Would you like to take your innovative business idea to the next level? Then apply now with your startup team for the Thuringian Regional Innovation Program until October 15!
We love innovation! That’s why we launched the Thuringian Regional Innovation Program – TRIP for short – in 2019. The aim of the startup accelerator is to create the best conditions for Thuringia’s startup community, accelerate innovative startups and generate synergies and cooperation among like-minded people.
Now the time has come again: the application phase for TRIP Batch 6 has started. Whether you are about to start up, have already founded or are researching the next big business idea – TRIP accelerates every innovative business model with growth potential!
Why TRIP?
With 6 months of TRIP, we accelerate your business model and take it to the next level. In a further three months, we take the final TRIP class in the direction of investment readiness.
In the TRIP innovation hotspot, startups meet a dedicated network of experienced mentors, investors, SMEs and industry experts. Together, we increase your visibility through marketing and networking. In individual coaching sessions, we take a close look at your business model. We scrutinize processes and decisions and work with you to identify the next steps that will take your startup forward. Our practical workshops provide you with theoretical and practical insights that are important for the success of your startup and a platform for exchanging ideas with other founders. The workshop series covers all relevant topics from a clear growth strategy to approaching investors. With TRIP, you become part of the regional, national and international startup community and gain exclusive access to industry and networking events such as the Hannover Messe, the Thuringian InnoMatch, the Thuringia Innovation Award and many more.
In addition to a prototype budget of up to 4,000 euros, TRIP is your opportunity to promote and finance your startup.
Particularly scalable projects are included in the Final TRIP phase after the Demo Day. This is all about venture capital financing. Together with our long-standing partner, bm|t beteiligungsmanagement thüringen GmbH, we get you investment-ready to get potential investors excited about your startup. The crowning glory? The pitch at the Investor Days Thuringia on June 4, 2025, where the startups present their vision to around 500 international investors and players from the international community.
Take your chance and get on board!
We look for
The program is open to all sectors and is aimed at anyone who wants to tackle the challenges of tomorrow with innovative approaches, products or new technologies and shape the future with impact. We are looking for 10 cooperative and diverse teams to promote their start-ups in Thuringia.
Future Founders: Are you still in the pre-foundation phase or have you not yet turned your vision into a registered start-up? Let’s work on it together.
Founders: You want to take off with your startup? TRIP is your booster!
Intrapreneurs: Are you pursuing a ground-breaking idea within a company? We’ll help you realize it.
Researchers: You have a brilliant research idea and want to develop it into an entrepreneurial concept? Welcome to TRIP!
Innovators: You want to make your idea investment ready? Then you’ve come to the right place!
About us
TRIP is backed by an interdisciplinary team of innovation enthusiasts with their own experience in the start-up sector, many years of expertise in start-ups and industry-specific expert knowledge. Together with our community experts and a broad network, we create the ideal conditions to make start-ups investment-ready.
As part of the Thuringia Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research (STIFT) and the Thuringian Center for Start-ups and Entrepreneurship (ThEx), we are shaping the Thuringian innovation ecosystem, providing impetus, connecting people and creating the best conditions for innovation in the ThEx innovativ project!
Thuringia has enormous potential: a strong infrastructure, first-class scientific institutions and a vibrant start-up community. With TRIP as Thuringia’s only accelerator, we are taking this to the next level.
Your Success Story
The startup sector is dynamic and challenging for young entrepreneurs. We are therefore all the more proud that 70% of the startups from the past five batches are still on the market. In addition, 50 percent of TRIP finalists benefit from a subsequent investment. TRIP entrepreneurs are successful across all sectors throughout Thuringia, such as Polytives GmbH from Rudolstadt, FluIDect from Jena and E-Terry from Erfurt. The social impact startup FreeMom, known from The Lion’s Den, gained Tijen Onaran as an investor after participating in TRIP. The startup IDloop from Jena was the first company from Central Germany to qualify for the European Union’s “EIC Accelerator” program with funding of 10 million euros. And last but not least, the spin-off from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena – in|stead – which won twice at the Investor Days Thuringia after its successful participation in the final TRIP Class 23/24.
TRIP gives you direct contact with successful startup founders and allows you to benefit from their experience. Now it’s your turn! Take the chance and write your personal success story with TRIP!
Ready for your TRIP?
The application phase runs from September 2 to October 15. What are you waiting for? Get ready for your TRIP and take your innovation to the next level!
Apply now and shape the future!
