About us
Since 2018, Cube 5 has been accompanying and supporting interested founders and startups in the fields of cybersecurity and IT security in every phase of development.
You can find Cube 5 at Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security and the Faculty of Computer Science at Ruhr University Bochum and at the university’s own Worldfactory Start-up Center (WSC). Cube 5 especially supports foundations from science that want to enter the B2B sector. As one of four startup incubators in Germany, Cube 5 supports highly innovative startup projects and startups from the scientific context of IT security. With the “StartUpSecure” funding program of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) there can also be monetary support. Specially developed formats – e. g. the incubator “inCUBE” for earlystage startup teams – complete the portfolio.
From the idea to business model development to company setup: Cube 5 supports young entrepreneurs with startup expertise, suitable offers and sustainable programmes in every phase. A local to international highly developed ecosystem of companies and institutions in the fields of IT security and cybersecurity offer the ideal breeding ground for innovative business ideas and young companies.
The Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security and Cube 5 have a long history in company building: In 20 years more than 20 successful companies have been founded. Cybersecurity startup pioneers such as ESCRYPT, Edgeless Systems, VMRay and PHYSEC prove that Bochum and the entire Ruhr metropolitan have developed in one of the most important contact points for the German and European startup scene for IT security in recent years.
On December 1, 2017, Cube 5 was launched alongside the Darmstadt (StartUpSecure ATHENE), Saarbrücken (CISPA) and Karlsruhe (KASTEL) sites as a startup incubator in the field of IT security under the “StartUpSecure” initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The official launch of Cube 5 took place on May 9, 2018, at the premises of ESCRYPT, one of the first spinoffs at HGI. The initial funding was provided in the context of the research framework program “Self-Determined and Secure in the Digital World 2015-2020”. Cube 5 will be funded with 1.5 million euros until 2024. This second funding phase also serves to consolidate Cube 5 as a permanent institution beyond 2024.
