Start-up conference: Trump as hope for more innovation from Europe

Donald Trump's renewed presidency is not only prompting a discussion on the topic of “digital sovereignty”. It is also having an impact on the scientific community and the European start-up scene. Dominik Gross, co-founder and Managing Director of the Founders Foundation gGmbH (FF), which trains tech start-ups, explained this at the opening of this year's Hinterland of Things conference. The number of European unicorns has already risen by around 4.9% since 2015.

In addition to regions with hidden champions, universities are also important for the German economy to regain competitiveness. According to Groß, there is already a good basis for cutting-edge research in Germany, but many have gone to Stanford or Harvard, which are considered to be much more start-up-friendly and innovation-oriented than German universities. To this end, the Federal Ministry of Economics is promoting a lighthouse competition as part of the“EXIST — Start-ups from Science” funding program, in which more than 100 start-ups are taking part.

According to investor Nazanin Daneshvar, Europe is the best place to start a business, as she explained in the panel “Crisis-related opportunities: Germany's chance to become a leader again”. According to Daneshvar, the fact that Trump is excluding various countries from studying at Harvard and other renowned universities is “one of the best things Donald Trump has done for Europe”. After all, “talented migrants” now have to seek alternatives.

Challenges for founders

The main challenges for start-ups in Germany include bureaucracy and regulation, but once you've made it in Germany, you can make it anywhere. However, the costly nature of notary appointments for founders was discussed several times in various panels. In another panel on regaining competitiveness, investor Florian Huber from Ewor, for example, spoke of costs of 60,000 euros incurred during a four-hour notary appointment in Berlin, while in London, a free online document was sufficient.

The promises made in the coalition agreement give hope to the start-up scene: “Start-ups are the hidden champions and DAX companies of tomorrow. To reduce bureaucracy, we are examining a start-up protection zone and want to simplify notarial procedures and enable digital notarization processes as well as the automatic exchange of data between the notary's office, tax office and trade office. We are creating a complete one-stop store that digitally bundles all applications and official procedures on one platform and enables companies to be founded within 24 hours,” it says.

According to Dr. Anna von Mutius, co-founder of the AI-based recruiting solution “Empion”, it is also a problem that employees in Germany cannot be dismissed, which is why she would like to see more dynamic processes for hiring and dismissals. Otherwise, a company would not be able to exploit its full potential. Data-based systems are helpful for selecting suitable applicants.

SAP on diversity targets

Deepa Gautam-Nigge, Senior Director for Corporate Development at SAP, was also asked about the diversity targets in the USA. According to Gautam-Nigge, the fact that she lives in Bavaria as a Lebanese Rhinelander and works for a company in Baden-Württemberg is diversity in practice. Diversity is still held in high regard at SAP. Recently, SAP CEO Christian Klein was also asked about the criticism of the abolished women's quota in an interview with Die Zeit. Although the global target of 40 percent women is no longer being pursued, it is instead being measured “at a local level”.

(mack)