The start-up ecosystem of North Rhine-Westphalia has developed positively in recent years: With over 1,600 start-ups registered on https://startups.nrw, it is a significant size. The dense university landscape as well as the high concentration of international corporations and export-oriented medium-sized companies ensure a high-tech environment and a significant local sales market, especially in the field of industrial technology and B2B business models.

A study commissioned by the Ministry of Economics, Innovation, Digitization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MWIDE) nonetheless came to the result that the North Rhine-Westphalian ecosystem, especially in international comparison, is clearly lagging behind in the development of larger tech -Start-ups - the so-called "scale-up segment".

The North Rhine-Westphalian ecosystem has so far lacked the positive effects that come from strongly developed scale-up segments - in terms of investments, economic value development and labor market effects. In addition, the ecosystem lacks “role models” that encourage those interested in founding a business and encourage founders to take the next step - ideally on the international market. For these reasons, it is also not possible to systematically build up scaling experience and scaling knowledge.

This tender is looking for a contractor who will design, develop and implement a scaling program for start-ups in North Rhine-Westphalia. The program is intended to address existing weaknesses and address start-ups that have a proven, scalable business model, but are not yet systematically exploiting their potential nationally and internationally.

The program is intended to make a decisive contribution to the development of a substantial segment of scale-ups by 2025 and North Rhine-Westphalia to join the group of the top 10 start-up ecosystems in Europe. This in turn should trigger a positive pull effect for the entire start-up ecosystem in North Rhine-Westphalia, ie it should trigger a noticeable increase in start-ups.

The subject of the contract is the conception and the subsequent development and implementation of a scaling program for start-ups in North Rhine-Westphalia.

1. Conception of the "scaling program"

The concept must include the following services:

a) Development of a suitable name and an appealing word-image brand.

A suitable name must be found for the scaling program and an appealing word-image brand must be developed. The suggestions for the name and the word-image brand should be innovative and generate both a high level of attention and a high recognition value, both nationally and internationally.

b) Design of the scaling program:

The scaling program should see itself as a highly selective program for the best start-ups in North Rhine-Westphalia that are already generating sustainable sales and have a significantly large and experienced management team and staff. The participants should be start-ups that have the potential to develop into an internationally operating company.

The client is currently assuming a cohort-based program. A cohort of 10 to 20 start-ups should start each year. The program duration per cohort should be 12 to 24 months. The program must formulate a clear and transparent promise of performance which convinces founders to commit to the program for a period of 12 to 24 months.

The program should include the 4 modules mentorship, peer-to-peer learning, seminars / workshops and a softlanding pad. The client attaches great importance to the mentorship component.

Further tasks of the contractor concern the following areas:

- Participant acquisition and selection process,

- Acquisition / activation of investors,

- Integration of the North Rhine-Westphalian start-up ecosystem,

- Implementation of / participation in start-up events.

It is also expected that the scaling program will have a centrally located representative office in North Rhine-Westphalia, in which on-site appointments with the program participants as part of mentoring and peer-2-peer learning as well as seminars and workshops and smaller events are held can.

The polycentric structure of North Rhine-Westphalia must be taken into account in the program design. Not only as a result of the corona pandemic, but also to bridge spatial distances, the scale-up program is to be developed as a format that consists of both personal and virtual meetings of the program participants.

c) Media concept:

It is also the job of the contractor to promote the scaling program. The aim is to make the scaling program known to the target group as well as to the numerous players in the start-up ecosystem in North Rhine-Westphalia and also to national and international multipliers and investors, and to continuously increase the level of awareness and reputation of the program. Additional ongoing media activities are necessary to provide timely information on the progress and success of the participants.

The contractor should motivate the actors of the start-up ecosystem NRW and other multipliers to advertise the scale-up program within their portfolios / areas of influence. The measures should be as innovative as possible and attract a lot of attention. The media concept to be submitted should also aim to position North Rhine-Westphalia nationally and internationally as a top location for start-ups and digitization.

2. Implementation of the concept:

As part of the structure and implementation of the scaling program according to the concept to be developed with the elements a) to c) described above, the following services must be provided:

- Structure and implementation of the scaling program with the outlined program modules and the other service modules,

- implementation of the media concept,

- Budget management, control and accounting,

- Effectiveness control of the scaling program through a key figure system to be developed with the client and an ongoing planning, budgeting and reporting process,

- Continuous coordination with the client.

Detailed information on the content of the contract can be found in the tender documents.

The provision of services is to begin no later than September 1, 2021. The first cohort should start the program as early as possible, at the latest in the first quarter of 2022. A second cohort is to follow in the first quarter of 2023. The service provision ends with the completion of the second cohort. The client has the option of optionally extending the contract twice in order to commission a third and fourth cohort.