Autor: Uta Kirchner

The study presents the results of a survey of start-up enterprises carried out in 2008/09 by the Entrepreneurship Services of TU Berlin among current and former students and staff of the TU Berlin (in cooperation with its national and international alumni programme). This survey draws on the previous surveys conducted in 2001, 2003 and 2005. New questions have also been included, in particular relating to the personality of the entrepreneurs, their motivation, and the use they made of available start-up support. A total of 1,682 prospective and existing entrepreneurs were contacted in Germany as well as 2,393 members of the international alumni programme, and one fifth of those contacted were women. Replies were received from 256 founders of new enterprises and also from 66 respondents interested in starting up in business. This means that an impressive total of 431 companies with links to the TU Berlin have taken part in the surveys since 2001. We are very grateful for this cooperation! Of the companies registered in the current survey, some 74 % are based in Berlin and four out of five companies are located in the Berlin-Brandenburg region. About every sixth Berlin entrepreneur (16 %) said that the proximity to the TU Berlin and other research institutions was a key factor for them when choosing a location. This means that the TU Berlin is making a considerable contribution to the economic development of Germany’s capital city and to its innovative potential. More than a fifth of the entrepreneurs are currently active in the consulting sector. Fifteen percent of respondents classified themselves in the construction and planning sector in the broad sense.Also well represented are electrical engineering / telecommunications, and the software sector, each accounting for some 9 %, with a further 7.5 % of responding TU alumni operating other Internet business models. A total of 178 entrepreneurs regard the provision of services as an important field of business, and 138 respondents rated this as the most important business sector for their company. An important role is also played by research & development, which 101 respondents said was of key importance for their company.More than half of the start-ups covered by the survey are a limited liability company (GmbH), nearly a third of respondents are self-employed or freelance professionals. Approximately 10 % of respondents have established a partnership (GbR), but only about 5 % have set up a public limited company (AG). Every second company was started up by a team. According to the figures in the replies, the companies covered by the survey generated revenues in 2007 of approx. EUR 500 million and were employing 5,910 people. Every second company had more than five employees. Together with the other companies from the previous surveys (2001 – 2005) which are still operating, TU-companies in 2007 have generated as much as EUR 1.35 million and created approx. 10.400 jobs. A gratifying feature is the large number of the entrepreneurs who still feel ties to their Alma Mater. 193 are members of the alumni programme of TU Berlin, 56 cooperate with faculties of the university, and nearly a third said that they would be interested in such cooperation. Last but not least, two-thirds of all the start-up entrepreneurs (62 %) are willing to pass on knowledge and experience to those who are considering starting up their own business. Full details of the profile of the start-up companies from the TU Berlin and the people involved can be found (in German) in the study »Patent verwertet. Gründungsumfrage 2008/9«.