ENABLING INNOVATION
Germany has excellent basic research and outstanding scientists. In the Global Innovation Index, we still rank 4th in the category of human capital and research. However, we have been failing for decades to translate this excellent research into innovation. IP transfer, venture capital offering and start-up ecosystem lag far behind international benchmarks. Innovation migrates abroad and primarily creates economic benefits there.
SPRIND BUILDS THE BRIDGE BETWEEN THE SPIRIT OF RESEARCH AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Rafael Laguna de la Vera SPRIND Director
SPRIND addresses this existing valley of death through financing offers, world-class coaching and strategic measures that strengthen the innovation ecosystem. In the past five years, almost 3,000 project submissions have been analyzed, over 250 of which were financed with smaller sums and subsequently 28 projects have received funding of over three million euros.
“FOR LARGE MISSIONS LIKE NUCLEAR FUSION, YOU NEED MORE THAN MONEY. SPRIND NOT ONLY PROVIDES FLEXIBLE FINANCING ASSISTANCE, BUT ALSO CONNECTS PEOPLE, TACKLES STRUCTURAL HURDLES AND SUPPORTS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INNOVATIVE ECOSYSTEM.”
Moritz von der Linden CEO Marvel Fusion
+3,000 +250 28 project submissions projects financed by SPRIND financing over 3 million euros
Source: European Deeptech Report 2023
CHALLENGES
With its Challenges, SPRIND has developed a competition process that serves as a role model. By using pre-commercial procurement as a financing structure, a uniquely efficient, fast and unbureaucratic instrument could be established. Mario Draghi recommends the SPRIND Challenges as a “preferred approach” for promoting disruptive innovations. The Cyber Agency, the BMWE and international agencies have already adopted the concept and the financing instrument.
15
+150M euros 3x
14 DAYS
BETWEEN THE END OF THE APPLICATION AND THE SIGNING OF THE SPRIND CONTRACT IN THE LAST SIX CHALLENGE AND FUNKE ROUNDS
Start-ups from Challenges. 36 teams from research institutions have resulted in 13 spin-offs.
the challenge.
The SPRIND Challenges impress with their speed and lack of bureaucracy. SPRIND has managed to reduce the period for the high-quality selection of the most promising teams to less than two weeks. During this time, all submissions will be analyzed internally, evaluated by external jury experts and the best teams will stand before the jury and pitch then live.
SPRIND has launched six Challenges, six Funken (shorter, lowvolume competitions) and financed 115 teams.
The teams can be start-ups, SMEs or private individuals in addition to those coming from research institutions. Teams from research institutions are actively supported in the start-up process. During Phase II of the Challenges at the latest, they are encouraged to create their start-up, and all Challenge winners have thus far spun off before the end of the Challenge.
Teams collected funding from private investors following
The invested state capital was raised by Challenge teams from private investors (as of December 2024)
PROJECTS
Through the Freedom Act, Parliament has provided SPRIND with a range of globally unique financing instruments.
SPRIND has used all of the new instruments several times since the beginning of 2024 and has been met with great enthusiasm from both investors and founders.
SPRIND uses these instruments to support individual innovative projects. The instruments are combined in a modular manner and used sequentially to implement optimal, cost-effective financing that mobilizes private capital.
2.5 2 3.5
German and European funding offers are usually bureaucratic and very slow in approval – start-ups regularly report hundreds of pages of applications and more than twelve months delay until approval.
This means that Germany is losing valuable time in international competition. Teams often receive funding because they write good proposals – not because of technical and entrepreneurial excellence.
SPRIND therefore strives for short throughput times with the highest selection quality. Initially, it is sufficient to answer 15 questions digitally on a few pages. Funding agreements are slim at 10-15 pages, bureaucracy has been minimized in coordination with the ministries in deviation from the usual provisions stated in the Federal Budget Code.
MOBILIZING PRIVATE CAPITAL
SPRIND leverages private capital in a targeted manner. Over the long term, breakthrough innovations must be transferred into the private financing cycle, which is why SPRIND works closely with European investors and supports teams in fundraising.
To this end, SPRIND has expanded a network of hundreds of investors in the deeptech sector. For the past three years, it has been organizing Venture SPRIND, one of the largest deeptech start-up events in Europe with over 250 participating VC funds. As a result, numerous SPRIND team investments have been made.
2.8 X
SPRIND LEVERAGES PRIVATE CAPITAL WITH THE NEW FINANCING INSTRUMENTS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE SPRIND FREEDOM ACT.
The work of SPRIND is bearing fruit: Companies such as Marvel Fusion, Focused Energy, Reverion and CPTx were able to collect large amounts of financing as a result of SPRIND’s support.
In the first three years of its work, SPRIND had to establish subsidiaries for the large-scale promotion of disruptive innovations. These breakthrough innovations were 100 percent state-owned – therefore, it was virtually impossible to mobilize private capital.
Since the SPRIND Freedom Act, SPRIND now has more extensive options, which has enabled additional private capital to be mobilized in all large-scale financing projects. SPRIND is thereby setting new standards and actively attracting private investors through financing, networking and market confidence.
BEST PRACTICE SPRIND
Within a few years, SPRIND’s work, processes and governance structures have been internationally recognized as best practices. Several EU member states and the EU rely on active advice from SPRIND in order to:
Establish challenges according to the SPRIND model
Establish agencies with comparable governance
Initiate international cooperation in the field of innovation
SUCCESSFUL COOPERATION IN THE EUROPEAN REGION
EUROPEAN INNOVATION COUNCIL
“Plug-in”; consulting, potential participation in committees
FRANKREICH
Payment of a French liaison manager; CoChairmanship of the Founding Commission of the French SPRIND and MoU* BPI
VINNOVIA (SVERIGES INNOVATIONSMYNDIGHET)
MoU*, objective: Joint projects/challenges
CYBERAGENTUR & ARIA
Consulting, sharing best practices
SPRIND has the ability to hire exceptional personnel. On the one hand, SPRIND can pay so-called “innovation managers” salaries in line with the market, while on the other its governance, public image, internal working methods and mission are highly attractive for top personnel who want to help shape the new innovation age of Germany and Europe.
SPRIND hires these personnel directly. This means that there are no particular interests: Project decisions are made impartially, and political advice can also be given without vested interest.
In this context, SPRIND is involved in broad political processes (e.g., the establishment of chip production in Germany), resolves challenges in the innovation ecosystem (e.g., IP Transfer 3.0) and advises on technology regulation (e.g., in the Commission for Nuclear Fusion).
EXPERTISE
NIEDERLANDE
Help with the establishment of a Dutch SPRIND
*MoU = Memorandum of Understanding
first joint Challenge
OTHER
OLAV CARLSEN
JOHANNES OTTERBACH
ALEXANDER DIEHL
STRATEGIC PROJECTS
Breakthrough innovations can only be successful if they are based on functioning (digital) infrastructure and embedded in a productive ecosystem.
SPRIND therefore also takes on strategic projects that sustainably increase the site’s ability for breakthrough innovation.
LAW AS CODE
state with Law as Code – not only as text, but also as executable code. Today’s publication of laws in pure language creates translation efforts, media discontinuities and isolated solutions. In the future, law will also be published as code: interactive, dynamic and capable of being connected for seamless integration, uniform data structures and process automation. This is how the operating system, on which a truly digital state functions, is created.
EUDI WALLET
With EUDi Wallet, we are bringing digital proof of identity into everyday life. Prototypes were developed during a SPRIND Funke. In addition, requirements are defined centrally and operating and financing models are developed. SPRIND relies on an open, transparent process, and civil society, associations, science and the private sector are closely involved. SPRIND wants to lay the foundation of the digital
MEIN BILDUNGSRAUM
“Mein Bildungsraum” brings digital certificates in a uniform standard to the area and will allow seamless integration into the EUDi Wallet. In addition, “Mein Bildungsraum” is intended to remove further hurdles in the education sector and strengthen a successful, digital education landscape.
SPRIND has closely accompanied the Chips Act in recent years and played a key role in Intel’s planned settlement at the time.
Germany and Europe need “leading node size” semiconductor design, production and packaging. For this purpose, SPRIND is working on setting up a production facility together with European research institutions and plant manufacturers.
IP TRANSFER
IP transfer in Germany is still lengthy, hostile to start-ups and over-bureaucratic. SPRIND therefore launched an initiative three years ago to establish standardized IP transfer. SPRIND now provides templates through a toolbox and has tested the introduction of new IP transfer models with 17 universities.
CHIPS ACT
FINANCE MATTERS
SPRIND impresses with relatively low overhead costs of currently about five percent. The overheads include, among other things, individual project support, assumption of commercial activities for the subsidiaries, networking offers, events, Challenge organization, internal administration, review of the use of funds for grants and so on.
This means that highly efficient financing measures are implemented with relatively low overheads. On the one hand, this is due to the high quality of personnel, and on the other to the low-bureaucracy processes that have been established from the ground up.
SPRIND BUDGET
SPRIND’s successful performance has also been reflected in steady budget growth in recent years. The BMBF and BMFTR have continuously increased funding, and the BMI, BMV and BMDS have also commissioned SPRIND to carry out individual challenges.
Nevertheless, SPRIND still lags far behind international agencies. This is bad for the innovation ecosystem – as an economy, we urgently need to invest in future sectors and develop and commercialize the next leap innovations from Germany and Europe. And that is bad for the effectiveness of SPRIND, because higher budgets can be used to exploit economies of scale, network effects can be tapped and risk can be spread.
Therefore, SPRIND’s budget should continue to grow significantly, so that about 700 to 800 million euros per year can flow into breakthrough innovations in this legislature.
DISRUPTIVE FUNDERS
The UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) is modelled on the famed US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), but has a smaller annual budget.
SPRIND GMBH
BUNDESAGENTUR FÜR SPRUNGINNOVATIONEN FEDERAL AGENCY FOR BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION
Lagerhofstrasse 4, 04103 Leipzig
info@sprind.org www.sprind.org
Managing Directors Berit Dannenberg, Rafael Laguna de la Vera Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Dr. E. h. Peter Leibinger, graduate engineer