Constantly Delivering Highest Quality for More Than a Decade

The SpinLab Group has been building ecosystems for over a decade. The awards caught up eight years ago and haven’t stopped since.

Rankings are easy to dismiss. A new initiative pops up, collects a logo, and moves on. What’s harder to achieve is consistency. Being evaluated year after year by different organisations, different methodologies, and different people, and coming out on top each time. That’s what the SpinLab Group has done since 2018.

But numbers alone don’t tell the full story. Behind every ranking is a cohort of founders who showed up, were challenged, and left better equipped than when they arrived. And behind every corporate award is a pilot project that actually ran, a partnership that didn’t just get signed but delivered results. Here’s what eight years of that work looks like.

What makes SpinLab one of Europe’s top innovation and startup hubs?

The Financial Times and Statista rank Europe’s leading startup hubs annually, and their primary data source is alumni evaluations. Not press releases, not applications, not fees. Founders who went through the program vote with their honest assessments. In 2024, that process placed SpinLab Group at #2 in Germany and #12 in Europe. In 2025: #8 in Germany, #36 in Europe. In 2026: #7 in Germany, #23 in Europe.

Three consecutive years. Assessed by the people who can’t be bought: the founders themselves.

“SpinLab offers a unique six-month experience for startups. Setting itself apart from other accelerators, they focus on every single detail that could take the startup one step further. With a top-class network of partners and investors, they create valuable opportunities for their startups. From day one, the SpinLab program and the team made us feel that we are at the right place for our vision and goals at Breathment.” Elcin Yalvac, Co-Founder Breathment

In 2025, the Startup Ecosystem Star Award, issued under the mandate of the OECD and the European Commission, recognised the SpinLab Group for “Exceptional Industry Support”. A category designed to evaluate exactly what most accelerators struggle with: the quality of what happens between a startup and a corporate partner after the introduction is made. In 2026, SpinLab was named Best Acceleration Program in Europe by the Global Startup Awards, spanning over 60 countries.

Award & Ranking history 2018-2026

SpinLab Group participates exclusively in unpaid rankings. Every recognition listed above was earned, not purchased.

A track record that started before the rankings did

Long before the Financial Times ranking existed, SpinLab was being assessed externally. In 2018, Handelsblatt and the Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln awarded SpinLab the Gold Accelerator title. In 2019, Venionaire’s European accelerator study ranked SpinLab 2nd best accelerator in Germany. By 2021, The Europas placed SpinLab among the Top 5 Hottest Accelerators in Europe, and UBI Global confirmed a Top 5 Challenger position in Europe in 2021–2022.

For startups: quality you can verify before you apply

Since 2018, SpinLab’s acceleration programs have been independently assessed and repeatedly recognised. The Financial Times has counted us among the leading startup hubs in Germany since 2024. That means the quality you’re betting on when you apply has been verified by founders who went through the program before you.

Curious what that looks like from the inside? In the TNTOS podcast episode “Behind the scenes of the SpinLab Group”, Henning Schuur from RootCamp, Ralf Bonin from Onsai, and Stefan Schreiber from CMS talk openly about what makes the ecosystem work, why interdisciplinary networks are the real growth lever, how startups and corporates create genuine win-win situations through pilot projects, and why Central Germany is a massively underestimated location for innovation.

🔗 Listen on Spotify (Episode is in German)

For corporates: what “Exceptional Industry Support” actually looks like

The Startup Ecosystem Star Award by the OECD and European Commission, specifically for Exceptional Industry Support, is not an accelerator award. It’s a recognition of what happens at the intersection of startups and established industry: structured collaboration, real pilot projects, and outcomes that go beyond a signed agreement.

Energiekoppler is a good example of what this looks like in practice. The energy startup from TU Dresden joined SpinLab to build its commercial foundation: pitch, sales strategy, financing, stakeholder access. Through SpinLab’s network, they connected with LEAG, one of Germany’s largest energy companies. The pilot project started while the team was still in the program. LEAG became Energiekoppler’s first customer. The collaboration continues today, with Energiekoppler’s technology integrated across a growing base of LEAG assets.

“The Accelerator actually strengthened LEAG’s interest and pushed their willingness to adopt our technology. LEAG became the first customer for the Energiekopplers.”
Irina Weis, CEO Energiekoppler

That’s the standard SpinLab holds itself to and what the OECD and European Commission recognised when they issued the award.

🔗 Read the full Energiekoppler case study

Since 2024, the SpinLab Group has regularly been recognised by the Financial Times as a leading innovation hub.

The group behind the recognition

SpinLab Group operates across five specialised entities:

• SpinLab (Leipzig): Energy, Healthcare, Smart Cities, Construction

• ExciteLab (Dresden): Deep Tech, Robotics, IoT, Semiconductors, Quantum

• RootCamp (Hannover): AgTech, Bioeconomy, Circular Economy

• Bitroad (Leipzig): Strategic & Innovation Consulting team with more than 100 global projects in Europe, USA, Canada, Azerbaijan

• SIVentures (Leipzig): Early-stage venture fund investing in SpinLab Group portfolio startups

Five entities, five sector focuses, one standard. Every ranking and award above reflects the output of all of them.

If that sounds like the right environment for your company, we'd love to hear from you.

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