access to Computing Power, Data, and Networking
Program participants have access to in-kind resources valued at up to €15,000, in-cluding computing power, data access, and other IT services. Fellows also benefit from networking with the Innovation and Quality Center in Kaiserslautern, support-ed by MISSION KI, which offers assistance with computing resources and training data.
An expert jury from MISSION KI and the acatech network will select the ten fellows to participate in this competitive program, with research excellence and innovation potential of the submitted project proposals as key selection criteria. Teams of up to three doctoral candidates are also eligible to participate. The call for applications is open to doctoral students from all disciplines and universities in Germany.
Further information on applications can be found at: AI Founder Fellowship
About MISSION KI
MISSION KI – National Initiative for Artificial Intelligence and Data Economy is a project of acatech – German Academy of Science and Engineering, funded with €32 million from the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV). The initiative aims to strengthen digital competitiveness.
More information can be found at: MISSION KI