Startups and the public sector / public authorities – Get to know startups

Startups and the public sector / public authorities

Today, as part of our series “Get to know startups”, we are talking about collaborations between startups and the public sector, also known as the public sector. This includes cities, communities, municipalities and public administration, among others. In our article, we explain why it makes sense for them to collaborate with startups and what advantages this offers. We also present some exciting case studies of successful collaborations between startups and the public sector.

Collaborations between startups and the public sector

The tasks of the public sector include the organization and administration of schools, childcare, infrastructure, economic development and public transport. This is where startups come in, because they can provide support with their innovative ideas in the efficient handling of these tasks. Since startups and the public sector sometimes function in very opposite ways, this form of cooperation differs from those in the ordinary B2C or B2B area.

Startups sometimes face the difficulty that the public sector likes to refer to their references when selecting partners. In order to nevertheless bring startups and the public sector together and enable cooperation, specially designed get-to-know-you initiatives can be helpful. One such initiative is “myGovernment,” a program that promotes networking between startups and the public sector and aims to foster cooperation. Once both sides have found each other, the partnership can be a win-win for both.

Case studies of successful cooperations

To better illustrate the benefits of collaborations between startups and the public sector, we would like to present some case studies here. One startup that is already successfully collaborating with the public sector is Polyteia. The team of the young company uses intelligent control platforms to bring together information from different sources. This is because cities and municipalities often face the problem that they collect their data in different systems that do not communicate with each other. In a sense, this can create silos. Polyteia wants to counteract this by bringing data and systems together and making them available to decision-makers in a collected form. In this way, they support the goal of advancing digitization in Germany. As a cooperation partner from the public sector, the startup was already able to win the city of Goslar, for which it developed a module to control the internal administration. On our blog you can find an interview with Faruk Tuncer, the co-founder of Polyteia.

Another successful use case in which Ambivation was able to participate is that of Nassauische Heimstätte. With over 60,000 residential units in Thuringia and Hesse, this is one of the leading German housing companies. For Hubitation, the startup accelerator of Nassauische Heimstätte, Ambivation was able to conduct a startup scouting. As part of the scouting, a startup was sought that could offer an AI-based chatbot to make communication in IT support easier and more efficient. With the help of the final selected partner, Nassauische Heimstätte was able to validate the use case and technology. Read more in our Use Cases.

The cooperation example of the startup Aristech and the city of Heidelberg also revolves around AI-based technology. The young Heidelberg-based company develops systems for speech synthesis, voice recognition and speech generation. These are used both for communication with voice bots, but also for automated announcements on trains and at train stations. At the beginning of the Corona pandemic, the city of Heidelberg needed a quick and easy solution to handle the rush on their information hotline. For this purpose, Aristech developed a voice bot within a short period of time that supported the city’s Corona hotline.

Startup collaborations can therefore be very useful and offer added value not only for private companies, but also for the public sector. One hurdle that startups occasionally encounter is that the public sector often wants to see references. This can be difficult for young companies, which is why a leap of faith is needed here. Once this first step is taken and collaboration is initiated, it can bring many benefits and a mutual learning effect. For example, startups can learn a lot from the organization of the public sector. The latter, in turn, can benefit from the speed, efficiency and innovative strength of the startups.