The first exchange meeting on the topic of "Business start-up support in Northern Thuringia" took place on 26 January at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences. District Administrator Matthias Jendricke and Prof Dr Lutz Göcke, Head of the University Incubator for Entrepreneurship at the university, hosted the event.

The aim of the interactive workshop was to discuss the need for start-up support in northern Thuringia and to define the next steps. Marc Henkes acted as an external moderator throughout the morning. Henkes is a strategy consultant and has extensive practical experience in advising companies and municipal organisations.

Lutz Göcke (Professor of Digital Management at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences), Karsten Froböse (Chairman of the Management Board of Nordhausen Employment Agency), Susanne Herold (Deputy Head of ThEx), Niels Neu (Chairman of the Board of Nordthüringer Unternehmerverband), Sebastian Senft (Managing Director of Kreishandwerkerschaft Nordthüringen), Christian Böduel (Head of the regional offices Nordhausen, Heilbad Heiligenstadt, Sondershausen and Artern regional offices of the Erfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce), Alexandra Rieger (Mayor of Nordhausen), Fabian Pfundmeier (THEX Young Entrepreneurs), Markus Hirche (THEX Enterprise)Jessica Piper (Head of Staff District Council, Economy and Tourism, Human Resources and IT - District of Nordhausen), Hans Georg Müller (School Administration - District of Nordhausen/Managing Director of BIC Nordthüringen) and Ricardo Droescher (Economic Development / District Development - District of Nordhausen).

At the meeting, a joint decision was made in favour of developing a common strategy for the Northern Thuringia region.

"The workshop on start-up support at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences uncovered a lot of potential for the region of northern Thuringia. Through the University Incubator for Entrepreneurship (HIKE), our university actively supports start-up processes from within the university," emphasises Prof. Dr Jörg Wagner.