Virtual Delegation Trip for Indian Startups

Informative “Karlsruhe Day” in cooperation with GINSEP

Together with 4 regional partners – including Karlsruhe – the “German Indian Exchange Program” (GINSEP, a non-monetary platform initiated by the “German Startups Association”) gave 19 selected startups from India operating in the digital health or industrial digitization space the chance to go on a digital trip to Germany from October 26th-30th!

The event was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) to strengthen and foster exchange between India and Germany in the startup space and support Indian and German startups in their efforts to gain access to the respective other market. “Jointly with the 19 selected Indian startups, we are kicking off the one-week long digital investor and startup tour”, said Julian Zix, Project Lead “Ginsep”. The "Karlsruhe Day" was coordinated by Economic Developement & hosted by CyberForum in collaboration with various partners.

The German Startup Landscape was introduced, the participating regions presented themselves – as Startup & Investor Destinations. During the interactive workshop, startups learned how to develop a successful investor deck, how to present their startups during a pitch event and what tips they should keep in mind while engaging with investors. The selected Indian startups – in the parallelly running digital startup tour – pitched their business models to investors from both countries.

The participants were also welcomed by Lord Mayer Margret Mergen from Baden-Baden and had a virtual tour through the ELAN/CyberForum South

Karlsruhe in focus

Karlsruhes turn was on third day, introducing the emerging starthub in Germany. Traditionally, the local startup scene has been dominated by ICT and DeepTech verticals. Other technologies such as smart manufacturing, smart city, production, energy, mobility and AI have given a further boost to the ecosystem. Some of the notable startups include Volocopter, offering urban air mobility services including the world’s first purely electric flying multicopter and GoSilico, an Industry 4.0 application for biopharmaceutical process development, explained Simone Pflieger, International Contacts Manager at City of Karlsruhe and “India Board Karlsruhe”.

At the heart of the IT region Karlsruhe, the FZI Research Center for Information Technology created the FZI House of Living Labs, a research environment on two floors and 2000 sq.m., where especially small and medium enterprises are welcome to do interdisciplinary research and development. In order to see the facilities and understand more about the offerings of the FZI House of Living Labs, the startups will have the chance to go on an interactive virtual excursion.

Karlsruhe offers an extraordinary IT sector, higher education and R&D institutions: The ICT study of the EU Commission places Karlsruhe fourth – directly behind Munich, London and Paris. With over 4,200 IT companies this top result is no surprise, looking at Karlsruhe’s 25 research and development institutions, the best-known is Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), one of the largest research institutions worldwide.

Similar to India, investing in Germany brings along a set of rules, regulations, procedures and taxes. During the session the Indian startups will gain insights into German laws and rules when seeking to expand to Germany, explained Dr. Martin Imhof.

During the virtual trip the startups had the chance to meet investors, regional partners and other startups, participate in workshops and got insights into different German startup regions. This event offered a lot of networking opportunities, providing information and hands-on assistance in gaining access to the other market by leveraging a large network of partners consisting of incubators, investors, corporates, support organisations, etc. from both countries. Whether introduction Cyberlab or greetings from David Hermanns, head of Karlsruhe Cyberforum, the largest regional high-tech entrepreneurial network in Europe, connecting over 1,200 members from the IT and high-tech industries: The Cyberforum also played a major role in the programme - and invited Indian start-ups accordingly.

During the final expo the investors had the chance to see the products of the participating startups, speak to ecosystem stakeholders and meet the partners & ambassadors of the programme.

Participating were “Aarca Research”, a healthtech company, “AIndra”, focused on creating diagnostic solutions for fatal illnesses, “Causality Biomodels” offers knowledge models and analytics tools, “AyuRythm” is digital mobile platform, “Inforich Technology Solutions”, healthcare informatics, “Jiovio Healthcare” provides personalized and predictive maternal care, “Marteck Solutions”  provide data annotation or labelling services, “Oneirix Engineering Laboratories” develops novel technology, “Startoon Labs”, a tele-physiotherapy platform for patients undergoing physiotherapy, “Abee Research” predicts breakdowns, “Avrio Energy” enables enterprises to improve both operational and energy efficiency, “Calviltech Digital Solutions”, a smart, workflow-based EHS app, “Doppelio Technologies” virtualizes any device and simulate unlimited scenarios, “Ecolibrium Energy” performs condition monitoring and predictive maintenance, “EyeROV” provides Robotics as a Service, “Sastra Robotics”, a highly innovative & intelligent robotic platform, “SenseGiz Technologies” provide solutions for Asset & People tracking, “Vyorius Drones” is democratizing robotics, “Zoid Labs”, a desktop sized SMT assembly eco-system,

Summary

“The first one-on-one talks with selected start-ups have already taken place,” explained Simone Pflieger from the Economic Development Department – and emphasized the close and effective cooperation with the Cyberforum. These start-ups will now be supervised, the invitation to Karlsruhe and the corresponding ecosystems stays, and the integration will continue, especially via the most suitable cluster. Also Messe Karlsruhe found a startup, which was invited to the fair Rehab.

“Strategic partnerships pay off”, so Pflieger. Acquisition and hand holding are going on despite Corona. Despite the great effort, the format proved to be particularly suitable in these times – in addition, a great interest from the Indian side was noted.

Contakt: https://www.karlsruhe.de/b2/wifoe.de