How can small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) bridge the gap between AI potential and practical business solutions? The University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) is providing a clear answer through its participation in the "KI für KMU NiederRhein" project. This initiative, co-financed by the European Union through the EFRE/JTF Programme NRW 2021–2027, is designed to sensitize regional companies to Artificial Intelligence and provide them with hands-on operational skills.

A Structured Pathway to Innovation

The project is organized as a "capability chain," ensuring that companies at any stage of digital maturity can participate. The Chair of Sustainability and Innovation in Digital Ecosystems at UDE, led by Prof. Dr. Hannes Rothe, contributes scientific grounding to this practical mission.

The program focuses on five core pillars:

• AI Fundamentals: Demystifying the technology for newcomers
• Areas of Application: Identifying where AI adds the most value in specific business contexts.
• AI in the Innovation Process: Integrating smart tools into product development.
• Peer-to-Peer Sharing: Learning from the best practices of other regional SMEs.
• Project Implementation: Moving from theory to the execution of tangible AI projects.

Strengthening the Niederrhein Ecosystem

The project thrives on a powerful regional consortium led by Duisburg Business & Innovation GmbH. Key partners include Rhine-Waal University, Wirtschaftsförderung Kreis Kleve, Kreis Wesel, and the HAN University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, ensuring a cross-border exchange of knowledge.

A recent strategic exchange with ZaKI.D (Center for Applied AI Duisburg) highlighted how these initiatives complement one another. While ZaKI.D brings specialized expertise in industrial AI and predictive maintenance, "KI für KMU NiederRhein" focuses on making AI accessible for office environments and administrative processes.

Why It Matters

With SMEs accounting for over 57% of socially insured employment in the region, their ability to adapt to AI is critical for long-term competitiveness. Research suggests that AI adoption can lead to a productivity gain of approximately 4.8% per employee, allowing human intelligence to focus on creative and complex tasks rather than repetitive ones.

Funding by:

EFRE/JTF-Programm NRW 2021-2027

Project Duration:

01.10.2025 – 30.09.2028

Responsible Team Member:

Arslan Haider

Project Partners:

• Duisburg Business & Innovation GmbH (Consortium Lead)
• Univ.-Prof. Dr. Frederik Ahlemann, University of Duisburg-Essen
• Univ.-Prof. Dr. Marc Eulerich, University of Duisburg-Essen
• Hochschule Rhein-Waal
• Wirtschaftsförderung Kreis Kleve GmbH
• EntwicklungsAgentur Wirtschaft Kreis Wesel
• HAN University of Applied Sciences

The interdisciplinary research and development network is dedicated to the empowerment and mentoring of girls* of color from the 10th grade onwards to strengthen educational participation in the academic setting and in the field of psychosocial professions.

In a transdisciplinary approach, a diversity-sensitive, intersectional and low-threshold mentoring and empowerment program (MEP) is designed together with key players in the field, which a) identifies intrapersonal resilience factors and talents through psychological, discrimination-sensitive coaching and activates the individual potential of the students, b) outlines successful educational biographies through the integration of mentors and role models of color, c) identifies existing barriers to educational participation and academic career paths and develops solutions through a mentoring program for students of color.

The entire project is flanked by an innovative, participatory digital platform for context-sensitive storytelling, which allows project partners and later also users to design experience reports audio-visually with the help of research-led rules and the use of simple machine learning models and make them available as a digital dialog of experience reports.

Prof. Rothe's chair is working on the participatory creation of a context-sensitive toolkit for digital storytelling based on the action design research approach59 . The toolkit draws on findings from existing research and the draw on research in mental Health, in psychosocial occupational fields, and narratives regarding barriers and coping strategies for studying psychosocial profession. Together with our partners, we derive design rules for manually and automatically created audio-visual content that can be used to develop digital narratives of intersectional discrimination for empowerment and to derive strategies for action.

BMBFSFJ funding measure

Integration durch Bildung

Link to project website

Building Bridges - Empowering Girls & FLINTA* of Colour

Project duration
01.09.2024 – 31.08.2027

Responsible team member

Laureen Warikoru

Project Partners

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Claudia Calvano, Freie Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaft und Psychologie

Anette Berg, Stiftung SPI, Sozialpädagogisches Institut Berlin »Walter May«. Gemeinnützige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts, Sitz Berlin

How can entrepreneurship at universities be reimagined digitally and accelerated through artificial intelligence? The University of Duisburg-Essen is stepping up to provide a forward-looking answer with the SMART GUIDE project—making it one of 14 universities in North Rhine-Westphalia to receive funding over the next three years through the Start-up Center.NRW program, supported by the state and the European Union. A total of 18 million euros is available for this purpose statewide.

The goal is clear: “We are further developing the University of Duisburg-Essen into an innovation engine for AI-based products and business models,” says Prof. Dr. Hannes Rothe. He holds a chair at the Rhine-Ruhr Institute of Information Systems, heads Place Beyond Bytes, and coordinates the SMART GUIDE project, which is now receiving approximately 1.5 million euros in funding. The aim is to automate parts of the startup process using existing AI technologies. “These new AI technologies will help us create forward-looking solutions that actively contribute to the sustainable transformation of the entire region,” Rothe continued.

Together with the Center for Startups and Innopreneurship GUIDE at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), SMART GUIDE brings together the outstanding expertise of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (IKIM), the Distributed Systems (VS) department, the Networked Embedded Systems Group, and the Co-Creation Lab Place Beyond Bytes (PBB). Through the interplay of technological know-how and subject-specific knowledge, startup processes at UDE are significantly accelerated. After all, especially for innovative startups, every week counts during the founding phase to successfully bring an idea to market.

A central element of the project: an AI fabrication lab. Here, the experience gained from the phasing-out Exzellenz Start-up Center.NRW initiative will be leveraged, and typical challenges of the startup process will be automated via AI in the future. In return, startup teams will gain access to specialized training and AI software solutions tailored to their needs. This accelerates the entire innovation process—from data-driven decision support, through automated development and testing of prototypes, to engaging future users. In event formats such as “AI for Good” hackathons, new use cases—for example, in health, logistics, and 5G/6G—are developed.

In addition, SMART GUIDE is specifically aimed at startups whose products are fundamentally based on AI. Through the “Entrepreneurs-in-Residence” program, for example, experienced entrepreneurs will share their knowledge and take on leadership roles in startups for a limited time.

Furthermore, UDE is closely linked to national and European initiatives—for example, through accompanying projects such as ZaKI.D, EHDS4ALL, or KI4KMU in the Lower Rhine region. Coordination with leading accelerator programs, such as the BRYCK Startup Alliance and UNITE – AI Entrepreneurship Center (K.I.E.Z.), further enhances the impact of these initiatives.

Funding by

Project duration
01.11.2025 – 31.10.2028

Funded by

Start-up Center.NRW

See also  https://www.campus-start-ups.nrw/start-up-center-nrw/ude 

Responsible team member

Mahnoor Shahid

Elias Jelinek

Project Partners

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jens Kleesiek, University of Duisburg-Essen

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Torben Weis, University of Duisburg-Essen

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Pedro Marron, University of Duisburg-Essen

GUIDE, University of Duisburg-Essen