Düsseldorf is the capital of North Rhine-Westfalia, Germany's most populous federal state and lies right in the heart of the European Market. 150 Million people live within a radius of 500 kilometres, representing 35 Percent of the European Union's total population. These and about 500.000 companies, located in Düsseldorf's catchment area, represent a huge market potential for international scale-ups entering the German market. There are currently over 300 start-ups located in Düsseldorf - among them leading start-ups like Trivago, Auxmoney, , Just Spices orCompeon. These are an important factor for the innovative strength of the economy in and around the state capital. As part of Düsseldorf’s start-up initiative, a long-term strategy and several projects were defined by the entire start-up community, all with one definitive goal: improving the basic conditions for start-ups and international scale-ups in Düsseldorf.

The NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs consists of nine departments: I. Central Department II. Digitization of the State Administration III. Economic Policy IV. Innovation and Markets V Digitization and Economic Development VI. Energy VII. Climate protection VIII. Location marketing and development IX. Business law The organization chart of the Ministry contains information on the departments and units. A detailed overview of the tasks and responsibilities can be found in the business distribution plan shortly. The subordinate section of the Ministry of Economic Affairs includes the state-owned companies Information and Technology North Rhine-Westphalia, Geological Service NRW, Measurement and Calibration NRW (LBME) and the Materialprüfungsamt NRW (MPA). In addition, the Ministry carries out the technical supervision of the Department 6 "Mining and Energy" of the district government Arnsberg and parts of the Departments 34 of the district governments Arnsberg, Detmold, Dusseldorf, Cologne and Münster.

NRW.BANK is the state development bank of North Rhine-Westphalia. Its mission is to support its owner – the state of North Rhine-Westphalia – in the completion of its structural and economic policy tasks. For this purpose NRW.BANK uses a wide range of promotion tools – from lowinterest promotion loans to equity financing to advisory services. It cooperates with all banks and savings banks based in NRW on a competition neutral basis. The clients of NRW.BANK benefit from favorable conditions as well as from long maturities and fixed interest periods. Regional seed funds and the “NRW.BANK.Venture Fund” support early-stage financing in NRW. Young high-tech companies are promoted with up to five million euros. In addition to that the NRW.BANK provides contacts to private investors within the “win Business Angels initiative”. Furthermore there is the “NRW.BANK.Venture Center”, a unit specialized in advising technology-oriented founders in universities and research institutions.

Euronext is the leading pan-European exchange (and 6th largest globally) with 1’300 listed issuers worth close to €3.9 trillion in market capitalization as of end June 2018, an unmatched blue chip franchise consisting of 24 issuers in the Morningstar® Eurozone 50 Index™ benchmark and a strong diverse domestic and international client base. Its total product offering includes Equities, Exchange Traded Funds, Warrants & Certificates, Bonds, Derivatives, Commodities and Indices. Euronext operates the regulated markets, Euronext Growth and Euronext Access, which facilitates SMEs’ and Tech companies’ access to capital markets. There are 950+ listed SMEs on Euronext markets, of which 348 can be considered as listed Tech companies operating in TMT, Cleantech and Life Sciences. Overall over 5’400 institutional investors provide a deep investor pool; 1000+ institutional investors specialize on SMEs and the tech segment, coming from 40 countries.

SME Instrument, part of the European Innovation Council Pilot, supports market-creating innovation in small and medium-sized businesses that have significant growth potential and global ambitions. Each applicant SME goes through a rigorous review and selection process: Over 50,000 have applied but less than 6% have been selected. Besides funding, which starts at 50,000 Euros and can grow to 2.5 million Euros, each SME participant receives world-class business coaching, training and support services, from idea development to product launch in the market.

The BioCampus Cologne (BCC) and the Rechtsrheinische Technologie- und Gründerzentrum Köln (RTZ) represent two well established hubs for innovative technology companies. Since 2020 both locations have been merged in a cooperative way to create one institution for fostering high-tech innovation within the Rhineland. André van Hall has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of both locations. This is intended to establish a far-reaching startup network and a sustainable business incubation. A hotspot for innovation and technology, directly in the beautiful Cathedral City of Cologne. More than 70 technology companies are supported, mentored and expanded by the cooperation. Among these companies are the highly innovative startups such as CEVEC, b.fab, Rimasys, BioEcho, BluCon or InfanDx. Not only startups have joined the company network, but also globally established companies such as Bayer, Lonza, Evotec or Myriad. The BCC offers space of over 40 acres for unlimited growth of a comprehensive high-tech cluster. For realising this vision, the BCC is constantly working on expanding and extending its office and laboratory buildings, as well as creating completely new buildings, ensuring that startups and technology com panies always have enough space to develop. The RTZ is a business incubator which is directly located in the center of Cologne. The RTZ has established itself as an incubation venue for startups with innovative ideas. In addition to the spacious laboratory areas, the RTZ also offers coworking space and a young community of innovative technology startups. BCC and RTZ are embedded in a versatile network of strong partners within the region Rhineland. The combination of all advantages between the BCC and RTZ, therefore, offers the ideal environment for future expansion, development and growth for technolo gy companies and furthermore supports the vision of establishing Cologne as an international hotspot for international technology & innovation.

The Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry is an institution financed by traders, merchants and private companies; statutory membership and fees enable it to represent the general interests of industry, trade and the service sectors. The CCI contacts government and public authorities, parliaments and courts. A dialogue that is beneficial for both sides. For Startups the CCI offers a huge range of services: support in creating your business model or business plan, advice on how to cope with loan and other support programs, information on alternative ways like venture capital and crowdfunding to finance your business, consulting you in questions of growth. Your startup matters are our business!

Orrick is a tech-focused, full-service law firm passionate about entrepreneurship and guiding the success of early ventures. We provide advice on tactical approaches to companies and investors, from incubation to strategic exit and future growth opportunities. Leveraging our global resources, as well as deep-rooted relationships in Silicon Valley, we provide critical insight into this rapidly evolving and increasingly competitive marketplace. Our global footprint enables us to scale with our local emerging technology clients and offer seamless service as they grow and expand. We put our network to work for our clients - wherever they are in the world. Our lawyers work intimately with over 2,700 technology company clients and over 100 venture capital firms. Over the past 12 months, Orrick has helped raise over $14.6 billion in venture capital financings globally through over 860 transactions in 35 countries.

ACTPHAST 4.0 supports and accelerates the innovation capacity of European companies by providing them with direct access to the expertise and state-of-the-art facilities of Europe's leading photonics research centres (the ACTPHAST 4.0 Partners), enabling companies to exploit the tremendous commercial potential of applied photonics. There are 24 research institutes who together make up the ACTPHAST 4.0 Partners. Together the ACTPHAST 4.0 Partners provide a full spectrum of photonics technology platforms ranging from fibre optics and micro optics, to highly integrated photonic platforms (7 technology platforms in all), with capabilities extending from design through to full system prototyping. ACTPHAST 4.0 operates as an open call to all European companies (big and small, but particularly targeted at SMEs) so they can avail of timely, cost-effective, and low risk photonics innovation support, and that the extensive range of capabilities within the consortium can impact across a wide range of industrial sectors and application domains, from communications to consumer-related products, and life sciences to industrial manufacturing.

The policy of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia of focusing on biotechnology fosters cooperation between companies, research institutions and the public sector along chains of added value within 16 branches and fields of technology. BIO.NRW, one of the 17 state clusters of industry, centrally catalyzes the ongoing development of the strengths of North Rhine-Westphalian biotechnology. BIO.NRW fosters cooperation between researchers, developers, investors and politicians on the state, national and international level. Within the framework of the North Rhine-Westphalian cluster policy, the cluster BIO.NRW is being funded by the Ministry for Innovation, Science and Research.

EYIF is the leading Foundation for Youth Innovation in Europe; an independent, non-profit, pan-European, bottom-up association reaching over 500,000 young people across Europe. In its mission to grow the European startup ecosystem, EYIF is forming strategic innovation partnerships with major industry players across multiple sectors such as BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bahn, Huawei, but also with global and regional innovation platforms, namely CeBIT, SLUSH, Pirate Summit, MIT Innovators Under 35, EU Prize for Women Entrepreneurs, Mobile World Congress Barcelona and Mobile World Congress Shanghai. Our key activities: · Pan-European Ecosystem Engagement · Flagship Event (Unconvention) · Competitions and Hackathons (i.e InnoApps, InnoPitch, Europioneers) · Access to EU funding through our consulting spin-off, EUSS · Pan-European targeted scouting · Exchange Programs (i.e. InnoTour USA) · Presence with delegations to Innovation Platforms (i.e. MWC Shanghai, CeBIT, SLUSH)

High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests EUR 500,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the KfW Banking Group, as well as thirteen industrial groups of ALTANA, BASF, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE Color, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gruenderfonds has about EUR 563 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 291 million HTGF II).

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