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Innovative power in the Southwest: The success of the Southwest X Summit 2025!
On July 2, 2025, the Southwest X Summit, which promotes cross-border innovations, took place at Saarland University.
Innovative power in the Southwest: The success of the Southwest X Summit 2025!
On July 2nd the event took place at Saarland University Southwest X Summit takes place, an important event to promote cross-border innovations and startups in the southwest. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Starter Center, a platform was created that brought together more than 300 guests from science, business, politics and society. The summit aimed to position the southwest as an innovation hub in Europe and to strengthen start-up dynamics in the region.
The event not only offered exciting insights into current developments, but also the ceremonial awarding of the newly introduced SouthwestX Award. The three best startups were awarded prize money totaling 20,000 euros. The main prize of 10,000 euros went to the LAHA – Laser Hearing Aids team, which developed an innovative, laser-based hearing aid. This prize was supported by the company HYDAC and other partners, who also granted the winning team tickets to the renowned start-up conference Slush in Helsinki, professional coaching and a one-year membership in the Innovation Center.
Highlight prizes and other awards
As part of the competition, the special Saarland Pitch prize was awarded to the start-up Detesia, which specializes in detecting deepfakes. The founders will receive 2,000 euros and a free workplace in the Innovation Center. The TriSure team, consisting of students from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, was also recognized as Best Newcomer Start-up. They developed an AI-powered virus scanner for the insurance industry and received support worth at least 7,500 euros from The Bridge Innovators for a pre-incubation.
The opening speech was given by Ralf Zastrau, Managing Director of Triathlon/The Bridge, and University President Prof. Dr. Ludger Santen. In his address, Santen emphasized the essential collaboration between science, business and politics in order to network transformative topics. Another highlight was the keynote speech by Prof. Dr. Antonio Krüger, CEO of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), who spoke about the topic of “Industrial AI made in Europe”. Maks Giordano, expert in digital strategies, inspires with his impulse for an “innovation mindset” for companies and start-ups.
The context and challenges for spin-offs
The importance of university spin-offs for innovation and economic growth in Europe cannot be overestimated. These companies promote knowledge transfer between universities and industry, create high-skilled jobs and attract investment, according to a report by the EU digital strategy is explained. However, many spin-offs face challenges, particularly in terms of scaling, financing and regulatory frameworks.
The failure rates of spin-offs are generally lower than those of traditional start-ups, but they still show deficiencies in scaling. Fragmented regulation and inadequate support make access to necessary finance difficult. The report highlights that only 11% of deep tech spin-offs achieve comparable valuations to their traditional counterparts, signaling a clear need for action.
To strengthen the spin-off ecosystem in Europe, regulatory reforms and tailored support structures are necessary to fully exploit innovation potential. Collaboration between political decision-makers, universities and investors will be crucial to establishing Europe as a leading location in deep tech.