HHL Leipzig: Germany's leading start-up university honored again in 2025!

HHL Leipzig: Germany's leading start-up university honored again in 2025!

The HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management has once again achieved remarkable success: it has taken first place in the Stifterverband's start-up radar for the seventh time in a row. This title, as Germany's best start-up university in the small university category, was announced on March 8, 2025. The Start-up Radar 2025 analyzes the start-up support profiles of German universities and places a particular focus on the continuity of start-up support and the long-term anchoring of entrepreneurial thinking.

This year, HHL secured the top position in six out of seven categories among 63 small universities. These categories include, among other things, start-up anchoring, start-up qualification, start-up support, start-up activities, evaluation and monitoring as well as networking. HHL exceeds the average in the area of ​​start-up awareness, showing that its programs and initiatives to support founders are fruitful.

Increasing start-up activity and the proportion of women

A particularly positive aspect is the increase in start-up projects at HHL. These have increased from 97 in 2021 to 124 in 2023, an impressive increase of 28%. In addition, the proportion of female founders increased from 30% to 41% in the same period. These statistics reflect not only the activity of the university, but also the growing interest and engagement of women in the startup scene.

The start-up radar is a nationwide study that is carried out every two years and analyzes the start-up culture and support structures at German universities. 227 universities took part in the current survey, supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. The previous editions were supported by, among others, the Heinz Nixdorf Foundation and the Marga and Kurt Möllgaard Foundation.

Comparison of the leading universities

The Technical University of Munich, Munich University of Applied Sciences and the Leuphana University of Lüneburg are also among the best universities for starting up companies in Germany. The TU Munich and the Munich University of Applied Sciences were listed in the “large universities” category (over 15,000 students), while the Leuphana University of Lüneburg was recognized in the “medium-sized universities” category (under 15,000 students). HHL, with under 5,000 students, is seen as a leader in the group of small universities wiwi-treff.de reported.

Almost all participating universities have intensified their commitment to supporting start-ups since 2012. The average total points per university increased from 8.9 points (2012) to 9.6 points (2016). This continuous growth shows the efforts of universities to promote and further develop the start-up culture in Germany.

These successes and figures make it clear that the HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management is not only a pioneer in supporting start-ups, but also makes a significant contribution to the entire start-up culture in Germany. These developments will continue to be supported by regional networks and the overcoming of legal hurdles in order to further improve the start-up climate mynewsdesk.com and wiwi-treff.de.