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25. Oktober 2019, 15:58 :: Aktuelle Trends | Corporate Services
Autor: Olga Rube
Whenever the drivers of innovation in the Rhineland are concerned, the name Dietmar Becüwe is likely to come up. Prior to founding the db.I.S.T., a consulting agency that specializes on innovation, strategy and technology, he worked as a Business Development Manager at Hewlett Packard, where he was able to apply his extensive expertise in strategy and transformation projects. Being involved in numerous associations, organizations and initiatives, one of his personal affairs of the heart is promoting and nurturing a culture of innovation in Germany – and for that matter, as part of the advisory board at remote accelerator #STARTUPNATION TO MITTELSTAND, bringing the top 1 % startups from Israel to the Rhineland. In an exclusive interview Dietmar Becüwe provides us with an honest assessment of the selected startups.
Hello Dietmar! What are your thoughts on the startup scene in Germany?
„We have a very well-established startup community in Germany – and more recently in the Rhineland – with many outstanding startups. In the Rhineland we are in the process of leaving the other markets in Germany behind – which always produces healthy competition within Germany. Today, the world is global and increasingly so. To a large extent, the products developed and produced in Germany are taken out into the world. There, these products meet competition from other countries. Here, too, startups have led to many new, creative and innovative products and solutions.“
What lead to the point of bringing the #SNTM-project to life?
“At STARTPLATZ, we have consequently taken this aspect into account and are also „internationalizing“ our startup landscape by concentrating on medium-sized businesses in the Rhineland as the target market for these very startups.”
Why Israel and not the Silicon Valley?
“Now there are a lot of good startups in every country in the world – and yes the Silicon Valley leads the list of the most innovative regions. However, one country tops even the particularly creative and innovative ones: Israel. For some years now, significant and trendsetting developments with a high degree of technological efficiency have had their point of origin in this admittedly small but highly … country and have often set the respective „state of the art“ standard. Many German companies – mainly DAX companies – have already recognized this, 70% of which have already set up their own R&D units there and are currently robbing the Israeli startup scene very intensively, or are trying to find what they are looking for.”
What is the main goal of #SNTM?
“We have started the #SNTM program to give other companies – in particular, SME – access to this promising startup market. We identified the best out of the many good and ambitious startups from Israel and focussed on the top 1% of startups. Only these can bring additional value to the German market with an existing, highly professional, innovative startup scene and very demanding customers. From the many thousands of startups in Israel, we have primarily concentrated on certain industries and defined criteria according to which we very carefully selected the top 1% startups that are also able to deliver significant added value for German companies.”
How did you manage to identify the top 1% of startups in Israel?
“Since in Israel the state „Innovation Authority“ centrally collects the essential information about all startups, we have a special advantage in the selection of the „best of“ due to our cooperation with the Israeli government authorities.”
What kind of startups have you chosen for the program?
“For an initial phase, together with the Israeli Innovation Authority, we have now selected 10 particularly interesting startups that offer products and solutions in different sectors that we have not seen before. They are intended to serve as an example of the degree of innovative development in Israel and show that this market and internationalization can help to maximize additional and great innovation potential for German companies.
The selected startups
– have a strong IoT reference and can be regarded as „disruptive
– have a first successful market entry and thus a high degree of maturity.
– collected first venture capital of millions (partly more than € 10 million)
– already conquered first areas of application with considerable, international customers
– have a high potential for German companies to improve flexibility, productivity, and mobility in production, maintenance, etc.
– offer “out of the box”-solutions
– set new standards in the area of security
– have a high interest in testing their innovative ideas and solutions on one of the most professional markets in the world with high-quality standards
– want to expand, they also want to benefit from the German market to grow
– have the urge to expand and are hungry for success”