What this place, the Konstanz innovation area, previously known as KINA, radiates, as it could become something of hope for the economic development of the city, leaves room for ideas. Emptied and cleaned, the Sheddachhalle in best economic miracle architecture shows: This is a special place, here on the former Siemens site on the Bücklestraße in Petershausen – also because it stands for past, present and future alike.
About the connection in this initiative
So much symbolism was not consciously sought by the men who meet here. But to connect existing and proven with the new and promising, that is what they are concerned about. You have just launched a new initiative.
“Entrepreneur for Founder” is her name, and she is intended as a civic contribution to the development of the city. Company owners and managers, according to the idea, make their knowledge, their experience and their networks available and thus support courageous people who start their own business.
Founders meet entrepreneurs: Why both sides have something of it
And the entrepreneurs get something back for their support, as Robert Ilse says. He raised a company himself in 1990; when he started, he was still a student of business administration. He is now Managing Director of the Constance branch of the document management company Optimal Systems.
He knows what it’s like to start with a good idea and little capital. And he knows that the carefreeness and courage of start-up founders is something of awe-inspiring. When “interest meets experience,” as he says, it’s also an accompaniment from young to old. “Illegal mentoring,” Ilse calls it, is a reverse learning process.
He founded his first company as a student and is now doing well: Robert Ilse from Konstanz wants today’s start-ups to benefit from the knowledge of experienced managers. | Picture: Rau, Jörg-Peter
Everyone can win, adds Guido Baltes. The professor at the Konstanz University of Applied Sciences teaches innovation management. He advises companies on their way to the digital future and, through civic engagement, is fighting to ensure that Constance gets its fair share of the future.
The competition of the locations is brutal: Who does not change, will not exist
That’s why he’s part of the new Entrepreneurs for Founders initiative. Because good ideas should not only get a chance in Berlin, Hamburg or Munich. But also where life is at least as liveable and where the universities produce great talent year after year. But Baltes also knows that the competition of the locations is tough. Anyone who wants to survive must change.
Rainer Wiesner, Managing Director of the SÜDKURIER Medienhaus, also wants to work on this task – even beyond his own company, which is one of the main local players in the field of digitization in Konstanz and has several start-ups in the service sector.
“When many talents come together in a limited space for a limited amount of time, there is a great chance that something else will happen that would not otherwise have worked out.” This fits in well with the entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs initiative”. Marcus Stavrakakis, startup founder and hackathon participant.
Such an impulse is expected from May 17 and 18. For the first time this Friday and Saturday, the new entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs initiative will be presented to a broader public. Tobias Fauth, Managing Director of Cyberlago’s network, which is also very much supported by the city, also joins the group – and is already looking forward to the hackathon jointly organized by Cyberlago and “Unternehmer für Gründer”.
A hackathon is supposed to bring together many like-minded people
Specialists in computer programs and machines meet with lateral thinkers and creative minds to develop solutions to self-imposed questions in a limited space of time. On a Bodensee ship recently such a hackathon took place. The results include an app for mobile phones that helps solve sudokus, but also a cocktail blender.
An arena for tinkerers, gladly with increased fun factor – that is how hackathon veteran Marcus Stavrakakis describes the offer; He co-founded a startup himself. For entrepreneur Robert Ilse, other topics are also on the agenda.
Participants can get to know each other, maybe even take up a business idea, meet potential new employees or give their own research questions to answer. Therefore, he himself will be there when it is tinkered at high pressure in May. The SOUTH KURIER will also be actively involved. By the way: He is meaningfully in the innovation area.