The joint innovation center of DESY, the City of Hamburg and the University of Hamburg at Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld creates additional laboratory and space capacities on the research campus for start-ups in the life sciences. The Hamburg Senate is funding the rapid expansion of the Start-up Labs Bahrenfeld by 360 square meters with 700,000 euros. A total of at least 25 laboratory workstations and 20 office workstations are to be created on the DESY campus in the immediate vicinity of the existing Start-up Labs Bahrenfeld building.
The demand from start-ups for complex laboratories and office space in Hamburg exceeds the supply. The Senate is acting accordingly and providing the funds so that young companies can find a location at short notice and get off to a flying start. The expansion of Start-up Labs Bahrenfeld comes just one year after its opening in summer 2021 and underlines the strong appeal of the constantly expanding innovation ecosystem on the DESY campus.
Innovationszentrum Forschungscampus Hamburg-Bahrenfeld GmbH, which operates the Start-up Labs, is responsible for the installation and operation of the container extension. The extension on the DESY campus is an extremely pragmatic solution, as it allows existing building infrastructure to be used without any complications. Denny Droßmann, Managing Director of Start-up Labs Bahrenfeld, emphasizes: "We received several inquiries every month, which we were no longer able to meet after a short time. The bottleneck was always the availability of laboratory space, particularly in the wet laboratory sector, i.e. for biological or chemical applications. We can now better meet this demand and further expand our ecosystem."
In the long term, further demand from start-ups and growing companies for laboratory and office space for start-ups in the biotechnology sector is to be met by the tecHHub (opening in 2023 at Innovationspark Altona on Vorhornweg) and the DESY Innovation Factory (opening in 2025 on the DESY campus and at Innovationspark Altona ). These facilities will create additional locations that enable the transfer of developments and findings from science to industry. The container extension of the Start-up Labs Bahrenfeld is currently scheduled to be used for five years and construction is planned for November 2022.
Senator for Economic Affairs Michael Westhagemann: "We have an extremely attractive location here, which we are continuing to promote with Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld . By networking science and business, we are creating a strong basis for driving innovation for our society. It is precisely in an environment like this that new companies with forward-looking business models, more jobs and vibrant neighborhoods are created."
Finance Senator Andreas Dressel: "In Bahrenfeld, a new space is being created - also driven by corona funds - that brings together business and science, creating new added value, innovation and jobs. The money is well invested for Hamburg. This is how we are investing in the city of tomorrow."
Arik Willner, Chief Technology Officer at DESY and Co-Managing Director of Startup Labs Bahrenfeld: "A high level of dynamism is developing here, fed on the one hand by science and on the other by the start-ups that are settling on the campus. This shows that we are taking exactly the right steps with the development and expansion of our innovation ecosystem. We are very pleased that the City of Hamburg also recognizes this and supports this location, where innovations for society are created, in such a targeted manner."
