The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the incubator from the IT security Cube 5 at Ruhr University Bochum with 1.5 million euros for another three years.
Bochum has been a good location for IT security (ITS) for years. This is currently demonstrated once again by the funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), which is once again supporting the ITS incubator Cube 5 at RUB with 1.5 million euros over three years starting in 2021. “It is a great pleasure that we were so convincing with the work and offerings of Cube 5 and now receive further funding. We are very pleased about that. It gives us the opportunity to firmly anchor Cube 5 in Bochum as an IT security location and to continue to produce promising technology-driven startups from academia,” says Prof. Dr. Christof Paar, Cube 5 project manager and director at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy.
Cube 5 already received its first funding from the BMBF in the context of the research framework program “Self-determined and secure in the digital world 2015-2020”. In addition to Bochum, this funding supported three other incubators in Darmstadt, Saarbrücken and Karlsruhe. The four incubators started on December 1, 2017 under the “StartUpSecure” initiative and have since become the first incubators from IT security nationwide.
IT security in Bochum
The topic of IT security is being established and expanded at the Bochum site. The ecosystem consists of a local and supraregional network of science and business. This includes Europe’s largest degree programs in ITS with around 1,000 students, an active startup scene, and the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, which relocated to Bochum in 2019. As an incubator, Cube 5 supports researchers and students interested in founding companies who want to get technology-intensive ideas off the ground in the field of IT security.
Targets
Cube 5 provides concrete support in the form of start-up expertise and technology development right through to the establishment of the company. Targeted support services include, for example, consultation hours, seminars, pitches and assistance with applications for the StartUpSecure funding program. With this funding, the BMBF provides financial support to start-up projects in the product development phase or during the establishment of the company.
Future
With the help of these Cube 5 support services, research is transferred into practice. These services are to be intensified and expanded with the funding. In addition, the second funding phase will be used to establish and consolidate Cube 5 as a permanent incubator beyond 2024.
More information (in german)
Informationen zur StartUpSecure
Contact
Martina Rinkens Cube 5 – Creating Security Horst-Görtz-Institut für IT-Sicherheit / Ruhr-Universität Bochum +49 (0) 234 32-29822 martina.rinkens (at) rub.de
