Dr. Peter Boeker has gone from scientific research to founding a company and successfully launching it on the market with his start-up HyperChrom. He earned his doctorate in physical chemistry at the University of Bonn and, as a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Agriculture, established a working group for gas sensor technology and artificial odor measurement technology. In 2013, he invented and patented the fundamentals for the Flow-Field Thermal Gradient GC and developed it into a certified measurement system. Boeker then founded HyperChrom in 2017. Its gas chromatography devices separate mixtures of substances and determine the quantity of the individual components. HyperChrom has significantly accelerated and improved this “universal weapon” of chemical analysis. "With our invention, we have managed to reduce this process from half an hour to about one minute. This is a drastic reduction while maintaining a very high level of quality," explains Boeker. In an interview with enaCom, he talks about his various roles as a scientist and founder, the development of his start-up over the years, and the importance of the university for the company.

The university was once again a partner at Germany's largest start-up open-air event in Bonn with its Transfer Center enaCom. STARTUP OPEN AIR (SOA) offered a wealth of inspiration and plenty of space for networking with exciting discussions, keynote speeches, pitches, and workshops. Numerous start-ups, people interested in founding a company, investors, and companies from Bonn and the surrounding region took part in the event at the end of August, including several start-up teams from the University of Bonn, such as Datapods, Narraflix, and Electi Inventory. Identeco, an IT security start-up founded four years ago at the University of Bonn, pitched on the main stage.

Innovations such as a chatbot that talks to patients while recording medical data or a new test procedure for genetic defects in infertile men are being funded by the Transfer Center enaCom in the 5th round of prototyping grants. Two teams of scientists from the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) are developing innovative prototypes for practical challenges of our time. The findings from the research are prepared for planned commercialization with the prototyping grants. The grants with a funding amount of up to €50,000 are regularly announced by the Transfer Center. Applications for the next round can be submitted until 20.11.2024.

At the Social Start-up Summer School 2024, aspiring entrepreneurs spent five days developing business models with a focus on social impact. What made this year’s program special was that every start-up idea had to be linked to a social cause. Participants took part in workshops covering the different phases of start-up development and presented their results in pitches to a jury of experienced start-up coaches, who provided valuable feedback. The Summer School was jointly organized by the Transfer Center enaCom at the University of Bonn and the Start-up Factory at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences.

From theory to start-up pitch: this is the process that students in Prof. Denise Fischer-Kreer's module on start-ups in the agricultural and food industry are going through at the new Institute for Entrepreneurship (IES) at the Faculty of Agriculture. In the final presentation of their start-up ideas, bachelor's students showed the entire team of the Chair of Entrepreneurial Behavior, as well as the start-up advisors from the Transfer Center enaCom and a representative of Sparkasse KölnBonn, how knowledge can be successfully transferred from theory to practice. A successful example of entrepreneurship education at the University of Bonn.

At the GreenBonn Hackathon, students from the University of Bonn and other universities in the region worked on creative solutions for implementing climate targets in Bonn. First prize went to the “OneWay” team, which developed a platform to simplify approval processes and ensure transparent communication about construction projects. The event took place from June 28 to 30, 2024, at the Digitalhub and was organized by Stadtwerke Bonn, the University of Bonn, the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, and the Digitalhub.

Do you have an innovative idea and are looking for co-founders for your start-up? Or do you feel the founding spirit but are still looking for a project to get involved in? On the FoundFactory platform, idea providers and people interested in founding a company are matched precisely. Starting in July, the Transfer Center enaCom is offering all members of the University of Bonn free access to FoundFactory services for one year. As a special feature not only professional interests but also personal characteristics are taken into account, so you can be sure to find your dream team for a successful start-up.

The Transfer Center enaCom assists scientists with its specific start-up support services. Among other things, the "Research2UseCase-Canvas" helps to bridge the gap between research projects and potential use cases. For this continuous focus on sciencepreneurship, i.e. the start-up spirit in science and research, the Transfer Center has once again been awarded the "Young Entrepreneurs in Science Campus" certificate.