ryon-Rhine-Main-Universities Summer School

The ryon Start-Up Summer School is a platform that promotes exchange between scientists, innovators, investors and experts in the emerging field of synthetic biology. The main objective of the Summer School is to provide participants with the opportunity to develop and advance innovative business ideas. With a limited number of participants an intimate and interactive atmosphere will be created to foster the exchange of knowledge, experiences and ideas.

From Idea to Start-Up

What: Molecular Biosensing

When: 22nd – 26th September 2025

Where: Darmstadt & Gernsheim

Who: Young scientists (Master, PhD student or Postdoc) with a background in Material Sciences, Biochemistry, Synthetic Biology, Biology, Enineering or Bioprinting.

The Summer School will open on 22. and 23. September 2025 with a symposium on molecular biosensing at the TU Darmstadt, to which all interested parties are invited.

Further information at ryon.de

How to start a business? Have you ever wondered what it takes to start a successful business?

The aim of the ryon Start-Up Summer School is to motivate scientists to develop an idea and create a pitch deck that could form the basis of a start-up company. Start-Ups need to attract attention in order to obtain funding from investors. A convincing presentation is essential to show that the idea has commercial potential and attractiveness. During the first 2 days, you will receive input from renowned scientists and entrepreneurs and generate your own business idea. After the idea selection process, teams will be formed with the support of a facilitator who is an expert in match making, team building and idea generation. Days 3 and 4 will focus on developing and refining the idea and creating a pitch slide deck with a dedicated team of motivators and supporters. With this final pitch, you and your team have the chance to win a prize, sponsored by ryon, to bring the idea to life. The pitches will be presented to a panel of experts from the High Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Evonik and BASF.

Each participant will learn the essentials of starting a business and will receive a certificate!

The Summer School programme runs daily from 9 am to 5 pm – drinks and food will be provided throughout the programme, including an evening events on Monday.

Program

Day 1: Scientific talks by leading scientists in the field at TU Darmstadt.

Day 2: Scientific talks and company presentations at TU Darmstadt.

Day 3: Team presentation and match making, find idea partners, Merck Innovation Center, Darmstadt.

Day 4: Business plan development and coaching, Merck Innovation Center, Darmstadt.

Day 5: Pitch and ryon-founders Award Ceremony, ryon Greentech Accelerator at Fluxum Greentech Parc Gernsheim.

The programme is supported by the Goethe-University Frankfurt, the TU Darmstadt, the Gutenberg-University Mainz and the technology transfer centres Highest, Innovectis and TQ.

The winner will receive a prize to support the realisation of the best business idea! All participants will receive a certificate.

Do you want to know more about the 2nd Rhine-Main Universities Summer School or do you want to apply? Applicants are requested to send a CV, a letter of motivation (max. 1 page) and optionally a summary of a Start-Up project (max. 1 page) that they would like to work on during the Summer School. Applicants who wish to define a project during the Summer School or who wish to join a proposed project do not need to submit the project summary.

Send your application to info@ryon.de

Trainings

Bartosz Kajdas

Bartosz Kajdas is an experienced expert in supporting academic Start-Ups. Since 2014, he has accompanied more than 200 academic Start-Ups in their early stages at TU Darmstadt and the University of Heidelberg, and conducted more than 1,000 consultations with founders from different scientific disciplines. His passion is to promote and support the growth of innovative companies.

Organisation

Heinz Koeppl

Heinz Koeppl is director of the Centre for Synthetic Biology at TU Darmstadt and professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and adjunct professor at the Department of Biology. He is currently also heading the graduate school "Life Science Engineering" at TU Darmstadt. He holds a M.Sc. in physics from Graz Karl-Franzens University and a Ph.D in electrical engineering from Graz University of Technology, Austria.

Jörg von Hagen

Jörg von Hagen is Managing Director of ryon – GreenTech Accelerator Gernsheim GmbH – he is a biotechnologist and cell biologist by training and has more than 30 years of experience in industrial and applied R&D at Merck KGaA.

Melanie Mikosch-Wersching

Melanie Mikosch-Wersching is Managing Director of the Centre for Synthetic Biology at TU Darmstadt. She holds an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biology from TU Darmstadt and was a junior research group leader at the University of Heidelberg.

Ulrike Wedel

Ulrike Wedel is executive assistance at ryon. She supports the planning and organisation of meetings and events.

Disclaimer

If you would like to claim your idea as owner before the summer school starts, please send the idea forehand to the indicated contact to assure that the idea is attributed to you and any additionally generated ideas resulting in IP are joint rights and maybe used by all team members that contributed to the idea.