Exclusive news

Breisach/Offenburg, October 01, 2025 - With the opening of the new innovation and meeting place flow1986, BadenCampus and Black Forest Innovation are moving closer together locally. BadenCampus is opening its third location in the new innovation and start-up center and, with flow1986 in Offenburg, is expanding its existing innovation offerings beyond Breisach and Freiburg.

This is accompanied by a further intensification of the cooperation between Black Forest Innovation and BadenCampus in the area of innovation management and digitalization. In future, the focus will increasingly be on established companies.

"With the intensified cooperation, we are strengthening both the innovative power and the digitalization competence and cooperation of companies, start-ups and research institutions in the Southern Upper Rhine region. Digitalization and AI are decisive levers for making the innovative strength of the entire region visible and strengthening it in the long term," explains Dr. Thomas Scheuerle, Managing Director of BadenCampus.

The two innovation experts have already been working closely together for several years. Since 2023, for example, the start-up accelerator program arise has been part of the Ortenau innovation ecosystem and the Black Forest Hackathon - traditionally hosted by Black Forest Innovation in Offenburg - took place in Freiburg for the first time this year. In addition, a strong portfolio of services has already been built up together over the past few years and works together with start-ups, universities and colleges, companies, municipalities and associations in the border triangle, the Black Forest and Ortenau. The services of both companies are bundled in an overarching innovation platform and via innovation formats and are used by a broad network of companies. This includes well-known players such as Endress+Hauser, Pfizer, B. Braun, Sick, Edeka Südwest, Hansgrohe, the Koehler Group, SEW Eurodrive, Liebherr and numerous other medium-sized companies.

"flow1986 will be a place where ideas, technologies and people come together. Together with the BadenCampus, we can support companies in the Ortenau region even better in their digital transformation, from innovation platforms to individual AI implementation," adds Florian Appel, Managing Director of Black Forest Innovation.

With around 40 employees - including its own AI team - the BadenCampus will concentrate on working directly with companies. Black Forest Innovation will focus on networking formats such as the Black Forest Sustainability Forum. Through the close partnership, both organizations are pooling their expertise and supporting digital and sustainable innovation projects in the region even more than before.
The common goal is to promote innovation in the region and make the opportunities of digital transformation available to companies. The opening of flow1986 and the new BadenCampus office on site create the best conditions for this.

As a subsidiary of badenova, BadenCampus is also part of a group of shareholders in which many municipalities and companies from Ortenau are represented. At the same time, it is networked nationally and internationally in order to bring external innovations to the region and make the regional innovation landscape more visible.

Black Forest Innovation is part of the Offenburg/Mittelbaden Foundation for Technology and Business, which has been renowned for 40 years. Its focus is on early-stage support for founders and the identification and development of start-up potential in the region. With flow1986, Black Forest Innovation now operates the most modern start-up center in Baden-Württemberg on over 5,000 square meters.