The aim of the Gründermotor is to bring start-ups, science and SMEs together in order to drive innovation in Baden-Württemberg. We take a closer look: Why are these three stakeholder groups actually so important for the network?
Hey Nico, why are the Corporate Partner such an important stakeholder group for the start-up engine?
We start by asking Nico Bühler, Head of Corporate Partner Success, why corporate partners are such an important part of our Next Generation Mittelstand mission, what makes the corporates in BW so special and what his vision for them is for the coming years.
Why are our corporate partners such an important part of our ecosystem?
Nico: "Established, medium-sized companies are the backbone of our # economy. We strengthen this target group through # networking with promising # start-ups and talents as well as universities, innovative companies, investors and # policy makers. Through these diverse contacts, we support the next generation of SMEs and bring the innovative power from the "start-up world" to the heart of the # SME sector.
We are convinced that not only SMEs can benefit from the "start-up world", but also vice versa. Thanks to regional # contacts, a wealth of # knowledge and a wealth of experience, contact with SMEs is also of great benefit to the "start-up world". As a start-up engine, we offer space for such an exchange or even future collaboration."
What characterises our corporate partners in BW?
Nico: "With all our corporate partners, I sense a desire to create something new while not forgetting established values and economic sustainability. 1TP5 innovation with grandchildren's suitability, so to speak."
What is your vision for the Corporate Partners in the next 5 years?
Nico: "I firmly believe that we will be able to further expand our self-reinforcing # network in the coming years and that our corporate partners and the start-up ecosystem will continue to benefit from each other in the future."
Would you like to know more about our corporate partners? Then take a look at our Network page to this.
Hey June, why are the Academic-Partner such an important stakeholder group for the start-up engine?
Next, June Nardiello, Director Landesinitiative - Hochschule der Medien, explains why she thinks our Academic Partners are such an important part of the ecosystem, how we want to drive their networking and what her vision is for Academics in the coming years.
Why are Academic Partners an important part of our ecosystem?
June: "Networking between the academic partners is important in order to strengthen exchange and cross-university collaboration in the entrepreneurship education and research community in Baden-Württemberg. This is the only way to create genuine collaboration and to generate collective visibility and attractiveness for Baden-Württemberg as a business location from regional clusters."
How do we want to drive this networking forward?
June: "We want to offer entrepreneurship researchers and teachers in Baden-Württemberg a platform for inspiration, exchange and collaboration. We also want to orchestrate the start-up initiatives of the universities in a state-wide movement to support them in moulding their talents into entrepreneurial personalities and transforming innovative ideas into promising growth companies. Specifically, we organise network meetings, working groups, training courses and develop products and formats that are relevant to the community."
What is your vision for Academic Partner in the next 5 years?
June: "An established Entrepreneurship Academy BW for entrepreneurship-related exchange in research and teaching between colleges and universities in Baden-Württemberg and around the world."
Would you like to know more about our Academic Partners? Then take a look at our Network page to this.
Hey Eric, why is networking the Startups so important?
Finally, Dr Eric Heintze, Director of the Gründermotor Landesinitiative, tells us why he thinks networking startups with each other and with the ecosystem is so important, how he wants to drive this networking forward with Gründermotor and what his vision is for startups in the coming years.
Why is the networking of start-ups so important? What potential do you see in it?
Eric: "Networking between start-ups is so important, as they usually face very similar challenges. They can learn from each other through best practices but also mistakes. I think that an essential key to success is sharing, training and sparring with other very good and motivated people who all have the same goal as you.
Networking with other stakeholder groups in the ecosystem is just as important as networking with each other. We have observed that both groups usually benefit from this: Corporates can take away the innovative spirit and new approaches from startups, and startups in turn can learn a lot from the experience of corporates. Something similar can also be observed in contacts with researchers. We think this exchange is extremely beneficial and are committed to working together as equals."
How do we want to drive this networking forward?
Eric: "All of our services are aimed at networking - whether between start-ups or with "the outside world". On our website you will find an overview of all our services and can categorise them according to your current objectives.
What is your vision for start-ups in the next 5 years?
I hope that our work can activate a large startup community that can support itself and new teams in all situations. Above all, I hope that more startups will engage in dialogue with other teams early on before they dissolve their team and startup. This is often because important issues are ignored or too much time and money is wasted. This can often be avoided by obtaining honest feedback from other entrepreneurs right from the start. In cooperation with the unfortunately still somewhat hidden and distributed community and our partners in BW, I hope that we can offer every team individual support in the ecosystem."
Would you like to know which startups have already taken part in our programmes? You can find an overview on the page of our Startup teams.
