STARTPLATZ: the hotspot of the NRW Startup-Scene - STARTPLATZ
The biggest startup hub in NRW

The home of
startups and AI
in NRW.

For startups, companies and everyone driving AI forward.

An ecosystem that grows startups and gets people excited about AI.

  • Accelerator
  • Coworking
  • Offices
  • Events
  • AI
1,500+
Startups
supported
€1.5+ bn
Invested
into our startups
250+
Events per year
in our ecosystem
Discover more
Our ecosystem

What would you like to discover?

Offices & Coworking
STARTPLATZ Coworking

Coworking and private offices — flexibly bookable in Cologne & Düsseldorf.

Cologne Offices Coworking
Düsseldorf Offices Coworking
Conference Rooms
STARTPLATZ conference room

Meeting, workshop and event rooms — bookable by the hour at both locations.

Cologne Düsseldorf
Events
STARTPLATZ event

Meetups, pitches and workshops — over 250 events per year across our ecosystem.

Event calendar Meetups Hackathons
Corporate Innovation
Corporate Innovation Space

Innovation programs, hackathons and Business Club — for established companies.

Business Club Corporate Enablement Corporate Activation
Startup World
STARTPLATZ Startup Community

Accelerator, incubator and network — from idea to Series A.

AI Accelerator NRW Open Incubator Rheinland-Pitch
AI World
STARTPLATZ AI Hub

AI trainings, workshops and hackathons — hands-on knowledge for teams and talent.

AI Academy Hackathons Meetups
What's going on

News from STARTPLATZ

AI Accelerator Batch 2 Demo Day
Program · Demo Day Jul 22

AI Accelerator Batch 2 — Demo Day

10 startups, 4-month program · see the results live
Mistral Meetup Düsseldorf
Meetup · Recurring

Mistral Meetup — Cologne & Düsseldorf

Open-source AI community · monthly, alternating between both cities
AI Coding Hackathon May 2026
Hackathon · May 29–31, 2026

AI Coding Hackathon

48 hours, AI builders from the Rhineland · prototypes instead of slides
STARTPLATZ DNA

What makes us special

AI Hub at STARTPLATZ
AI

From AI meetups to AI training and from in-house workshops to AI hackathons — at STARTPLATZ, people and companies meet who don't just want to understand AI, but actually apply it.

More about the AI Hub
Rheinland Pitch at STARTPLATZ
Events

Meetups, community events, hackathons, Rheinland-Pitch and workshops — every week people come together at STARTPLATZ to share ideas, build and grow.

All events
STARTPLATZ Community
Community

Startups, investors, mentors, experts, alumni and partners — our community connects people, knowledge and opportunities far beyond any single program.

Become a member
STARTPLATZ Cologne Mediapark STARTPLATZ Düsseldorf Medienhafen
Locations

Cologne Mediapark and Düsseldorf Medienhafen — two central spots for coworking, offices, events and innovation, right in the heart of the startup & AI ecosystem in NRW.

Cologne → Düsseldorf →
News

Upcoming events

Mistral Meetup Düsseldorf
Event · May 18, 2026

Mistral Meetup DUS #3: Show & Tell

Open-source AI with Mistral · Medienhafen
STARTUP Breakfast Cologne
Event · May 27, 2026

STARTUP Breakfast Cologne

Networking breakfast · Mediapark
ClawCon NRW
Event · Jun 9, 2026

ClawCon NRW

Conference for AI builders · Mistral, Claude & Co.
AI Hub NRW

We're the AI hub of the Rhineland

Understanding AI isn't enough — we put it into practice. Four programs in the Rhineland: Accelerator, AI Academy, Hackathons and the Cologne–Paris builder community.

01 · Program

AI Accelerator

4-month program for 10 AI startups. Mentoring, investor access, pilot projects with corporate partners.

Apply
02 · Subsidiary

AI Academy

AZAV-certified, taught by practitioners. Four stages — entry, deep dive, specialization, staying current. Masterclasses, intensive programs, AI Campus and in-house for teams.

Discover programs
03 · Format

Hackathons

48 hours, working prototypes. Open, corporate and Hackathon-as-a-Service for companies.

Hackathons
04 · Community

Builder Community

Weekly AI Fridays, Mistral Meetups, AI Treffpunkt, ClawCon — if you build with AI, this is where you meet.

Community
Initiative · Cologne × Paris

Open-source AI: Cologne × Paris

We connect France's deep-tech strength (Mistral & Co.) with NRW's applied power. 3 hours by train between the two ecosystems — together we're building Europe's AI stack.

4,500m²Cologne
2,000m²Düsseldorf
Discover the initiative →
Paris meets Cologne — Open-source AI
Locations

Cologne and Düsseldorf — where NRW works

STARTPLATZ Cologne Mediapark
Cologne
Im Mediapark 5 · 50670 Cologne
Side entrance: Schanzenstraße 36
Reception Mon–Fri 9am–6pm · Members 24/7
Coworking Offices Conference Accelerator Event Space
Book a Trial Day 3D Tour
STARTPLATZ Düsseldorf Medienhafen
Düsseldorf
Speditionstraße 15a · 40221 Düsseldorf
Reception Mon–Fri 9am–6pm · Members 24/7
Coworking Offices Conference Innovation Hub
Book a Trial Day 3D Tour
About STARTPLATZ

The biggest startup hub in NRW

With locations in Cologne Mediapark and Düsseldorf Medienhafen, STARTPLATZ is the biggest startup incubator and accelerator in North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 2012 we've supported over 1,500 startups — alumni like DeepL, Cognigy, deepset and epilot. More than €1.5 billion in investments have flowed into our startups.

Over 250 events per year — from meetups, hackathons and workshops to Rheinland-Pitch, Germany's biggest pitch series. At the AI Hub Rheinland we connect builders, researchers and companies: AI Fridays, Mistral Meetups, the German-French open-source AI initiative with Paris.

Our programs go beyond the single idea: the AI Accelerator NRW transforms 10 startups in 4 months, the Open Incubator supports early-stage founders, the AZAV-certified AI Academy trains AI managers — fundable via the German education voucher. For companies: Business Club Membership, Corporate Enablement and Corporate Activation.

Top topics

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