Ludwigsburg DEEP Startup Ecosystem Conference 2022

In partnership with DEEP STARTUP ECOSYSTEM CONFERENCE LUDWIGSBURG GERMANYâ€¨June 2022 37% The 3rd edition of the DEEP Startup Ecosystem Conference that took place on 23-24 June, 2022 in Ludwigsburg (Stuttgart), Germany has been co-organized by the City of Ludwigsburg and Innovation Network with support of local government and the Mayor of the City of Ludwigsburg. The 2-day event brought together both international and local startup ecosystem leaders, innovation managers, governments, and entrepreneurs to stimulate discussions around the current startup ecosystems developments and challenges. The conference marked the launch of the Startup Heatmap Europe Report 2022 on â€œOpen Startup Regions & Sustainable Growthâ€, the annual analysis on the development of startup ecosystems and founder mobility in Europe. The launch of the report has been followed by Barcelona City Council presentation on Barcelona's booming startup scene. The conference featured a panel discussion on Ludwigsburgâ€™s startup ecosystem and its key players, followed by a keynote session of Bosch, leading global supplier of technology and services that is based in Stuttgart. As usual, the conference brought 4 data-driven workshops, aka DEEP Dives, across ecosystem building, investments, impact and corporate innovation sectors with expert contributions from Iceventure, The Entrepreneurs Trust, Enterri, Michael Bauer International GmbH and Conias Risk intelligence, Meli Networks, GIZ, KIT Karlsruhe, Filmakademie Baden-WÃ¼rttemberg, German Edge Cloud and Pixelcloud. The event offered a unique opportunity for networking, and for exchanging views and best practices from different cities. The conference also hosted the DEEP Startup Ecosystem Accelerator Demo Day, where 6 ecosystem initiatives have been pitched to the audience. Bringing insights Thomas KÃ¶sters CEO â€¨DEEP Ecosystems FEMALE PARTICIPATION The DEEP Startup Ecosystem Conference brings together ecosystem builders, investors and innovation managers as well as policy makers to exchange on current trends, strategy and collaboration opportunities. 70% Highlights About DEEP Ecosystems DEEP Ecosystems is a global community of ecosystem builders empowering local startup support organizations to professionalize and improve their services in order to create globally impactful initiatives that attack societyâ€™s most pressing challenges. The collaborative bottom-up approach allows DEEP to aggregate information and insights from local sources with global trend data. DEEP entertains three main instruments to foster ecosystem growth worldwide which are the Startup Heatmap Europe, an unparalleled database on ecosystem development metrics, the DEEP Ecosystem Conference, which brings together a community of more than 400 professional ecosystem leaders and the DEEP Startup Ecosystem Accelerator which directly supports the growth of local ecosystems. Our mission is to connect ecosystems - and what would be better to combine a playful approach with intelligent conversations? DEEP brings together ecosystem leaders globally to unearth local insights and jointly identify strategies to adapt to global trends. C-LEVEL SPEAKERS This publication summarizes the discussions among ecosystem leaders from all over Europe and beyond on how to tackle emerging challenges and ongoing dynamics in innovation support. It brings together the extensive research in preparation of the conference as well as the many inputs shared during the event and workshops. On this Publication A big thank you to the individuals of the DEEP Team who contributed greatly to this publication: Takhmina Lolakova Dr. Erica Santini Okan Baldil Thomas KÃ¶sters Sebastian Diaz Valentina Forrer Harald Eisenhauer MarÃa Francisca Paz y MiÃ±o DEEP is All About Connecting Ecosystems Executive Summary COUNTRIES 22 Innovation Network Develop innovative solutions to current issues facing the city and businesses Support networking between start-ups/founders and established companies and create opportunities for piloting companies Promote a culture of innovation in the city administration Convey the innovative spirit of Ludwigsburg's entrepreneurial community Present the innovative strength of the local companies Promote regular exchange Mission, Objectives, Roles What should the future of our cities look like? How do the cities of tomorrow adapt to climate change? How do we meet the current and future social, economic and ecological challenges? The Innovation Network of the city of Ludwigsburg is investigating such questions. In the network, the city of Ludwigsburg, partners from business, industry and research institutions work together in a cooperative manner - and have been doing so since 2015. The cooperation is intended to develop impulses for new, innovative technologies that can be tested on site under real conditions in urban space. With the Innovation Network, the city of Ludwigsburg primarily wants to improve the quality of life for its citizens and at the same time strengthen Ludwigsburg as a business location. The Network offers cross-segment thinking and leads new solution approaches. It is the breeding ground in close cooperation with the business community and higher education institutions. Together we are developing and use new products, new services and business models in exchange with the city administration and municipal companies. The Innovation Network is a structered process to ideate and implement pilot projects in collaboration between the city and societal actors. It is open to all those who support the objectives and the process of the Innovation. These are our main goals of the Innovation Network in Ludwigsburg: Bringing ideas and realisation together Turning individual goals into collective goals and thus creating a win-win situation PARTNERS Ludwigsburg Innovation Network as a strategic partner hosted the DEEP Startup Ecosystem Conference to showcase the innovation capacities of Ludwigsburg and connect with international ecosystem builders. " What Participants Say Click to see the video Dr. Heike Langner Director of Performance Expert Service for Outside-In at Robert Bosch GmbH Anna Brinkschulte Head of Interactive Media, Filmakademie Baden-WÃ¼rttemberg Hanno Hoehn Managing Director at Mann+Hummel Manuel Krauss Senior Consultant Business Model Innovation at Bosch Innovation Consulting Julia Cordonet International City Promotion Advisor at Barcelona City Council Anna Brinkschulte Filmakademie Ludwigsburg Jolanta Gatzanis Overall Coordinator Innovation Network Ludwigsburg, Germany Oliver Reichert County Economic Development in the County of Ludwigsburg, Germany Jolanta Gatzanis Overall Coordinator at Innovation Network of the City of Ludwigsburg " Renate Schmetz First Mayor of Ludwigsburg " I came to present Barcelona and the Barcelona Ecosystem. The municipality has built the ecosystem because the ecosystem is good for our citizens in a way that it provides solutions for the problems that the city and citizens face. " " Ertan Can Managing Partner at Multiple Capital Contributors We have students who are trained in the field of film but also in games and interactive media focussing more on special communication. That's a broad range and a big industry. But they need a kind of support and network and a kind of a hub in order to get located here in Ludwigsburg. " Christian MÃ¼ller Head of Commissioned Productions and Talentinitatives, Animationsinstitut Filmakademie Text A great setting for the conference and good speakers. I found the format exciting and so did the international selection of participants. Shaping the future is only possible together. That is my conclusion from the conference. The conference was important to exchange and learn with and from other institutions including cities, startups, companies and innovation managers, accelerators about innovative solutions to strengthen Ludwigsburg as a business location. So, thank you DEEP Ecosystems for your contribution to making this creative ecosystem conference happen. " Gulia Cordonet Barcelona City Council, Barcelona, Spain " Nevena Stavreva CEO of Enterri ArnbjÃ¶rn Eggerz Managing Director at Iceventure Timothy Robb Associate at Iceventure Harald Eisenhauer Co-Founder DEEP Ecosystems & Head of Platform Takhmina Lolakova Project Manager DEEP Ecosystems Conference, european startup initiative Eric SchÃ¼Ã¼rmann Deputy Head of Business Administration and Financing at Wohnungsbau Ludwigsburg Contributors Stella Deppe Policy Advisor Digital Development for GIZ JÃ¼rgen Paulus Head of Digital Transformation & IT, City of Ludwigsburg Jonas Kirchner CEO at Pixelcloud Ellie Amirnasr Director of Digital Ventures at MANN+HUMMEL Sebastian Diaz Mesa Co-Founder DEEP Ecosystems and Head of Accelerator & Community Assim Ishaque Founder at The Entrepreneurs Trust Oliver Reichert County Economic Development in the County of Ludwigsburg Ana Rosa De Lima Initiator and Director of Meli Bees Network Contributors Nicolas Schwank Chief Data Scientist of Political Risk at Michael Bauer International GmbH Plamen Kiradjiev Head of Solution Architects at German Edge Cloud Ralph Henn Research Associate, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Dr. Erica Santini Professor Universit of Trento, President european startup initiative, Co-Founder DEEP Ecosystems A City With Pioneering Spirit Ludwigsburg used to be known for its baroque history and as the location of Germanyâ€™s largest university for government and administration staff and for the worldwide renowned Filmakademie/Animations- institut, as well for its companies from the mechanical engineering and automotive sectors. Over the past couple of years, however, Ludwigsburg turned into a city for modern governance and innovation. Ludwigsburg became a city with pioneering spirit. In the early 2000s, it became clear that we would face significant challenges in the upcoming decades. New Technologies and the significant population growth will have an impact on many areas: on the economy, on mobility, on climate, basically on living and working in our cities. As a city, we have to invest significantly in environ- mental protection and social issues such as education, integration and inclusion. Therefore, a dynamic, future-proof economy is indispensable. As one of the strongest economic regions in Germany with renowned companies and up-coming young founders, we want to build a sustainable economic ecosystem as the county seat in Baden-WÃ¼rttemberg and the largest city in the Ludwigsburg district, so that Ludwigsburg remains liveable for future generations. The DEEP Startup Ecosystem Conference in Ludwigsburg was an international exchange to learn from other cities, ecosystems, how a successful economic ecosystem can be built in Ludwigsburg and which actors are needed for this. It was also important for us as a city to find out what framework conditions local companies and startups need in order to promote innovation here in Ludwigsburg. As one of the results of the conference I want to mention is, that we need to create opportunities to increase the visibility of startups and their innovations and to bring them into contact with resident corporates. We are convinced that the economic strength of our city will come from the combination and collaboration of experience and innovation. We would like to thank our Innovation Network and their partner DEEP Ecosystems for their valuable support in making this conference a success. Overall Coordinator at Innovation Network of the City of Ludwigsburg Jolanta Gatzanis Matthias Knecht With Renowned Companies Ludwigsburg is a dynamic and flourishing business location in southwest Germany (only 15 km away from Stuttgart) with global corporations and small businesses, industrial and craft enterprises, traditional trades and future-oriented industries. From Porsche to Bosch â€“ Ludwigsburg and the region of Stuttgart are home to many world-renowned high-tech firms. The â€œLÃ¤ndleâ€ is a densely connected urban area with many seemingly small cities who together easily take on the economic power of global hubs like New York. If you want to connect to the most innovative manufacturing firms in the world, you must come to Germanyâ€™s high-tech cluster number one. The City of Ludwigsburg in 2021 was a semifinalist of the EUâ€™s iCapital award for the most innovative places in Europe. It is home to Boschâ€™s international entrepreneurship program grow, hosts Porscheâ€™s innovation powerhouse MHP and is also leading in the creative sector with the film makers and animation studioâ€™s spun out of the Ludwigsburg Film Academy winning Oscars and other international awards. The main economic sectors are automotive suppliers (MANN+HUMMEL), mechanical engineering (Hahn&Kolb), software development (Porsche Digital), medical technology (Roche) and financial service providers. Rising startups, innovative companies and a lively creative industry through a dynamic film and media sectors are located in Ludwigsburg. "As we can see in the City of Ludwigsburg, after the Innovation Network was founded a couple of years ago, innovations can create added value for customers, businesses and job security, for workplaces and for society in general. The DEEP Conference was furthermore helpful and important for Ludwigsburg, so that partners from relevant local corporates, startups, science, enablers of ecosystem building worldwide and people from our municipality could get to know each other, learn from each other for exchanging ideas and to network with all in our area and outside our city. This is what we did intensively at the 2-day conference - for the well-being of our citizens." Economic Region Ludwigsburg Lord Mayor of the City of Ludwigsburg Participants with diverse profiles have joined the event, where 48% have senior startup ecosystem managerial positions, 22% are CEOs, 16% are founders and 14% are support organizations, think tanks, students, and journalists. Participants had a unique opportunity to learn more about the local innovation players and initiatives. Among others, the conference hosted booths of Swarco, MHP Riesen, Mann+Hummel, Pixelcloud, Helix Pflanzen, Kresisparkasse Ludwigsburg. Diversity among participants' profile Total jobs created in the startup sector by city per month Organizations represented Conference Highlights 22 countries represented Meet the Local Ecosystem Common passion In addition to the incredible diversity, all attendees have been brought together by a common passion. During the 2-days, participants had the unique opportunity of being surrounded by people who share a passion for innovation, an intellectual curiosity to learn, and a desire to transform the world we live in through new ideas. The Ludwigsburg edition of the DEEP Startup Ecosystem Conference brought together ecosystem builders, innovation managers, investors, entrepreneurs and policy makers from all over the world, from Saudi Arabia and Japan to Romania and North Macedonia. 180 150 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 10 0 >600 weekly curated calls for startups Database with >8,500 startups >170 profiles â€¨of cities & accelerators Co-hosted by The Entrepreneurs Trust >1,600 graphs with live data updated daily DEEP Dive 4: Dinosaurs in the Metaverse - Will Manufacturers in Europe Survive the Impact of the New Internet? www.startupheatmap.eu Part I: DEEP Visions Part IV: DEEP Accelerate Welcome and Introduction Ellie Amirnasr, Director Digital Ventures at Mann+Hummel JÃ¼rgen Paulus, Chief Transformation & Impact Officer at JFL Anna Katharina Brinkschulte, Head of Interactive Media, Filmakademie Baden-WÃ¼rttemberg Oliver Reichert, County Economic Development in the County of Ludwigsburg Part III: DEEP Match Dr. Erica Santini, Head of Research, Startup Heatmap Barcelona Among Leading Startups Hubs Julia Cordonet, International City Promotion Advisor at Barcelona City Council DEEPSEA DEMO Day & Awards AGENDA Manuel Krauss, Senior Consultant Business Model Innovation, Bosch Innovation Consulting Dr. Heike Langner, Director of Performance Expert Service for Outside-In, Robert Bosch GmbH 23 June 2022 Ludwigsburg, Germany Put Yourself on the Map with a Profile Page Co-hosted by Iceventure DEEP Dive 1: Is It Time to Go East? How CEE Hubs are Building Thriving Startup Ecosystems "Micro-investing: Why Investing in Niche Geographies and Verticals is More Successful" at your Fingertips & for Free DEEP Dive 2: World in Crisis - Where will Venture Capital Go Part II: DEEP Dives Keynote: Ertan Can, Managing Partner at Multiple Capital DEEP Dive 3: Tech Saves the World - How Public Institutions Use Hackathons and Accelerators to Solve Societal Problems Keynote: "Innovate â€˜Like a Boschâ€™â€“ How to Quickly Validate Ideas and Use Outside-in Methods" Co-hosted by Iceventure The Startup Heatmap Renate Schmetz, First Mayor of Ludwigsburg Jolanta Gatzanis, Innovation Network, City of Ludwigsburg Thomas KÃ¶sters, Co-Founder & CEO, DEEP Ecosystems All Ecosystems in Europe Launch of the Startup Heatmap Report 2022 Panel: â€œHow Ludwigsburg Builds its Innovative StartupEcosystem" In 2021 Europe has reached a record high with 101bn â‚¬ in Venture Capital Investments. Pitchbook shows that the gap with the US is declining but still sizeable considering that US-based startups raised 119bn â‚¬ in the same year, that is 18% more than European startups. However, it is important to underline that the influx of capital boosted more hubs to critical size allowing 12 of them to reach a â€œunicorn ecosystemâ€ status claiming their startups have raised more than 1bn â‚¬ cumulatively in 2021. Does this trend describe a sustainable path of growth? It is not clear yet. Specifically, the top 5 investment hubs still capture 63% of capital, but overall startup success is increasing across Europe. Only 5 out of 43 hubs with significant funding levels have shrunken. On average European startup hubs have increased their investment levels by 164% comparing the periods 2016-2018 to 2019-2021. However, despite increasing opportunities across the different European ecosystems, for founders looking to raise small rounds, below 1mn USD, the opportunities have decreased by 22% while all other stages have increased in numbers. It is clear that each ecosystem is leveraging on its local specificity making the European startup arena an integration of open regions. Successful regions find ways to take advantage of all sorts of relations. Through the startup journey, different regions can have different kinds of benefits and opportunities to offer. Since 2016 the Startup Heatmap Europe Survey is one of the longest running surveys on founder sentiments answering questions like which is the most popular startup hub, how does the US and Europe compare in founder opinions and how bright or dim do founders see the future in their local startup hubs. Voted two years in a row the most popular startup hub in Europe, Berlin proves to be founders' favorite. It maintains a solid 39% of founders' vote showing that more than every third founder in Europe could imagine starting their company in the German capital. After Brexit London had to pass the crown of the most popular startup hub in Europe to Berlin, but still 33% of founders voted for the British capital as one of the 3 places they could imagine to startup in. This is mainly due to extremely high ratings of access to funding, friendly business regulations and industry connections. Most Attractive Cities to Start a Company in Europe With 101bn â‚¬ in Venture Capital Investments in 2021, Europe has reached a record high â€‹ The influx of capital boosted more hubs to reach â€œunicorn ecosystemâ€ status Startups blur regional boundaries European regions show different place specific benefits along the startup journey Smaller ecosystems offer several opportunities for accelerating startups For the 7th consecutive year, the Startup Heatmap Report ranks the Top 50 most popular startup hubs in Europe. The study is based on a sample of more than 24,000 pre-selected founders equally distributed over Europeâ€™s regions ranging from Iceland to Istanbul. The report gives a detailed view of the state of European tech hubs. It features insights about investments, internationalization patterns and founder sentiments. Investments Timeline Having left Amsterdam behind, Barcelona increases its popularity by 2.69% points and closes the gap to the top 2. A solid 20% of European founders name Barcelona as one of the hubs they could imagine to startup in. This might have to do with the increase of Venture Capital flowing into the Catalan capital. In 2021 startups in Barcelona collectively raised more than 2bn â‚¬ for the first time. The 3 year average from 2019-2021 is up 65% versus 2016-2018 and also seed financing between 500k - 2mn â‚¬ increases steadily with an average annual plus of 10% over the last 3 years. Open Startup Regions & Sustainable Growth Top 5 Facts Top 10 Most Popular Startup Hubs 2022 Startup Heatmap Report International City Promotion Advisor at Barcelona City Council Barcelona's Journey Julia Cordonet A Leading Startup Hub Mrs. Cordonet, according to the Startup Heatmap Report, Barcelona is one of the top 3 startup hubs in Europe for several years in a row. What do you think makes the city so attractive for startup founders? Cities are evolving, complex environments, and attraction has a subjective component. Among the many reasons that make Barcelona great for startups I would choose its human scale, the startup ecosystem and its location and economic tradition. By human scale I mean a city perfect for your lifetime projects; where you can balance work and personal life, enjoy the weather, cultural offer, sporting events, research and education institutions, walk or bike everywhere, and still work hard and find the right talent. A city with global ambition but that puts people at the forefront of its policies. Companies are made of people after all. A startup ecosystemâ€™s center is its startups, of course, but needs a support network of public and private institutions that help them flourish and succeed. I mean incubators, accelerators, associations, co-working spaces, research institutions, mentoring programs, angel networks, funding sources, public-private partnerships, big corporations in search of open innovation, etc. Barcelona has them, and the modern spaces where they interact, like the 22@ innovation district, a benchmark on how focused urban planning can activate the knowledge intensive economy. Barcelona is strategically located by the Mediterranean Sea; it can become a doorway to Europe and bridge Asia and America. It has an international logistics and cruise port, an international airport, a high-speed train station and international fair grounds in under 5 sq. km. It also has a diversified economy, legacy of an early industrial revolution, and is made mostly of SMEs. The international events Barcelona hosts, like the Mobile World Congress or Smart City Expo, energize specific sectors in just a few days and bring lasting benefits. With the impact of COVID-19 on global economies, many investors saw an intensified need to consider ESG strategies as a more sustainable investing approach and as a result, a lot of startups begin to catch up on this trend. What is Barcelonaâ€™s vision on that and what steps it is taking to reach its sustainability goals? Barcelona has formulated its roadmap in line with the 2030 agenda goals established by the United Nations: the Barcelona Green Deal 2030. It focuses the cityâ€™s efforts in an economic agenda to become more inclusive, competitive and sustainable. Sustainability is one of the main driving axes of the clustering strategy. The idea is to promote strategic sectors, like the blue economy, which seeks a more balanced relationship with the sea in all interactions, from water sports to circular economy or environmental protection, in order to create positive change that bring sustainable prosperity. This is done with tractor projects and urban renewal investments, seeking strategic alliances with key agents like research institutions, private companies, the innovation ecosystem, civil society, etc to build together the Barcelona of the future. The Green Deal is the economic agenda, but the City Council is working in other fronts to become more sustainable as well, like the MES Barcelona initiative for energy-transition that give incentives to move toward clean energies, the low emissions zone (ZBE) that ban the more polluting cars on peak hours within city limits, or the mobility shift that is reducing the space for cars and multiplying bike and bus lanes, just to mention a few. To build a sustainable and resilient startup ecosystem is a long journey. In your opinion, which are the major challenges Barcelona has to overcome to reach this goal? A startup ecosystem does not exist on a void; it is connected to the DNA of its city, the interconnected layers of any compact urban model. Barcelona has been growing on its strengths, but of course there are no perfect conditions anywhere. We have an innovation and entrepreneurship culture, a tradition of public-private partnerships to work together for common objectives, and we are creating and attracting talent. But we are aroman-law based country, which sometimes can cause rigid administrative hurdles. We are aware and working to ease this problem by creating one-stop-shops for business, for instance. It is a work in progress. Barcelona keeps evolving, and welcomes initiatives that help build a sustainable future. The Barcelona City Council is committed to make Barcelona a more inclusive, sustainable and competitive city, and the City Promotion Departmentâ€™s mission is to attract foreign investments, business and talent aligned with the cityâ€™s vision, to create prosperity for all. CEE countries are growing much faster than the rest of Europe in terms of VC funding. VC Investments in OECD members of the CEE region (all CEE members except Albania and Croatia ) increased from USD 50 million in 2009 to USD 370 million in 2020, while VC investments for European OECD members grew from 4.5 billion USD to almost 14 billion in the same timeframe. This shows that CEE grew 3x as fast as the rest of Europe (640% vs. 211%), (OECD, 2020). Poznan, Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn have become the leading cities in terms of growth in the CEE region since 2019. At the same time, (overall) investments in select CEE cities increased from approx. â‚¬ 150 million in 2016 to â‚¬ 2.5 billion in 2021, an increase of 1566%. Approximately 10,000 CEE companies raised funds in the last five years. The companies which attracted most investments were from such sectors as ICT, consumer goods and services, Business products and services and biotech and healthcare. These sectors are particularly strong in the CEE region and continuously raised more funding in the recent years. The CEE region shows stronger recovery than expected according to estimates, with 4.8% economic growth estimated in 2022. Real GDP growth is forecast to be 4-5% for CEE over the next 2 years. While there are no quantitative startup ecosystem growth estimates, the current trend of startup growth exceeding economic growth proportions could plausibly continue. DEEP Dive Emerging CEE Startup Ecosystems IS IT TIME TO GO EAST? on CEE Ecosystems Since 2016, the CEE region had a growth of 11.6% in IT outsourcing into the CEE region The number of exits in CEE region rose despite shrinkage in the European region In the last 10 years CEE region outperformed the EU average consistently in terms of GDP growth Estonia and Romania are overtaking the â€œoldâ€ European economies in the West in terms of innovativeness and digitalization Warsaw, Bucharest and Vilnius have become home to more meetups than other CEE cities In partnership with Top 5 Facts How CEE Hubs are Building Thriving Startup Ecosystems Eastern European countries are overtaking the â€œoldâ€ European economies in the West in terms of innovativeness and digitalization. VC investments cumulatively reached over 4bn EUR in 2021 in CEE states with Estonia leading the whole Europe in terms of VC investments per capita. Yet, we still see that corporate innovation scouts and investors from Western Europe are shying away to fully include CEE into their scouting routine. During the conference we came together with experts from CEE to learn about the opportunities and challenges to the full integration of CEE into Europeâ€™s startup market. CEO of Enterri VC Investments as percentage of GDP Source: Dealroom Enterri is a Bulgarian-based company that helps foreign entrepreneurs to set up business in Eastern Europe digitally and remotely. This article sheds a light on EEC developments after the dissolution of the USSR. Source: OECD Nevena Stavreva VC Investment 2007-2020 (in mn USD) VC Investments in OECD members of the CEE region (all CEE members except Albania and Croatia) increased from 50 million USD in 2009 to 370 million USD in 2020, while VC investments for European OECD members grew from 4,5 billion USD to almost 14 billion in the same time frame. The percentual increase is 640% and 211%, respectively. Eastern European Ecosystems Investments in selected CEE cities 2016-2021 The attention and interest in CEE cities led to more than double the comparative growth in investment. Tallinn and Prague were two prominent cities where startups raised a considerable amount of investments in 2021. In just 5 years, investments increased from approx. â‚¬ 150 million in 2016 to â‚¬ 2,5 billion in 2021, an increase of 1566%. Timeline of investments in CEE cities Learning From a Difficult Past Source: OECD In terms of percentage of GDP, VC investment in CEE countries increased from 0,008% in 2007 to 0,015% in 2020, while the same number grew from 0,02% to 0,029% for European OECD countries during the same time. The percentage of VC investments of the GDP grew by 87,5% for CEE, and by 45% for all European OECD countries. The dynamics of todayâ€™s Eastern European Startup Ecosystems are closely connected to the difficult years of economical decline, political turbulence, and societal struggle that the Soviet members and satellites had to go through after the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 80s of the 20th century. The newly emerged republics had to undergo huge transformations, building new economical and political structures with limited resources, poor trade capabilities and huge remaining dependancies on Russia and the local communist elite. The overall result was that â€œin many countries privatization in effect amounted to assets being seized by the former â€œnomenklaturaâ€ or by large multinational corporations supported by the new political eliteâ€ (more here). In this environment, entrepreneurship had only limited chances to flourish and was rather necessity-driven, restricted to the local market, and with modest growth ambitions. But this harsh environment has also promoted the emergence of a problem-solving mindset, that was inherited to the next generations of entrepreneurs. Thanks to the inclusion of more and more of the post-soviet countries in to the EU structures, entrepreneurs were given access to new lines of funding and/or increased their addressable market, notably, attracting more VC investment. This way, the ecosystem representatives in the CEE countries gained more ambition and self-esteem, so â€œBy 2019, 12 unicorns had sprung out of the CEE region, with a combined value of â‚¬30 billionâ€ (more here). After the year 2000, it had become quite typical for high school graduates from the Eastern European countries to go study in the Western Countries and many of the young people stayed there, trying to make a living. Luckily, in recent years, we see an increasing number of professionals (not only from the IT sector) coming back to their countries of origin and bringing in fresh international experience, which feeds the talent pool and makes the CEE states an even more attractive place to search for talent. Putting focus on the IT sector, many of the states have embraced different forms of educational initiatives, in order to produce more coding power and prevent potential braindrain. In the era of remote work and digital nomadism, building teams in CEE is a perfect strategy to get high-quality talent at far better long-term-cost conditions, thanks to the overall value for money, taxation and ease of doing business parameters in the single markets. of the Plenary Session Given the fact that CEE countries have so much in common, joint initiatives with regards to innovation and provision of talent should go more into focus. Better understanding, nurturing and inclusion of the CEE Ecosystem will clearly have a positive impact on Europe as a Super-Ecosystem. There should be more effort to unify the regulatory framework on a EU-level, as well as providing a more transparent and comprehensive access to EU funds. In general, seed investments have increased notably in the CEE region (see also this). Nevertheless, local founders usually state this as a challenge. But with the help of local and international startup support structures (accelerators, associations, mentor programs), founders get more and more support to develop their ideas. Through digitizing public services and access to the markets, CEE Ecosystems can get a real chance to attract more foreign investment and position well on the innovation map. The best example for this is Estonia, who managed to attract a huge number of foreign founders and investments by digitizing the access to their market and promoting remote work and digital nomadism. Digitization of public services is also closely related to reducing the bureaucratic burden on founders and accelerating the development of their projects. 1 3 2 The Entrepreneurs Trustâ€™s mission is to support innovators to make a positive impact in the world and prepare them for entrepreneurial challenges on their journey ahead through speaking, coaching, and consulting. The sheer delight of ending COVID induced hibernation with the dessert of leading conversations with fellow entrepreneurs was a joy indeed. However, the subject of Entrepreneurialism, Startups, Accelerators and Investment in the East of Europe: that demanded some serious thought. In the DEEP Startup Ecosystem Conference plenary room along with international expertise and insight, we concluded that three key challenges areas faced for the sector are: Talent Building: Lack of role models to inspire; Lack of opportunities for shared experience; Short term thinking Institutions & Bureaucracy: Better treatment of Startups; Digitised government; Greater public interaction Funding Groups: Deep Tech focused Investors; Appreciation of Value beyond profit; Enthusiasm for the Eco-Cause Deep Tech has value to offer, but it takes great passion â€“ with rewards significantly less other commercial routes for intelligent people. The East has the opportunity to show the world that its entrepreneurs can make great impact. Governments, Investors and society need to get behind them â€“ like other globally competitive states have done with huge Triple Line benefits. Communication with institutions is still pretty difficult in many of the CEE countries.This can also be considered a left over from the soviet times. When restructuring the public sector, many of the CEE countries managed to somewhat optimize the processes. Still there is quite a bureaucratic burden on young companies that needs to be reduced to ensure thriving ecosystems. The good news is that the local startup communities are pushing really hard to get their voices heard and induce changes in legislation to support entrepreneurs, i.e. with Startup Visas and emergence of new legal forms. Local governments should engage in revising regulatory framework, to ensure better funding options as well as a reduced bureaucratic burden on the newly formed companies. In addition, governments can support with introducing educational units to promote the entrepreneurial mindset and create trust for the local startup communities. Digitization of Public Services Increased Support from Local Governments Founder at The Entrepreneurs Trust Assim Ishaque Better Collaboration and Inclusion Conclusions OUR RECOMMENDATIONS You can't Grow What You can't Measure Build Your Ecosystem Strategy Based on DEEP's Toolkit for Mapping, Benchmarking and Project Development Speak to us HEALTH CHECK Free self-service tool to be used by anyone Many case studies with example indicators and benchmark data Simplified visual toolkit to assist strategic team discussions Template to create a full-scale Ecosystem KPI dashboard ECOSYSTEM HACK Develop a joint vision for your ecosystem with a series of stakeholder workshops in hybrid format Inspiring guest speakers from international ecosystems Hands-on workshops to develop a vision and concrete action plans Proven methodology based on the Ecosystem Canvas by DEEP www.startupheatmap.eu/ecosystem-building excl. VAT DEEP Dive World in Crisis: Where Will Venture Capital Go 1:1 Support Work with our team of experienced experts to identify the right proxies for your ecosystem Multiple 1:1 sessions over 3-4 weeks to support your data gathering and analysis efforts Finalization of the findings by our team in a presentation for internal or external purposes. 5,000 â‚¬ In partnership with FREE MEASURE YOUR ECOSYSTEM'S HEALTH Recent crises have fueled Venture Capital growth rather than crippled Despite Brexit 33% of founders consider starting up in London Still markets are fragile, the financial crisis in 2008 more than halfed VC investments There is a danger of deglobalization due to potential risks caused by Covid and war Yet, the service and delivery sectors grew due to Covid Total Investment Sums in bn USD, 2016-2022 Geopolitical tensions, the war in Ukraine, inflation, pandemic, and supply chain disruptions are starting to affect the markets. The pandemic led to a large surge of investments in health tech; the chip shortage revives large scale plant developments like Intelâ€™s 1bn EUR investment in Germany and the Ukraine crisis accelerates interest in cybersecurity. During this DEEP Dive ecosystem builders had the chance to explore how geopolitical tensions and market uncertainties affect venture capital and discuss challenges for ecosystems to adapt and grasp emerging opportunities. World in Crisis What will be the way forward? The straight-forward answer is we do not know. But from time to time there is lively debate in the venture community if we are in a new bubble. Arguments are the increased valuations, the growing number of unicorns, the failures of WeWork or Theranos and staying private for so long. Also, the entry of more and more VCs and corporate VCs can be seen, which is typically a sign of the late stage of the current cycle. Ecosystem builders will want to discuss what they can do to support their VCs and founders as a location is sticky. On the other side of the debate, you find the arguments that staying private is just reflecting where alpha is generated, and while one can debate about individual valuations of companies, in general valuations reflect expected value. WeWork in fact proved that the system can clean itself and did not have wider repercussions on other startups other than a Netflix series. And in case of crisis, it simply adapts. One example: NATO just announced plans for 1bn funds for innovation and a VC. on Venture Capital The forecast for the US economy was a decline in 2020 by between 3,4 to 3,6% while Europe was hit harder and lost between 6,3% and 7,4% of GDP. Due to Covid, the global economy went into a recession. A number of industries have been hit hard ranging from tourism, hospitality, but also oil production, seeing a negative price. The world was still coping with Covid, another global macro shock and crisis emerged â€“ Russiaâ€™s attack on Ukraine. All these changes have had an impact on the VC trajectory and produced both negative and positive consequences and scenarios. The number of EU VC funds are on a gradual and constant increase since 2016. Between 2016 and 2018, a big leap was recorded. The total investments are also in the increase since Q1, 2016. The investments multiplied since the beginning of the pandemic. Top 5 Facts Where Will Venture Capital Go? Venture Capital aims at financing the emerging company until the product/service is ready and revenues replace cash flow from investors. As investors, venture capitalists, are also subject to market emotions like fear, pressure from LPs or other investors affecting sentiment. The industry of venture capital is cyclical, often showing a boom-and-bust cycle, because of a fear that the tech/internet bubble of 2000 could repeat. Most recent shocks in Venture Capital have been the crisis of 2000 and of 2008. The Lehman crisis impacted VC funding, going down from $35 to 12 bn in 2009. Such economic shocks are sudden and unforeseen. They affect an economy at large and change macroeconomic variables and relationships and can result e.g., in inflation, unemployment, changed investment or consumer pattern. Brexit increased uncertainty of the future of the EU. London and UK, on the other hand, still rank up high and 33% of all founders in Europe consider moving there. Although many sectors suffered during the pandemic, this period also led to a large surge of investments in health tech. Meanwhile the chip shortage revives large scale plant developments like Intelâ€™s â‚¬1 billion investment in Germany and the Ukraine crisis accelerates interest in cybersecurity. The pandemic increased the demand for all kinds of digital services. Zoom, Slack and other SaaS-technology in general benefitted greatly and the development of vaccines progressed at an unprecedented speed. Many established companies connecting to startups and startup ecosystems are untouched by the VC question but tempted to cut on innovation activities in a downturn. But this is the occasion to access innovation and talent cheaply. You also might want to review your programmatic approach and means to archive it as each time has its own methods and instruments. OUR RECOMMENDATIONS As much as the idea of VCs presenting themselves at startups sounds right, most likely it will be the other way around with longer time spans until rounds are closed and smaller rounds focus should move from â€œaggressive growth plansâ€ to â€œmanaged growth plansâ€ with cash burn and profitability as KPIs. Of course, individual situations matter (if you are the exception startup â€“ go for it), but VCs are still only run by human beings who are influenced by surrounding sentiment. Also develop alternative plans for the company and its funding â€“ bootstrapping, key customers delivering cash, and other investors outside the VC space. The first advice and action item is to deepen the understanding of innovation finance and VCâ€™s real operations.â€¨Secondly, good ecosystem facilitators now focus on the resilience of their ecosystem and the players. This means not only to address the various stakeholders of the aspects of a downturn and the lows of a VC cycle, but to create an understanding that this is also part of the innovation cycle and an ecosystem. This is the time to review measures/methods applied to keep what works. Third, many emerging ecosystems that operated on a â€œfollow the waveâ€ base should take the chance to root their DNA as ecosystem supported by sound macro and innovation policy frameworks. E.g., it is nice to hear the arguments of Europe/German/Italian/French VC lagging behind in % of GDP, but this is not a sound indicator. Also, other factors in relation to the innovation model of an ecosystem or a region are important and can be fostered by ecosystem players. 2 ArnbjÃ¶rn Eggerz Actions for ecosystem organizers What is the situation and outlook for European Venture capital? In October 2022, some months after the conference, the outlook remains difficult. Incoming round numbers and key indicators monitored by us indicate many VCs in Europe remain cautious and paused their investment activities or only invested in smaller rounds at decreasing valuations. Given the expected upcoming recession and high uncertainty, the focus is now on portfolio companies. Does this mean Venture Capital financing comes to an end? For the time being â€“ no. Especially in Europe many VCs only recently raised fresh funds or capitalized on their past successes in a fund nr 1 (or nr 2). Thus, there is still much â€œdry powderâ€ waiting for opportunities.â€¨But startups and ecosystem managers should realize that of the two factors determining the VC game, technology & innovation vs. portfolio construction and investment laws, the second dimension dominates today. Valuations and bubbles â€œBursting bubbles and falling valuations â€“ this is the endâ€ was and is a recurring topic, also at the conference. As much as valuation discussions are tempting and â€œbursting bubblesâ€ are good for headlines, with the expertâ€™s view the argumentation for or against the scenarios are the key. And the correct inferences of possible consequences are as important to guide actions. Yes, there is a scenario build on the argument that the combination of private market valuations, orga- nized club deals with the same VCs from round A to E, the avoidance of public markets, and outside information search, all favored by loose monetary policy created a bubble (especially in the US) in the private technology company space. We can also analyze business models like last-mile delivery or many projects in the crypto/ blockchain space (models with an inherent asset market business logic, not a technology solution driven logic). As much as we enjoy discussing this with investors and support them with our analysis and insight, the focus for entrepreneurs and ecosystem facilitators should be on other topics. As a research partner for the conference, Iceventure collaboratively with DEEP prepared and presented the DEEP Dives. Cautious and Paused Activities Iceventure is niche consultancy specialized in business development and organizational development with more than 12 years of experience. Our team works with corporates, SMEs, institutions and start-ups on how innovation and future tech can be integrated into organizations and generate business advantages. Established companies Managing Director at Iceventure 1 3 Startups and entrepreneurs VCs in Europe Sign-up In partnership with DEEP Dive Tech Saves the World DEEP Startup ECosystem Conference 2023 INTERESTED IN BRINGING THE NEXT DEEP CONFERENCE TO YOUR city? Contact Us Sign-up Today and get A free Preview Package with Data and Insights The number of purpose-driven startups in European accelerators has grown constantly since 2015 1 in 4 enterprises founded in the European Union today are â€œsocial enterprisesâ€ The median startup raises 1.2mn â‚¬ after acceleration in Europe Hackathons provide visibility and engagement but only 7% of projects showed activity after 6 months Crowdfunding market was valued at 12.27 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 and it is expected to double by 2027 on Innovation for Societal Problems Top 5 Facts How Public Institutions Use Hackathons and Accelerators to Solve Societal Problems Source: Garage 48 From urban mobility to global hunger or climate change, many societal problems are being approached with traditional development support and public policy methods, with significant but limited results. The often-cited solution for problems, also societal problems, for which no traditional solutions have been found, is innovation. As such, there is an increasing focus on leveraging innovation to improve society. The challenges of innovation for societal problems are divergency between public benefit and profit extraction by innovation, access to funding, the need for justifying innovation risk within existing hierarchies, slower reaction and action speeds, as well as a misalignment of incentives for innovating. Small companies are often better at innovating and overtaking the established market leaders, while large companies have intrinsic challenges to generating innovation within their organization, and public administrations even more so. Large companies normally have access to funding, any accessible funding will usually be applied to increase profits in the short term, rather than make risky long-term investments. This means that the incentives for innovation and for use of funds are misaligned. In large companies with dependent hierarchies, decision-makers need to provide justifications for all business decisions. More technology, just like more funding, are not enough to reliably generate innovation. Given the similarity in innovation challenges between tech corporations and societal problems, similar solutions may also work. Many new instruments, mostly from Silicon Valley, try to address the innovation challenges. The concept of open innovation simply signified the paradigm that innovation could come not only from inside, but also from outside any organization. The two types of open innovation relevant for societal problems are: 1) the sharing of knowledge and resources (open source) from the organization with the public, and 2) sourcing and generating outside knowledge and resources to use, with or without monetary rewards. Several instruments used to reach these goals: Crowdfunding: fundraising with a high number of contributors giving small amounts. Hackathons: design sprints, in which questions are tackled by small groups in a limited time frame. Idea competitions and open calls: methods to generate ideas in which contributors are encouraged to compete for prizes, grants, or work orders. Accelerators (Hello Tomorrow foodtech competition, World Food Program) Citizen engagement and crowdsourcing: citizen participation combine the collection of input about needs with possible solutions, higher visibility, and an engagement which facilitates lasting change within a population Innovation Networks: internal or external networks (industry associations or universities), which contain transfer of knowledge. Data sharing (Hasso-Plattner-Institute knowledge-sharing platform) The growing toolbox of innovation tools facilitating inclusion and participation at low costs thanks to tech is a great opportunity for institutions and public administration to create innovative solutions and include citizens. Accelerators, fab labs and hackathons â€“ tech tools are increasingly being used by public and aid institutions to develop innovative solutions for social good. However, to create sustainable innovation for development, we need to move beyond hackathons. Together, we analyzed the existing approaches towards solution of societal problems and their efficiency for creation of scalable innovation that strives toward the sustainable future. Tech Saves the World Global iterations of â€œhack the crisisâ€ Focusing on Sustainable Ideas Stella Deppe The BMZ digilab has been initiated by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Deutsche Gesellschaft fÃ¼r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the KfW Development Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Research Associate on Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Resilience, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT is â€œThe Research University in the Helmholtz Association.â€ We conduct research in a broad range of disciplines from natural sciences to engineering, economics, the humanities and social sciences. An Open Innovation Approach Solving Global Problems Through Local Digital Innovation We at BMZ digilab aim to scale selected digital innovations that have demonstrated high impact. All our activities happen in close collaboration with our broad network of stakeholders from all sectors as scaling is nothing to be done on our own. Our goal is to build upon the belief that many ideas, concepts, and approaches emerge locally at first, but contain great potential for scaling them in other sectors and/or countries. Our way of working & methods The digilab team scouts successful digital solutions jointly with local innovators to develop individually suitable scaling strategies. Thus, we work collaboratively, in a trusty and flexible atmosphere and design and facilitate the scaling process while involving all relevant stakeholders. Based on our iterative scaling approach â€“ our Scaling Lab â€“ we are able to reflect and respond quickly to the needs of partners and target groups. This means that we test our ideas, learn and adapt them continuously, and involve our partners closely in a user-centric way. Sharing an open innovation experience Evandro Holz from the Argentinian-Brazilian startup Clurb wanted to provide his home community with an efficient disaster warning and risk management system â€“ for earthquakes, floods, fire and air pollution. Therefore, his startup developed a software-based solution, accessible to everyone. Entrepreneurs and deve- lopers need a place where not only individual innovations are promoted, but where they can exchange ideas with others and continue to work on their ideas together with experts. The community enhances their courage to try out new approaches, share a common vision and a support structure while building on each otherâ€™s ideas. That is where innovative strength unfolds with all its transformative power. Afterwards costs and risks can be reduced, and the best digital solutions can unfold a broader impact for development and a sustainable digital transformation worldwide. The startup Clurb therefore applied with its risk and disaster management system to an open call for proposals by BMZ digilab for solutions around Smart Cities: Innovate2030. It was selected for our open innovation program. The team demonstrated the solutionâ€™s impact and readiness for scaling convincingly. Increase impact This is exactly the idea behind the BMZ digilab. Boosting the potential of projects like Clurb. The digilab supports not just solutions for individual communities in South America â€“ but scaling, transferring and adapting it to many other communities in Africa, Asia and Europe. The prevailing aspiration of entrepreneurship is economic growth and performance, while that of society is progress. Enhancing entrepreneurial activities within a local ecosystem can be a key factor for successful structural change and economic development. Although the pure existence of entrepreneurship does not automatically enhance economic performance, the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates impressively how entrepreneurship can address societal challenges sustainably. Entrepreneurs and young companies around the world are increasingly interested in having a strong impact for good, using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as orientation. In doing so, business organizations have to oppose social and environmental concerns to scalability and business models based on profitability. Policy-makers and public institutions need to understand these current challenges to design strategies for the configuration and reinforcement of their local and regional ecosystem. By providing clear governance and leadership, entrepreneurs are enabled to generate entrepreneur-led economic growth. The emergence of special programs can increase the dialogue between political decision-makers, researchers, and entrepreneurial mindsets, leading to the exchange of knowledge, and shared problem-solving. Hackathons such as the German â€œWirVsVirusâ€ and the â€œHack for Societyâ€ in Helsinki, Finland are successful examples. Having built knowledge in the field of responsible entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurs are enabled to reflect on their own business decisions over the entire period of their companies. The aim of accelerator programs should be to enable people to become responsible entrepreneurs rather than only focusing on sustainable ideas. Furthermore, there is a strong need for open meeting places where new technologies and innovations are presented to society as early as possible. In doing so, public concerns can be reduced and the acceptance of technological progress ensured. The TRIANGLE Open Space at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has built such an open window at the center of the city, enabling discussions between researchers, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, and the interested general public. â€¨ Responsible Entrepreneurs Policy Advisor Digital Development for GIZ Raluca PrelucÄƒ Ralph Henn OUR RECOMMENDATIONS 2 Nowadays, societal problems are manifold and regard many actors in society. Citizens, entrepreneurs, and policymakers should be involved in the process of reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) conceived by the United Nations. The great purpose of SDGs in tackling poverty, hunger, biodiversity, and climate change needs innovation in products, processes, and mindset. Innovation in these terms is possible only through raising awareness and taking joint actions that consider the â€˜big pictureâ€™ of a sustainable world, rather than only the profit. In this context, digitalization has a key role, both in terms of products and as enabler of knowledge transfer between the actors. As Gate Keepers of Innovation Ana Rosa de Lima Supporting sustainable practices in Amazonian traditional communities to allow both land and people to flourish. Fostering Platform Establishment Amazonian Communities Innovation for SDGs During the DEEP Confe- rence in Ludwigsburg, I had the opportunity to meet an engaged group of people willing to reflect on tech as a tool to â€œsave the worldâ€. Together, we could reflect on the topic in a space where each participant could bring his/her own perspective and experience to solve crucial challenges we face today. During this activity, I had the opportunity to share my work at Meli Bees Network. Based on deep listening and support through international cooperation, Meli builds an Impact Network, to involve communities in some of the most endangered areas of the Amazon. Based on this platform, we support the leaders of each community to further develop and innovate their regenerative practices. An Impact Network is the first step to empower the leaders from marginalized communities and build the perfect Ecosystem for all stakeholders to thrive. At first glance, traditional communities might seem distant and even unrelated to innovation and technology. But as soon as we take a second deeper look, we understand they are the gate keepers of the innovations and the tech uses we urgently need for our society, particularly to face both biodiversity and climate crisis. The interaction these communities have with nature can bring innovative perspectives to most western societies. This might include the use of biodiversity for innovation on food, pharmaceutical and beauty industries. With examples of uses that might go from super food, to new pharmaceuticals, perfumes, colors and diverse ingredients. If we look to the technology perspective, it shows us the space for even more innovation to be developed. Based on decentralized tools, open source and peer-to-peer technologies, also acknowledging the importance of ownership of data and its safety. There are already multiple opportunities of work with mapping as a tool to protect the primary forest, and we are currently active on the development of peer-to-peer tools to protect the local biodiversity. But even when sustainability guides us while looking for innovative new opportunities, they always come with multiple impacts, some of them might be even unexpected. To better understand the local context is crucial to prepare us for all the possible impacts. Thatâ€™s why it is crucial to listen to the Impact Network and give them the space to guide us through the way, when establishing fully sustainable activities. DEEP gave us the space to bring the voices of communities using tech as a tool to support their regenerative practices. Thatâ€™s how tech can save the world. 3 In enabling knowledge transfer for innovation, platforms cover an important role. In particular, platforms can create synergies between entrepreneurs and policymakers. Due to the need of sharing problems and relative solutions, platforms of any type are fundamental to overcoming relevant issues. Crowdfunding platforms, hackathons, accelerators, and events can be the â€˜placesâ€™, either virtual or physical, where mutual knowledge exchange occurs and entrepreneurial approaches are fostered. Such action-oriented platforms are powerful instruments to overcome structural boundaries, reduce information asymmetries, and efficiently mobilize innovation resources.Therefore, platforms should be fostered from both a bottom-up (i.e., grassroots, startups, etc.) and a top-down approach (i.e., policymakers, institutions, etc.). Building Trust 1 The â€˜big pictureâ€™ of a sustainable world may be reached only through trust. That is why there is more and more focus on the local rather than the global perspective in tackling societal challenges. Indeed, resilient local entrepreneurial ecosystems are based on trust, and trust is fundamental for a successful ecosystem in terms of innovation. Healthy ecosystems allow for failing, foster win-win situations, and are designed with human psychology in mind (based on concepts like â€œhomoludensâ€, theory of change, vision alignment, individual ownership). Often, especially in developing countries, having a team on the ground based on trust is crucial to understand the actual problems and try to fix them. Therefore, we are supporting a shift from profit-based relationships to human-based relationships. Initiator and Director of Meli Bees Network 169 â‚¬ FREE In partnership with ONe TIME The latest graduates of >100 curated accelerator programs in Europe. See who the best accelerators like Seedcamp, Techstars, or Station F chose from thousands of applicants this quarter. Downloadable Excel File. www.startupheatmap.eu/list GET THE HEATMAP STARTUP LIST 59 â‚¬ FREE TRIAL >100 startups. Understand how the Heatmap Startup List works and see how we provide info on investment, equity position, business model, team, and technology. Downloadable Excel File. DEEP Dive Manufacturers in Europe and Metaverse Annual Subscriptionâ€¨Incl. 19% VAT All startups of Europe's Best Incubators Quarterly in Your Inbox QUARTERLY 800-1000 startups. Quarterly update for 12 months directly in your inbox. Track the whole portfolio of Europeâ€™s 100 best startup programs. Access to the archive of older publications Congratulate new graduates from programs on their achievement. Analyze trends in early-stage investment. Incl. 19% VAT After the pandemic dip, VC investments have bounced back in volume but focus on a lower number of deals (Metinko, 2022). The number of deals seem to be in a steady decrease since 2017, however the VC capital funding trends seems unstable. New devices combining virtual and augmented reality worlds promise the emergence of a completely new digital universe: Metaverse. There are expectations that these technologies will quickly expand beyond the gaming industry and deeply affect consumer behavior as well as the way we interact, work, learn, and live. The metaverse term gained some traction in the 2000s with online gaming products and Facebookâ€™s rebranding in late 2021 brought the term into the mainstream discussion. It has the potential to be the next enterprise and consumer software infrastructure ecosystem. It offers augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality. As a continuation of industry 4.0, it encompasses artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, cyber physical systems (CPSs) and cognitive computing with a focus on automation. As part of this revolution, digital currency / assets have already received the highest public attention, resulting in a tokenization in many processes relevant to Metaverse. It is way too early (like the early days of mobile) to find established patterns for predictions and there will be many surprises. Goldman Sachs predicts the VR and AR combined market size in 2025 to be at 35 billion USD, with a near 50-50 split on consumer and industry use (Metinko, 2022).On the industry side, the primary areas on which R&D is focused on are healthcare, real estate, engineering, retail, defense, and education. While industrial applications are currently trailing behind consumer use, the growth of enterprise MR technology purchases indicate a growth trend. Estimates put commercial spending for training at $4.1 billion, industrial maintenance at $4.1 billion, and retail showcasing at $2.7 billion in 2024 (IDC, 2020). Will Manufacturers in Europe Survive the Impact of the New Internet? The VR / AR market is estimated to be 35bn USD in 2025 The split of metaverse applications for consumers and industry is expected to be 50:50 Facebook made a loss of over $10 billion on its metaverse development department Decentralized systems like tokens may provide a â€œlingua francaâ€ between different metaverse systems Digital twinsâ€™ conceptualization has potential in both industry and consumer side Total Equity Funding Amount Currency 2015-2022 (in million USD) The global VR market size may increase to more than 12 billion U.S. dollars by 2024, a yearly growth of 36%. Yearly VR/AR headset sale is estimated to grow to 50 million by 2026, marking a 35% growth per year (Mileva, 2022). Geographically, the center is currently in London, and surprisingly no noticeable Equity funding in Berlin (Crunchbase, 2022). DINOSAURS IN THE METAVERSE on Metaverse Already today, large segments of the population rely on digital connections for work, education, health care, daily commercial and social transactions. Industry experts expect these technologies to quickly expand beyond the gaming industry and deeply affect consumer behavior as well as the way we interact, work, learn, and live. In this DEEP Dive we brought together technology companies, manufacturers and entrepreneurs pioneering the Metaverse to understand how Europeâ€™s industry can get ready for this new revolution. Venture Capital Funding for VR/AR, 2017-2021 VR/AR Matket Size 2025 Top 5 Facts German Edge Cloud is a developer and service integrator for turnkey solutions and offers both proprietary and industry-specific systems. A Jump Forward The discussion has cooled down somewhat since late last yearsâ€™ bombastic announcement of â€œthe next chapter of the internetâ€ (Mark Zuckerberg). Still, the (positive and negative) potential of the Metaverse nevertheless remains a contentious point of discussion. On the one hand, the concept vision of a persistent multi-user virtual world promises a jump forward for user immersion and content (and ad) delivery, especially for the consumer segment. On the other hand, both the rate of hardware adoption and first software applications (for example Metaâ€™s flagship metaverse hub, â€œHorizon Worldsâ€) have lagged behind expectations. At the same time, there is some uncertainty on the B2B side, with many exploratory projects trying to find the first killer app to capture industry and business segments. Furthermore, there are other technology trend topics mixed into the discussion, namely industry 5.0 and web 3.0. While there are some possible applications feasible for combining the advanced digitized industrial processes of industry 5.0 with metaverse interfaces, the decentralized vision of web 3.0 seems like the recurring vision of an anti-centralized internet which reoccurs every few years but never actually realizes for wide-scale adoption. The Metaverse is an unusual trend technology because it is, in principle, fully realizable with current technology, but does not follow the pattern of high-speed adoption seen in other paradigm-shifting tech (i.e., smart phone technology). As a product vision, the Metaverse promises endless potential. However, when examining concrete applications and the road to large-scale adoption, the speed and scope of market-ready services can vary greatly, for example between industry and consumer applications. The availability of affordable Metaverse hardware with high usability, as well as applications with true value-add for consumer and industrial use cases, will make or break the arrival of the metaverse. Head of Solution Architects at German Edge Cloud Focusing on Sustainable Ideas Plamen Kiradjiev Back in 2014, during my preparation for a presentation about the impact of Digitization, I came across the following impressive Digital Dar- winism movie: here. At that time, there were about five dozens of Unicorns. Among them 6 Decacorns (valuated more than $10 billion), led by UBER, WhatsApp and Twitter. Today â€“ 8 years later, we count 800+ Unicorns worldwide, 55 of them Decacorns, led by ByteDance that reached a valuation of $370 billion begin of 2022. Only four of the Decacorns are manufacturing companies today. A question comes up: isnâ€™t manufacturing â€œsexyâ€ enough for big startups? While manufacturing digitization has accom- panied us for more than 10 years with the term â€œIndustry 4.0â€. Meanwhile another term has conquered the press â€“ â€œMetaverseâ€. Tightly con- nected with the concept of the future of Internet, Web 3.0, based on decentralized Blockchain-based techno- logy, Metaverse is the incarnation of the new 3D virtual experience. Neither, the new distributed Web 3.0 Internet is here today, nor Metaverse is much more than a vision with some ambiguous examples. The most prominent examples for Web 3.0 like distributed technology are cryptocurrencies and NFT (nun-fungible tokens). Beyond the nature of successful proof of Blockchain technology, the economic, social and human future-oriented relevance of the use case is highly questionable. Two of the recent news make one think â€“ the investor that has sued Elon Musk for triple of his damages of $86 billion, or Bill Gatesâ€™ statement on OpenSeaâ€™s traded Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT series, with each costing 100 thousands of dollars: â€œObviously, expensive digital images of monkeys are going to improve the world immenselyâ€. Similarly, the CEO of Unity â€“ the popular game engine developer - John Riccitiello â€œcertainlyâ€ doesnâ€™t â€œneed an avatar to buy a book on Amazonâ€. Or imagine the astonishment of one of the 193 million hungry on our World hitting Metaâ€™s avatar fashion store, where the â€œsatedâ€ buy virtual clothes for big real moneyâ€¦ Have we solved all problems of the world? Is this our amazing future? And even if manufacturing is known to be conservative on new raising hypes, the term "Industrial Metaverseâ€ has followed pretty quickly the good â€œoldâ€ Metaverse in the consumer area. After we have leveraged Digital Twins everywhere (I am kidding, of course), we need a new challenge, a new hype that will drive the innovation, especially in keynote speeches in the area of virtual reality (ambiguously meant). So, is it nonsense? No, it is an opportunity. The technology is there â€“ AI, AR, VR. And it â€œisnâ€™t good or bad in and of itselfâ€ (here I am citing Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs at Meta). It is up to us how to leverage and deploy it. I started with an 8 years old video as a warning to the Dinosaurs, I would like to end with one recent engagement: At Rittalâ€™s plant in Haiger, 3D virtual experience is leveraged to analyze potential causes for production stops, or material damages: here. A natural extension of the showed fast backward and replay capability of a specific point in time is running a root-cause analysis and preventing such events based on the collected data at the Edge. Further possible use cases are simulation, production test runs, what-if-analyses, etc. Timothy Robb Associate at Iceventure Iceventure is niche consultancy specialized in business development and organizational development. As a research partner for the conference, Iceventure collaboratively with DEEP prepared and presented the DEEP Dives. Responsible Entrepreneurs Raluca PrelucÄƒ METAVERSE Consider differing scenarios depending on adoption timelines For European industry, mass adoption of the consumer will rely on affordable metaverse hardware. Cheap hardware production has been sourced out of Europe, and none of the components necessary for XR hardware have to be produced in Europe. Hence, the only advantage and pool of expertise in the European space is the deep knowledge of industrial processes. This industry-specific domain knowledge should be leveraged in combination with software development for specialized industrial applications. Besides, the fact that mass adoption has not occurred in the consumer sector even though AR/VR technology is available (including some low-budget versions) indicates that even for a lower price, the current offerings have low attractiveness outside of the gaming context. Consequently, this should be remediated through more consumer-friendly hardware (i.e., easier to mount and use) as well as a clear value proposition beyond gaming for the average consumer. 3 Understand the relevance of market actorsâ€™ size There is uncertainty on when exactly large-scale adoption will occur, either for business/industry or for consumer applications. A strong strategy would include defining indicators for adoption and market development, and constructing alternative strategies depending on expected development scenarios (i.e., which segments reach adoption first). 2 Focus on industry-specific applications for B2B and B2C segments OUR RECOMMENDATIONS As the currently hypothesized metaverse iterations rely on network effects (the more users, the more useful), existing big tech companies are at an advantage when setting the groundwork of an underlying infrastructure. But this advantage cannot be taken for granted: As a relatively wide blanket, the metaverse allows for new positionings waiting for bold companies to shape the space. While big actors may build quasi-monopolies on the infrastructure, smaller companies may create considerable market shares even in â€œnicheâ€ markets through the long-tail effect. 1 Data-driven analysis of Ecosystem UVPs Have Your Own Project?â€¨Apply for DEEPSEA Learn more Structured implementation support Blueprints from Silicon Valley, Estonia, Munich, Chile and more Accelerate Your Leadership The DEEP Startup Ecosystem Accelerator (DEEPSEA)Â® is a 6-week program for developing ecosystem projects from idea to implementation. You participate in a structured coaching program in a cohort of international peers and get support in conceptualization, partnership and fundraising strategy. www.startupheatmap.eu Head of Acceleration at Deep Ecosystems Focus on business models and sustainability of projects DEEP Ecosystems is a world-wide community of tech ecosystem builders who collaborate to build more transnational, inclusive,entrepreneur-driven and impactful innovation systems. To solve global challenges, DEEP created an accelerator for ecosystem builders, often who are behind the scenes, guiding the development of innovation hubs for countries, cities, companies and entrepreneurs. â€œIt is the ecosystem builder who creates the conditions for the growth of unicorns, more quality jobs and the sustainability of our economies and countries, with a more innovative cultureâ€ Says SebastiÃ¡n Diaz, Head of Acceleration at Deep Ecosystems and former Executive Director of Start-Up Chile. DEEP Startup Ecosystem Accelerator (DEEPSEA) puts together ecosystem builders and their projects from all over the world through an acceleration process to increase their chances of getting funding and to be implemented. It is a 6-week program with access to the biggest ecosystem builder community of the world, funding opportunities, visibility of local initiatives globally, data (startupheatmap.eu/) to build strategies and partners to connect and keep growing. At the end of the program, participants will join a portfolio of ecosystem projects that will look for financing through investors, governments, cities and corporations. Ecosystem Accelerator Sebastian Diaz Apply for the DEEP Accelerator Deadline:30th November in your Ecosystem with DEEP Creates Conditions for Growth Key verticals 180 150 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 10 0 20 accelerated projects The accelerated initiatives are around the topics of sustainability, access to markets, internationalization, fintech, education, regtech, impact, future of work, and female entrepreneurship. Some of the projects have partnered with other organizations already and have raised >860k â‚¬. We would continue helping our alumni in finding funding opportunities and gaining visibility. For the 2nd cohort of the DEEP Accelerator 2021, we have received >60 applications from >20 countries. Only 20 projects have selected and admitted to the 6-week acceleration program. We greatly appreciate diversity among our participants - over 43% are females. The program participants had 1:1 mentor sessions and webinars with 23 international expert speakers. Total jobs created in the startup sector by city per month Highlights: Cohort 2021/2 Jan Feb Mar Award Best Ecosystem Projects Elona Ã‡era, Metropolitan University of Tirana The 6-week DEEP Startup Ecosystem Accelerator program culminates with the DEMO Day whereas the graduates have a chance to pitch their project to interested counterparts and find potential partners. This year DEMO Day have been celebrated at the DEEP Conference. During their pitch the graduates answered questions on the unique value proposition of their projects, the concrete objectives and what impact it will generate in the long-term. At the end, the audience and our judges picked their favourites. Ana Rosa de Lima, Initiator and Director of Meli Bees Network (Brazil-Germany), has won the People's Award. Meli supports communities in endan- @eustartup startupheatmap.eu/ DEEP Ecosystems Further Contestants 1st Prize Winner You can click on the icon @deepecosystems You can click on the icon You can click on the icon People's Award Nevena Stavreva, Enterri (pitch) gered areas of the Amazon to develop regenerative practices such as native beekeeping and agroforestry. The absolute winner based on judges' choice became Sebastian Eguiluz, co-founder and co-CEO of Entreprenup, with his project called Infinite Expeditions. They build bridges between innovation ecosystems and design ideation, incubation, and acceleration programs that help entrepreneurs and startups create, connect, and disrupt. We also congratulate Nevena Stavreva, Kiko Kiwanga, Miho Tanaka, and Elona Cera with their great initiatives! Kiko Kiwanga, Taotic Sebastian Eguiluz, Entreprenup (pitch) You can click on the icon Ana Rosa de Lima, Meli Bees Network Miho Tanaka, Startup City Sapporo (pitch)