Startup Speed Dating Event – A Follow-Up Report

Startup Speed Dating Event of the VDMA Startup-Machine – A Follow-Up Report

The VDMA Startup-Machine event took place on the occasion of the Hannover Messe and aims to connect mechanical engineering and industrial startups. Like the Hannover Messe, this year’s event takes place digitally. In this context, a digital, curated Startup Speed Sating, supported by Ambivation, also took place. We report on the process, experiences and added value of the event.

Introduction of the participants

Participants included Dr. Laura Dorfer, project manager of the VDMA Startup-Machine, Hartmut Rauen, deputy managing director of the VDMA, and Bernhard Spitzenberg, senior project director of YoungTech Enterprises Deutsche Messe AG. The event was complemented by presentations from Tim Claus Bardenhagen of DESMA, Timur Ripke of Coman Software GmbH and Dr. Maximilian Stieler, Head of Innovation Management at KSB. The Speed Dating was organized and coordinated by Christoph Baier, Managing Director of Ambivation.

Agenda

At the beginning of the event, an opening took place as a kickoff. This was chaired by Dr. Laura Dorfer and presented both the goals and agenda of the event. Hartmut Rauen then gave a brief overview of startups and the engineering industry in his presentation, followed by a presentation by Bernhard Spitzenberg, the head of YoungTech Enterprises at Hannover Messe. The event continued with a short briefing by Christoph Baier on the Startup Speed Dating which took place afterwards. For all participants without a suitable match, an alternative forum program was offered during this period, which consisted, among other things, of reports on the experiences of startup cooperations. Finally, a discussion round took place, in which all speakers were involved and could exchange their experiences and knowledge with each other.

Startups and mechanical engineering – a perfect match

With his presentation, Hartmut Rauen was not only able to put the participants in the right mood for the event, but also impart valuable knowledge. He reported on the growth of the industry in recent years, which is also Germany’s largest industrial employer. The mechanical engineering industry, which also acts as an enabler for the economy through its innovative strength, offers plenty of potential for cooperation. Promoting cooperation is the purpose of the VDMA Startup-Machine, which was launched in 2017 in collaboration with Dr. Eric Maiser and Dr. Laura Dorfer. The Startup-Machine works with pitches, hackathons and the online platform Startup Radar Dashboard, and thus offers opportunities to network startups and the industry and to bring innovation culture into mechanical engineering. Especially in the areas of sustainability, hydrogen economy, drive technology and circular economy, innovative technologies can offer great added value in the future.

What’s next? Inspiration, partners, exchange

Next up was Bernhard Spitzenberg, the Senior Project Directo of YoungTech Enterprises, which takes place every year as part of Hannover Messe. He presented both the Startup Program and the registration process for Hannover Messe. Hannover Messe is all about exchange, exhibitors can actively approach visitors and get in touch with them in various ways. To make this possible online this year, visitors can conveniently register via the Hannover Messe website and participate in the event online. The official kick-off for Hannover Messe 2021 took place on 12.04.

Startup Speed Dating

Before the Startup Speed Dating started, there was a short briefing by Ambivation CEO Christoph Baier, the organizer of the Speed Dating. To prepare this, both companies and startups could register in advance. Out of 27 registered companies, some had specific needs, others were generally interested in cooperation. Startup proposals were sent to these companies by mail. In this way, 45 matches could be realized, which were then allowed to get to know each other in 1-1 talks. In order for this to run as smoothly as possible, Christoph Baier gave a few tips for speed dating. These included, among other things, dividing the 15-20 minutes per partner well, not neglecting to get to know each other personally, and clearly communicating expectations directly. After the event, the entire catalog of the 90 startups was available for download as startup profile cards.

Alternative program to the Startup Speed Dating 

Since not all startups and participants could get a suitable match, an alternative forum program took place parallel to the Speed Dating. This started with a presentation on demystifying corporate startup collaboration, given by Dr. Maximilian Stieler. He is Head of Innovation Management at KSB, and was able to share some exciting experiences from KSB’s collaborations with startups. In his opinion, the following points are important for initiating collaborations: choosing the right tool, keep an overview, stand out, aim precisely, find the same language, be patient and take a risk.

Tim Claus Bardenhagen was also able to tie in directly with this in his presentation. He is a strategic product manager at the medium-sized shoe manufacturer DESMA. The company, which was founded in Bremen in 1946, has about 225 employees. For startups, collaboration thus differs from cooperations with large corporates. Since product life cycles are becoming shorter and shorter today, and the various development phases, such as design, production sales are becoming more and more closely linked, startups can offer great added value here with their agility. However, DESMA not only cooperates with startups, but also with larger companies, such as HP. Here, DESMA takes the position of the “smaller” partner and can thus view cooperations from the startup perspective, so to speak. It also happened, according to Mr. Bardenhagen, that too many hurdles arose – in such a case it is important to recognize this and to be able to end the cooperation amicably.

This was also the experience of Timur Ripke, co-founder and CEO of Coman Software GmbH, which has now successfully made it from startup to scaleup. There are often major differences between startups and companies, which can cause cooperations to fail. To prevent this from happening, he reports in his article “How (not) to start with Startups” on how to successfully circumvent problems in a cooperation. The four most important points to pay attention to are trust and understanding, the difference between expectation and reality, between structure and agility, and the realization of whether a cooperation really makes sense.

Discussion round

Finally, a discussion round took place in which all speakers and participants could exchange their added values and experiences with each other. Among other things, the question of how collaborations between startups and mechanical engineering could succeed was discussed. Although they are becoming increasingly popular and offer a lot of potential, two out of five collaborations fail. Dr. Maximilian Stieler explained that an innovation strategy is needed to increase the success rate. This also includes one or more fixed contact persons in the company to whom startups and innovators can turn. According to Christoph Baier, this contact person is currently still missing in over 50% of companies. Medium-sized companies in particular do not always have their own innovation department. So project management should work well here. In addition, it can make sense to get a taste of several areas at the beginning, but to focus on corresponding needs sooner or later. Companies should take their time for this, but should not miss the point of getting into “doing”.

The final messages from the speakers focused entirely on promoting cooperation and innovation. According to Dr. Maximilian Stieler, startups are part of every innovation strategy. In his opinion, German culture needs to move away from the goal of avoiding mistakes. Only by taking risks can you increase the hit rate. To accomplish this, one can first start with a pilot project, Christoph Baier advised. He also recommends placing particular emphasis on systematic strategies and accuracy of fit. Timur Ripke reported that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, so it is important to keep asking critical questions and to have staying power. Mr. Bardenhagen also appealed to startups to continue to ask the companies to listen, to keep at it and not to give up. Because, even if a cooperation was not successful, this can still be a gain and bring a learning effect with it, which helps the next cooperation to be successful.

Although the VDMA event could not take place in its usual physical form, the participants were able to benefit from the event. The online format offered the opportunity to impart knowledge, exchange experiences, establish contacts and share added values. Through speed dating, both companies and startups were able to meet interesting partners to lay the foundation for future collaborations. Nevertheless, we look forward to experiencing face-to-face meetings and discussions again next year to further bring startups and the mechanical engineering industry together.

Click here for the VDMA Startup Machine event announcement.

Here you can find the startup profile cards of the startups of the speed dating.

Featured image source: Hannover Messe