The University of Cologne once again ranks among Germany’s most startup-friendly universities. In the German Startup Monitor 2026, it ranks second, maintaining its position from the previous year and remaining the most startup-friendly non-technical comprehensive university in Germany. 4.2 percent of the founders surveyed obtained their highest academic degree at the University of Cologne. Only RWTH Aachen achieves a higher share, at 5.7 percent.
The 2026 German Startup Monitor, based on responses from 1,803 founders and managing directors, also highlights the important role of universities in the startup ecosystem. For 59 percent of startups, the product is directly or indirectly based on new scientific findings, while 51 percent have received support from universities or research institutions. In particular, founders value networking with the startup ecosystem and access to potential team members.
The University of Cologne has continuously expanded its support for entrepreneurship in recent years. The number of supported startups increased from 14 in 2020 to 44 in 2025. At the WiSo Faculty, fostering an entrepreneurial mindset goes hand in hand with connecting academic knowledge to practical applications and creating impact in business and society. Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking are important elements of the WiSo Faculty’s curriculum.
A key player in Cologne’s startup ecosystem is the Gateway Excellence Start-up Center at the University of Cologne. Since 2026, Gateway has also operated Climate Innovation.NRW together with the university’s Sustainability Office, supporting sustainability-oriented startups. The University of Cologne is also part of the Gateway Factory, which supports promising deep-tech startups as they scale and is one of ten Startup Factories funded by the German federal government.
“As a university, we want not only to generate scientific knowledge, but also to create impact in business and society. Startups are an important way of doing this: They bring new ideas into application and create solutions to concrete challenges,” says Professor Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee, Rector of the University of Cologne.
For further information:
Marc Kley
+49 (0)160 8850870
m.kley(at)gateway-unikoeln(dot)de
Further information on the Gateway Excellence Start-up Center at the University of Cologne:
https://gateway-unikoeln.de/
Press and Communications:
Eva Schissler
+49 221 470 4030
e.schissler(at)verw.uni-koeln(dot)de