Impossible Founders and KLU join forces for the next generation of founders
Impossible Founders and Kühne Logistics University (KLU) have entered into a cooperation agreement, deepening their existing collaboration. The goal is to jointly inspire more people to engage with entrepreneurship and to provide continuous support throughout their development – from their first encounters with the entrepreneurial world to the founding and scaling of innovative startups.
KLU SPARK as a platform for innovation and entrepreneurship
The partnership combines the distinct strengths of both organizations. The KLU SPARK innovation and entrepreneurship center fosters an early interest in entrepreneurial thinking and enables students to gain their first experiences in starting a business. Meanwhile, Impossible Founders supports promising science- and technology-driven teams in further developing their ventures.
"We view entrepreneurship not as an objective, but as a mindset," explains Mariella Michalke, Head of KLU SPARK. "We encourage people at an early stage to test their ideas, recognize opportunities, and discover their potential as founders. Together with Impossible Founders, we can now seamlessly continue this journey." "In Impossible Founders, we have gained a strong partner that combines academic excellence, entrepreneurship, and practical venture experience," adds Dr. Immo Schmidt-Jortzig, Chancellor and Managing Director of Kühne Logistics University.
Arik Willner, Managing Director at Impossible Founders, also sees great potential in the collaboration: "Entrepreneurship should become part of the student culture. KLU offers an outstanding environment and a strong practical focus for this. Together, we aim to get students excited about starting a business early on and to open up concrete pathways from idea to implementation."
The collaboration between KLU and Impossible Founders has already been in place for some time; for instance, KLU hosted the most recent Impossible Founders Pioneers Demo Day. In addition, two KLU PhD students and founders currently supported by the SPARK Incubation Program participated in the Impossible Founders Summer School for science-based founding teams.
The two partners also collaborate closely at a strategic level: KLU professors Dr. Christian Barrot and Dr. Jan Becker have been active as Academic Ambassadors for Impossible Founders since the initial proposal phase.
Joint Kick-off: Winter School in Entrepreneurship
A first tangible result of this deepened collaboration will be the "Spark the Founder Within" Winter School in January 2027. This inter-university program targets students who have had little prior exposure to the topic of startups and aims to inspire new talent to pursue entrepreneurial careers at an early stage.
About Impossible Founders
Impossible Founders (iF) is a startup factory for applied deep tech. iF transforms scientific excellence into market-ready solutions and turns Europe’s technological strengths into scalable deep tech companies. To achieve this, iF connects leading scientists, founders, and renowned institutions, bringing together research, entrepreneurial talent, industry, and capital. Its programs support founders through every stage – from the initial idea and validation to scaling. The focus lies on technology fields with high future potential, including quantum technology, advanced materials, and green tech. Impossible Founders is backed by funding of over 50 million euros, provided by sources including the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, as well as foundations and companies based in Hamburg. Together with its partners, iF is building the infrastructure to position Hamburg as Northern Europe’s deep tech hub.
About KLU SPARK
KLU SPARK is the entrepreneurship and innovation community at Kühne Logistics University (KLU) in Hamburg. SPARK brings together students, companies, founders, and academic experts to transform ideas into prototypes and real-world solutions. SPARK combines KLU’s operations mindset with entrepreneurial energy.
