Student start-ups: Give us university office space

Students can now take courses on entrepreneurship, get assistance by entrepreneurship group Katapult, have access to T57, a free co-working space that, following the example of Apple and HP, who started in a garage, is suitingly located in a Faculty of Science basement. There are also a host of other opportunities.

But housing problems are not over: it is not easy for a student company to register at a university address, the University Post discovers.

It doesn’t matter if you are a multinational or just a student with a good idea: they only way to get an address at the University is by renting an office. The amount to pay is based on market conditions.

Hopes for government support

This can be a problem for early stage startups, constantly cash-strapped. Without registration it is practically impossible to obtain public or private funding.

Peter Ottesen, project leader at Katapult agrees that it is a problem: At the moment, students that are developing their business ideas can have a free c/o mail address at the University through Katapult, but that’s it. He pins his hopes on a new government initiative.

“The problem should be partly fixed by the new Innovation Strategy,” he says.

UCPH innovaters use the business school’

At CBS, they have CSE, a so-called startup incubator: Here selected companies can register their address for free. The stay is limited to three months, with the possibility to extend for one semester in case they perform well.

The CBS incubator is luckily open to students from all universities. It is here that Simon Søndergaard, master student in African studies at UCPH, is currently developing a start-up bike mechanic service.

“Of the many free entrepreneurship offers and facilities that exist, CSE seemed to be the best and most fitting for us,” he says.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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