New asset in the land of ideas
Incubators build bridges between science and research on the one side and the market on the other
Incubators provide the ideal conditions for the initial steps into business life. This has been working for a long time in Adlershof, so Berlin is now relying on the knowhow of WISTA-MANAGEMENT GMBH when setting up and expanding new incubators in Berlin.
It is a 1:48 true-to-scale representation. The miniature 40 centimetre gas turbine is perfect down to the last detail. Even the bolts securing the pipe flanges to the compressor housing are exact reproductions – thanks to 3D printing. This turbine was produced by the printers of the new 3YOURMIND GmbH exactly the same as the high resolution architectural and landscape models that the start-up presented at the ceremonial inauguration of the Charlottenburg incubator CHIC in late September. Berlin’s Senator for Economics Cornelia Yzer praised the start-up boom and made it clear why the public sector will continue investing in incubators like the CHIC: “We want to convert public funds into bridging the divide between science and research on the one side and the market on the other.”
The CHIC is one pillar of this bridge, lying a stone’s throw from the TU Berlin campus, the University of the Arts (UdK), and research institutes close to both. The building is to let start-up teams work close to their university chairs and networks in a modern, refreshing interior design that is also intended to impress customers. After all, the eyes also sway decisions to buy.
The incubator is run by the WISTA subsidiary Innovations-Zentrum Berlin-Management GmbH (IZBM). “In Adlershof, WISTA has proved its capabilities,” said Yzer. In Dahlem, a WISTA team headed by Jörg Israel has already launched the next stage of the knowhow transfer. Near the FU campus, a former hospital of the US armed forces is to become the technology centre and incubator TGZ SW. The development plan is still undergoing revision. According to Jörg Israel, start-ups will be working and technology companies setting up head office there by 2020.
Even now, the clinic is home to start-ups as interim users. Needs analyses have shown that the extremely lively start-up scene at the FU will require combined office and laboratory areas, so the building will have to be completely gutted. “The plans are for about 15,000 square metres of space in total, with half of that for the laboratories,” said Israel.
Here too, start-ups will benefit from low rents and flexible leases, or the ideal conditions for their companies to flourish in the early stages, for instance Alacris Theranostics GmbH in Dahlem, which most recently won the German Innovation Award. Its molecular analyses of tumours allow highly precise prognoses on the effects and side effects of medication on individual patients, making personalised treatment possible.
And also at the CHIC there was a tribute: in early October 3YOURMIND became the “landmark in the land of ideas”. This success can also be put down to the tight, specialised collaboration with various TU chairs. These cooperation projects and networks extending into the university provide start-ups with access to knowhow and potential personnel. And they open doors to customers.
The CHIC, now home to fifty technology companies even before its official inauguration, has already become a genuine asset in the land of ideas.
By Peter Trechow for Adlershof Special
www.wista.de/en/chic/
www.rm-berlin-sw.de/projekte/technologie-und-gruendungszentrum-suedwest.html