Gruppenbild CPI Erfolgsstory

CPI - a success story

On 20.09.2022, numerous teams, partners and companions of the Creative Pre-Incubator Program (CPI) came together for the event "CPI - a success story" in the Landhaus St. Pölten. During the event, the successful history of the program was looked back on and the start-up spirit at the local universities of applied sciences as well as their success stories were brought on stage.

The event was opened by Jochen Danninger, Lower Austria's Economic Minister, who presented the Creative Pre-Incubator Program, that was conceived in 2013 in cooperation between the accent Incubator and the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten in more detail.

"There are many exciting ideas and new business models slumbering in the heads of Lower Austrian students. With the Creative Pre-Incubator Program, we are helping to ensure that these do not just remain ideas, but are also implemented in reality," emphasized Jochen Danninger, Regional Minister for Economic Affairs. "So far, 71 teams have successfully completed this program, of which 16 subsequently founded a startup. The number of female founders is also particularly pleasing; they now account for a third of the foundations."

In 2014, the CPI program was successfully implemented for the first time with three teams at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences. Since the previous year, all universities of applied sciences in Lower Austria have been participating. The program is implemented by the CPI team of accent and is part of the SCIENCE TO BUSINESS spin-off initiative of the province of Lower Austria.

In the first panel discussion, the managing directors of Lower Austria's universities of applied sciences, Kerstin Koren (Office of the Lower Austrian Provincial Government, Head of the Department of Business, Tourism and Technology) and accent CEO Michael Moll provided insights into the start-up spirit at Lower Austria's universities of applied sciences.

"Every year, around 20 teams at the universities of applied sciences are mentored in this CPI program, and the best of them are subsequently accepted into our academic start-up program. So far, that has already been 13 founder teams," explains accent CEO Michael Moll. "They are a very important part of the startup ecosystem in Lower Austria and have a sustainable impact on Lower Austrian economic development," adds Hannes Raffaseder, Chief Research and Innovation Officer at FH St. Pölten.

(f.l.t.r.: Moderator Werner Sejka, Michael Moll, FH Wiener Neustadt GF Armin Mahr, IMC FH Krems GF Udo Brändle, Kerstin Koren, FH St. Pölten GF Johann Haag)

In the second panel discussion, our successful founders gave insights into their paths to their own companies.

(f.l.t.r.: Moderator Werner Sejka, Gregor Witzmann - Farm-Ing, Anna Steinacher - dryven, Eric Weisz - circly, Enzo Duit - warrify)

The success of this Lower Austrian initiative shows once again that the start-up spirit in Lower Austria has developed excellently in recent years and that the support instruments of the province of Lower Austria make an important contribution here.

We would like to thank all those who have been an important part of this "CPI success story" for years and look forward to the future with excitement.

The CPI was developed in cooperation between the FH St. Pölten and the accent incubator.