Four female founders receive exist Women Scholarship at TU Dresden

Four participants in the ongoing exist Women program will receive a three-month scholar starting on 1 September.

For the past five months, all nine participants in the program have been working on their start-up projects. Four of them have now been selected through an application process for an additional three-month scholarship. The scholarship provides financial support for their living expenses, giving them more time to focus intensively on developing their start-up projects.

Four promising start-up ideas

The four fellows come from different academic disciplines and are working on a range of start-up projects:

Dr. Grace Whitaker is a neuroscientist developing a range of physical products to reduce digital overload. These include tangible productivity aids and a new form of physical media for audio content. The work builds on her research at the Chair of Acoustics and Haptics at TU Dresden.

Lilly Dydymski is a medical student at TU Dresden and a member of the MaculaPatch team. The team is working on a personalized photoreceptor cell therapy for the treatment of vision loss, particularly macular degeneration. The project focuses on developing a cell-based patch.

Natasha Hrycan, a master’s student in computational modelling, is developing a system for microsurgery training. This new paradigm of training provides objective feedback and tracks the trainees' progress thanks to sensor technologies embedded in training instruments.

Thorgund Nemec, a materials science student, is working with her team on a platform for microelectronics manufacturing. It is designed to quickly connect chip innovators with suitable manufacturing partners, saving time and money in the process.

exist Women at TU Dresden – a program for female founders

The exist Women program at TU Dresden supports nine selected participants on their journey from an idea to founding a company. Over the course of eight months, they develop prototypes in hands-on workshops, refine their business models, and test key hypotheses behind their startup ideas. The program is complemented by a group offsite weekend featuring in-depth discussions as well as work and learning sessions, ongoing coaching, networking opportunities, and a personal mentor. This gives participants the space to further develop their ideas, incorporate different perspectives, and map out concrete next steps on their entrepreneurial journey.

Program Contact:
Dr. Iris Steinebrunner
TUD|excite, Startup Manager Life Sciences