Funding application for the EXIST start-up grant

The following tasks must be completed

• The potential founders submit their business idea in the form of an idea paper to the university, research institution or start-up network (see network map for contacts).
• The founders should nominate a mentor (e.g. graduate supervisor, doctoral supervisor) from the university or research institution who will take over the technical and professional supervision of the start-up preparation.
• The relevant start-up network arranges a coach who accompanies the founders during the entrepreneurial start-up preparations and the preparation of the business plan.
• The university or research institution must prove that it is embedded in a start-up network. This should be an EXIST network, an EXIST partner region or a comparable region (see network map). If there is no start-up network at their university or research institution, the founders can also contact a network at another university in their vicinity.
• The founders must have taken advantage of a consultation with the start-up initiative of the respective university or research institution.
  The university or research institution forwards the application to the project management organization Jülich PTJ.
  Both the university and the founders are informed of the approval by the PTJ. The funds are paid directly to the university or research institution.
• The project management agency recommends that the contribution of the start-up projects to the fulfillment of the ESF cross-cutting objectives: "Equality between women and men", "Non-discrimination" and "Sustainable development" should be given greater consideration in the application. It should also describe how these objectives are anchored in the corporate culture of the planned start-ups. The contribution of the start-up projects to fulfilling the Sustainability goals of the German government should be described qualitatively and quantitatively.

Application deadlines

• Applications can be submitted at any time.

Fill out and send the application documents

The application itself can be submitted via the Electronic form system for applications, offers and sketches (easy-online) to submit. For electronic applications, the application documents must be uploaded as a completed, saved, but structurally unaltered pdf file! We recommend that you use the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to complete the pdf form.

Please upload the complete application documents (attachments 1-8) as a PDF in the easy online application system. It is no longer necessary to send them by post. We will return documents submitted by post.

Please send us all documents digitally or as a scan (please send signed attachments as a single PDF). For further electronic processing, please also upload the completed form to the easy online application system. The AZA project application form must be uploaded to easy online with a legally binding signature and stamp of the university or research institution or digitally signed.

The originals of all documents with signatures must be kept for 5 years after the end of the project and, if necessary, submitted as part of an on-site inspection.

Research Center Jülich GmbH
Project Management Jülich (PtJ)
Berlin office
P.O. Box 610247
10923 Berlin
Info phone
Phone: 030 20199-411
E-Mail: ptj-exist-gruendungsstipendium@fz-juelich.de

The start-up network or the contact person at the university or non-university research institution can also provide information on this.

Current downloads

Support with the application process

Every university or non-university research institution has a contact person for founders or is part of a start-up network. Students interested in setting up their own business should get in touch with the contact person responsible for them for an initial information meeting. Those interested in starting a business can find out who is responsible for them in the EXIST start-up network map.