Frankfurt am Main, Germany | 1st December 2016
The term ecosystem has gained much attention recently and is used widely from mass media to academic journals. But what constitutes to a thriving ecosystem, what factors and actors need to come together? Which resources are required? How can organizations and even individuals get engaged and help foster their local ecosystem? What is the future of Fintech? These and other questions brought experts from around Europe together for the 2016 Tech Ecosystem Summit in Frankfurt, Germany.
Organized by RKW (German Centre for Productivity and Innovation), Goethe University Unibator, and EERN, the event was held at TechQuatier in the heart of Frankfurt. TechQuatier is the new central hub for start-ups and founders and offers a unique platform for a dynamic start-up scene.
In an interactive setting, researchers and stakeholders of Europe’s leading ecosystems, including industry and policy experts, investors, entrepreneurs and other key influencers exchanged their experiences, views, and mindsets, and discuss key factors and mechanisms necessary for building and sustaining a dynamic European (Fin)Tech ecosystem.
In the two keynote sessions, JF Gauthier from Startup Genome provided an overview of their work and some of the findings that were later released in their “Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2017”. He emphasized that cities and regions should play to their own strengths, focus on what makes them unique and shape this profile, rather than trying to copy others. This involves engaging successful local entrepreneurs and creating a community. Hauke Stars, member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Börse AG, provided insights into pre-IPO and growth financing as well as what Frankfurt has to offer to entrepreneurs and start-ups.
Inspired by the keynotes and the moderation from experienced experts, participants worked in a total of 15 small deep dive sessions through a variety of topics and produced a great . These include, but are not limited to:
How global is capital really? Sources and patterns in (Fin)Tech investments.
The accelerated startup: Are incubators and accelerator programs more than a fad?
Where are all the talents hiding (and who are they)? The role of university and corporate education.
The venturesome consumer: Ready for disruption?
Which (Fin)Tech ecosystems are more likely to produce the next big thing? Path dependency vs. path plasticity.
“Paying Forward”: Why culture is so important for dynamic ecosystems.
Bernd Wurth, Managing Director of EERN and part of the organizing team, was impressed by the quality of the discussions and the ideas that were generated:
“You rarely see such a diverse cohort, with so much expertise but also this level of enthusiasm to work together, share ideas, and the effort to lay out the foundation to create better infrastructures and communities for start-ups throughout Europe”.
Participants left the camp with a clear idea in mind of how to impact their communities beyond the status quo and will profit from numerous personally enriching encounters and discussions.