Rüdiger Kabst

Professor Rüdiger Kabst serves as Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Faculty of Economics, Department 1: Management at the University of Paderborn, where he also holds the position of Academic Director of TecUP/garage33, the university's startup center. Previously, he was Professor of Human Resource Management, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, and Entrepreneurship at Justus Liebig University Giessen from 2004 to 2012, with research stays at the University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign (1996), University of California/Berkeley (2001), and EWHA University/Seoul (2006).

Prof. Kabst's research spans multiple dimensions of entrepreneurship including spin-offs from science, founding motivation and behavior, business model development, corporate entrepreneurship/intrapreneurship, impact/social entrepreneurship, international entrepreneurship, and evidence-based human resource management. His work emphasizes the interface between efficiency, added value, and sustainability in corporate management, with a particular focus on how evidence-based thinking combined with lean startup practices accelerates innovation capability.

His recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on intrapreneurial identity, cultural influences on innovation, social enterprise perception, and practical HR management in startups and SMEs. The research consistently bridges theoretical frameworks with practical applications, particularly through the garage33 field laboratory which serves as an evidence-based platform for entrepreneurship research.

Through garage33, Prof. Kabst has fostered a significant startup ecosystem, supporting over 100 founded startups with more than 100 million Euros in fundraising as of September 2023, while engaging over 15,000 participants in entrepreneurship programs. He leads the Paderborn Unit of Research in Entrepreneurship (PURE) and participates in the Cranfield Network on International Human Resource Management (Cranet), which spans approximately 50 countries.

Prof. Kabst actively supervises student theses with a preference for empirical research, particularly in areas aligned with his research interests. His teaching modules span bachelor's and master's levels, focusing on practical entrepreneurship skills, innovation in SMEs, corporate entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship. The garage33 Maker Space provides hands-on prototyping support for student startup projects.

The garage33 innovation hub serves as both a startup accelerator and a field laboratory for evidence-based entrepreneurship research. This facility offers comprehensive support including ideation workshops, incubation programs, acceleration services, business angel networking, and specialized focus areas including Corporate Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship, and Women Up initiatives. The Maker Space component provides prototyping facilities for developing physical product prototypes.