EXIST Advisory Board

The EXIST Expert Advisory Board was constituted on March 23, 2022. The 16 advisory board members were appointed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE). Chairwoman is once again Prof. Dr. Friederike Welter.

The Advisory Board will advise the regional start-up networks on the development and implementation of their action plans and support the BMWK in the further development of the overarching measures.

The term of office of the previous EXIST Expert Advisory Board ended at the end of the last legislative period. Under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Friederike Welter, it did a great and committed job. Thanks to the expertise of the advisory board members, the EXIST program was able to be further developed in key areas. This applies in particular to the "EXIST Potentials" guideline. Overall, the Advisory Board has helped to establish EXIST as a brand name for the promotion of innovative and science-based start-ups.

"Innovative start-ups are important for Germany's economic future. EXIST was initiated in 1998 to promote the willingness of scientists and academics to set up their own businesses. With success: over the past two decades, many universities in Germany have developed strategic concepts to promote start-ups. In addition, the various funding programmes support scientists from all disciplines in commercializing their research results. But there is another reason why I am also happy to support EXIST: according to studies by the IfM Bonn, start-ups by scientists are much more stable than start-ups in general."

Prof. Dr. Friederike Welter
Chairwoman of the EXIST Expert Advisory Board

Prof. Dr. Friederike Welter - Chairwoman of the EXIST Expert Advisory Board, is President of the Institute for SME Research (IfM) Bonn and Professor at the University of Siegen.

Dr. Marie Asano is currently Investment Principal at the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund, a venture capital fund that invests in growth companies in the European bioeconomy. Previously, she was Senior Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). Before starting her professional career, she completed a PhD in chemistry at the Universities of Liège and Bordeaux.

ECBF Management GmbH

Daniel Breitinger heads the Bitkom start-up team. In order to strengthen the German start-up ecosystem, he advocates better political framework conditions and networking between the individual players. Previously, he was responsible for public affairs and education policy issues at Bitkom. He studied European and political sciences and worked in the German Bundestag and in the automotive industry.

Bitkom e.V.

Dr. Tanja Emmerling is a partner at High-Tech Gründerfonds and heads the Berlin branch. Her areas of expertise are AI, IoT, mobility & logistics, IT security, blockchain and SaaS. She is active as a start-up mentor and is committed to strengthening the role of female investors in the tech sector. Previously, she worked for a media company and was responsible for B2B incubations as Head of New Ventures.

Andrea Frank is Deputy Secretary General and a member of the Executive Board of the Stifterverband. She is responsible for the programmatic orientation of the Stifterverband in the fields of education, science and innovation. Ms. Frank is a member of the University Council of the Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe as well as an expert in various programs at federal and state level.

Dr. Jens-Peter Gaul is Secretary General of the German Rectors' Conference. He previously headed the EU Cooperation Office of the Science Organizations (KoWi) and was head of the "Perspectives on Research" division at the Executive Board of the German Research Foundation (DFG). He is particularly interested in the cooperative relationships between universities and their partners in the transfer of research results into practice.

Dr. Susanne Gewinnus heads the Industry and Research Department at the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). Previously, she was responsible for innovation and technology policy and fundamental issues of competitiveness at the DIHK.

DIHK/Paul Aidan Perry

Dr. Thomas Kathöfer - From 2015 to April 2023, the former Secretary General of the German Rectors' Conference was Managing Director of the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations "Otto von Guericke" e.V., which works with partners from industry, science and the state to promote the innovative strength of SMEs.

Dr. Heiko Koepke is the founder and Managing Director of PHYSEC GmbH and holds a doctorate from the Chair of Controlling at Ruhr University Bochum (RUB). He is an expert in the fields of business development, entrepreneurship, financial controlling and innovation management. In addition to his role as managing director and mentor at the incubator Cube 5 at the RUB, he is a board member of eurobits e.V.

Mag.a Silvia Laimgruber has been Head of Structural Programs at the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG since March 2020. Prior to that, she was responsible for the promotion of academic spin-offs, the establishment of regional incubators (AplusB) and the Spin-off Fellowship, which supports researchers in the implementation of their start-up ideas.

Dr. Rainer Lange supports the German Council of Science and Humanities in developing research and innovation policy recommendations as Head of the Research Division at the Council's Head Office. In recent years, his work has focused on the digitalization of science and its contribution to social change

Science Council/Peter Nierhoff

Dr. Julia Rosendahl studied veterinary medicine and founded the company PerformaNat GmbH from Freie Universität Berlin in 2015. She received funding from EXIST Transfer of Research for the spin-off. Today, she is Managing Director of PerformaNat and develops new solutions for animal health in livestock. She is also involved in IP transfer for spin-offs.

Private

Prof. Dr. Helmut Schönenberger is co-founder and Managing Director of UnternehmerTUM gGmbH, Europe's largest start-up and innovation center. As an aerospace engineer and investor, he pursues the goal of supporting scalable high-tech start-ups, founders and scientists from the initial idea to the successful product. Since 2020, he has also been Vice President Entrepreneurship at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

Dr. Florian Täube is Head of the Start-up Department at the RKW Competence Center. He supports multipliers, such as regional start-up ecosystems or national players. Previously, he researched and taught for over 15 years at Imperial College London, EBS University of Business and Law, Solvay Brussels School and CBS International Business School on topics such as innovation clusters, intrapreneurship, migrant, sustainable and social entrepreneurship.

Franziska Teubert is Managing Director of the Bundesverband Deutsche Startups e.V., which represents the interests of over 1,200 members. She founded Kater Demos Verlag in 2015 and, together with her co-founder, was an early adopter of Constructiv Journalism in Germany. Born in Berlin, she studied communication science at the Free University of Berlin and George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Federal Association of German Startups e.V.

Lena Thiede is co-founder of Planet A. The fund invests in greentech start-ups. As a government director at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), she headed German development cooperation in Tanzania. She has also worked in environmental research and policy consulting for the OECD and the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), among others.