Seven entrepreneurs could have founded their school anywhere. We chose the Steinbeis Network – because for over 150 years, the very principle we believe in has applied here: knowledge only creates value once it is transferred into practice.
Ferdinand von Steinbeis (born 1807 in Ölbronn, Württemberg) is regarded as the father of technology transfer and a trailblazer of dual vocational education. As president of the Royal Central Office for Trade and Commerce, he organized the exchange between science and industry from the mid-19th century onwards – and turned the agrarian state of Württemberg into an industrial region.
His lever was education: he founded trade schools across the land – including the weaving schools in Blaubeuren (1852) and Reutlingen (1855) – and rigorously combined theory with practice there. Learning on real assignments, knowledge passed on from person to person: what we now take for granted as dual vocational education was his invention.
“Only those who carry research into real life give knowledge its true value.”Ferdinand von Steinbeis (translated from the German original: „Nur wer Erforschtes ins wirkliche Leben trägt, verleiht Wissen seinen wahren Wert.“) – the Steinbeis principle to this day: transfer through people.
In 1971, the Steinbeis Foundation for Economic Development was re-established in Stuttgart – as an umbrella for knowledge and technology transfer between universities and companies. What began as five technical advisory services at universities in Baden-Württemberg has grown into a worldwide network that even includes its own university.
Sources: steinbeis.de – Who we are → · History of the network → · Wikipedia: Steinbeis Foundation →
Ferdinand's idea – learning on real assignments instead of textbooks – is exactly our promise: nobody leaves one of our programs with just a certificate, but with a built, measured real-world result. We didn't have to invent a mission statement. It had been waiting here for 150 years.
The Steinbeis Network is not a bureaucracy but a web of around 1,000 entrepreneurially run units. That's exactly how we work: seven founders who themselves build, lead and invest – and bring their practice into the classroom, from agentic AI to trademark law.
As a private school within the network, we can move fast: claim new fields, build programs in weeks instead of years, bring partners in directly. At the same time, we are backed by a name that has stood for serious knowledge transfer for decades.
From AI to legal tech and defense, to quantum, blockchain, resilience and entrepreneurship: the network and our partners deliver real projects, instructors from the field, and companies looking for our graduates.
Ferdinand von Steinbeis becomes the first to systematically connect education, science and industry in Württemberg.
Re-establishment of the Steinbeis Foundation in Stuttgart – the starting point of today's network.
Around 1,000 Steinbeis enterprises worldwide – consulting, R&D, education and training.
Seven entrepreneurs found the School of Future Tech & Digital Innovation – Ferdinand's principle, applied to AI, quantum & co.
Seven founders, seven fields – and one promise: practice over slides.