Startup & Innovation workshop

In order to keep innovations in Germany at a high level, young companies and start-ups are indispensable for the German economy. More than ever, keywords such as Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things and digital society are the future-oriented topics. The importance of so-called "corporate startups" is increasing. The “Startups and Innovation” workshop will highlight the prevailing needs of German corporations and which cooperation strategies have proven successful. Likewise, the current challenges of young companies in Germany and corresponding demands on the economy and politics are formulated. In addition, the workshop provides information about state-funded programs such as the German Accelerator and free initiatives such as STEP NYC, which bring young German entrepreneurs into contact with the American startup hotspots Silicon Valley or New York City. The participants experience first-hand the enormous importance of innovation for the German economy and get to know important programs such as STEP NYC and the German Accelerator for startups, so that they can better establish themselves internationally.

Our speakers

Gitte Bedford

Vice President, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH

Gitte Bedford has been Vice President at Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH, the corporate venture capital company of the leading international technology group, for 7 years. RBVC invests in start-ups worldwide, either directly or through investments in venture capital funds. RBVC's portfolio currently includes over 30 companies in Europe, USA, Israel and Singapore.

Gitte was previously responsible for finance at Bosch's Asia-Pacific regional headquarters. Before that she was managing director of the Bosch finance company in Great Britain. She began her career in the central treasury of the Bosch Group.

Karsten Bohrs

CEO, simple show

Karsten Böhrs is an experienced entrepreneur and sales expert. Since 2013, as CEO of simpleshow, he has been dedicated to the strategic expansion of the market leadership of the company, which has since outgrown its start-up shoes, through internationalization and innovation leadership through focused technology development. After more than 20 years of experience in management positions at multinationals such as Axel Springer and the Otto Group, Karsten turned to promising business models and personal projects as an entrepreneurial investor in 2007. In addition to his experience, he names the mixture of enthusiasm, energy and vision as his recipe for success.

Matthew Notz

Managing Director, German Entrepreneurship GmbH

Matthias Notz has been working with entrepreneurial passion at the interface between start-ups, universities and industry for 10 years. His areas of responsibility include the establishment of intra- and entrepreneurship in well-known companies and educational institutions, as well as the development of strategic partnerships and fundraising. German Entrepreneurship GmbH carries out corporate acceleration projects with corporations and medium-sized companies and has been running the "German Accelerator" program since 2011, which supports top German startups from the tech and life science sectors in the USA at the Silicon locations Valley, New York and Boston/Cambridge.

Ludwig Preller

Founder & Managing Director, CLEVIS Research GmbH

Since the end of 2015, Ludwig Preller has been the founder and CEO of German Tech Digital, a company builder in Berlin that builds digital startups for business customers in an "Innovation as a Service" model. Since 2011 Mr. Preller has been a member of the supervisory board of Make a Start-up GmbH and since 2010 he has also been the managing director of CLEVIS Research, a company that advises clients in growth phases and structural changes. From 2008 to 2009, Ludwig Preller was Head of Business Development at GloTec Ventures, a clean-tech fund. In 1999, at the age of 18, he founded his first company. Mr. Preller has also been active as a private business angel for 5 years.

dr Alex von Frankenberg

Managing Director, High-Tech Gründerfonds

dr Alex von Frankenberg is Managing Director of High-Tech Gründerfonds and has been active in the venture capital / start-up environment since 2000. Previously, he was a venture manager at Siemens Technology Accelerator, responsible for spin-offs from Siemens' corporate technology. In 2001/2002 he was sales manager in an IT start-up. Before that, as a project manager at Siemens Management Consulting, he was responsible, among other things, for setting up an internal incubator. He started his career at Andersen Consulting developing complex IT systems. Dr. Frankenberg studied at the University of Mannheim and the University of Texas at Austin (MBA) and did his doctorate in Mannheim on the formation of technology standards.

moderation

Dietmar Rieg

General Manager, AHK USA-New York

Dietmar Rieg was appointed Managing Director of the German-American Chamber of Commerce in New York in July 2013.

Mr. Rieg began his career in 1991 at BayernLB in Munich, from where he moved to their New York branch in 1993. He has held positions in credit assessment, corporate banking, and project and trade finance. From 2006 to 2008 he moved back to Munich, where he was initially responsible for corporate customer business in several sectors and then headed the corporate banking non-euro division. In 2008 he returned to New York to manage BayernLB's New York branch as branch manager until 2013.

Mr. Rieg is an economist with a degree from the University of Tübingen and received an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

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