MLU founding week: Focus on innovation and failure!

MLU founding week: Focus on innovation and failure!

The anticipation for Founders' Week at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) is increasing: from November 18th to 20th, 2025, students and researchers will experience an exciting time full of opportunities for entrepreneurial development. IDW Online reports that the week starts with a theme day on “Entrepreneurship Education”, during which everything revolves around entrepreneurial thinking and acting.

A special highlight is the “Scidea Stage” ideas competition, in which innovative ideas from creative minds are presented. The alumni meeting in the Lion Building on November 19th also offers a platform to discuss the perspectives of innovation and start-ups in the structural change process.

A look at the topics

The entire start-up week is organized in cooperation with the design house of the Burg Giebichenstein Art University in Halle and is part of the nationwide start-up week in Germany. On the last evening, November 20th, the “FuckUp Night Hall” in the Puschkinhaus invites you, where entrepreneurs and scientists talk about their failed projects. Not only are failures discussed openly, but we are also encouraged to find the courage to learn from mistakes and take new paths.

The goal of these events is clear: MLU wants to motivate its students and researchers to become entrepreneurial and to further promote this important start-up culture. The start-up week is also supported by the university's transfer and start-up service and Stadtwerke Halle GmbH.

Support for start-ups

The EXIST funding program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection also pays particular attention to founders and business ideas. How Federal Ministry of Economics reports, this program has existed since 1998 and supports scientific start-ups at universities. From improving start-up support to funding lines such as the EXIST start-up scholarship or the EXIST research transfer, the program offers a wide range of opportunities for potential founders.

This has not only increased the number of entrepreneurship chairs at universities from one to almost 200, but also led to the creation of over 30,000 jobs subject to social security contributions. The above-average survival rate of the companies founded shows the success of such funding measures: around 88% of the companies that were supported by the EXIST funding program are still in existence after five years.

So when the doors open for Founders' Week in Halle from November 18th to 20th, 2025, it will not only be a celebration of ideas, but also a valuable opportunity for everyone who wants to bring their own project to life.