Last Thursday, the fourth edition of the Crowd Dialog, organized by Michael Gebert in collaboration with various partners. The conference has become the leading practical and knowledge conference on the topic of crowdsourcing in Europe. This year's focus was on "SMEs and Digital Transformation" and "Business Transformation in Practice."
The three pillars of the conference were as follows:
1. Crowdfunding for SMEs
Various industry experts told the guests about the financing clusters of tomorrow and how they can use the swarm to finance their projects. SMEs in particular require future-oriented financing solutions to mobilize equity or debt capital in the short term while simultaneously offering investors the opportunity to earn higher interest rates than through traditional investment vehicles.
2. Crowdsourcing
The focus on crowdsourcing was primarily on talent search and HR strategies, especially in relation to Generation Y. In a panel discussion with leading representatives of the industry and also startups such as Testbirds For example, new employment models and future forms of collaboration were critically examined and discussed. In the global competition for talent, increasingly flexible and open structures are required to keep pace with the constantly changing demands of work-time models. According to the experts, a lot still needs to be done in this area in the near future, from legal issues to more flexible working models.
3. Crowd innovation
The profile of innovation is changing ever more rapidly, more profoundly, and within a strong global context – and it is also important to avoid potential misinvestments early on. At the Crowd Dialogue, market leaders analyzed current trends toward more "innovationship," as well as the effects on innovation methodology and the stakeholder groups involved.
In addition to many keynotes and discussions on the main stage, for example on the topics B2B Crowd Collaboration, Serial crowdfunding/investing or SMEs 4.0 Visitors also had the opportunity to gain an even deeper insight into crowd topics in master classes.
Munich Startup has taken the track “Crowd and Food: From Consumer to Co-Creator – Reaching New Target Groups with Crowdfunding” looked at more closely.
Food startups & crowdfunding
Anyone in the know knows: the food industry is undergoing change and is being boosted by numerous startups with new ideas. Not only food startups, but also established food companies are participating in the increased consumer interest in new food products. In the masterclass, many industry experts, such as Markus Sauerhammer (startnext) gave a presentation and of course also answered questions from the “crowd”.
The masterclass was led by Christine Purnell (StartinFOOD). Among other things, sales expert Jens Köster explained how important open communication, intensive engagement with the target group, and forward-looking scheduling are for a successful campaign. Steffen Marx seamlessly followed Jens Köster's presentation and provided insights into the campaigns of Giesinger Bräu and spoke openly with the audience about the problems and challenges during the ongoing campaign.
Linette Heimrich from the Munich Chamber of Commerce and Industry The masterclass concluded with the Crowd Canvas, which the Chamber of Commerce and Industry developed specifically for campaign launchers. Using the canvas, startups can plan their campaigns and ensure they don't miss any important milestones.
Our conclusion: The Crowd Dialogue is an informative and exciting industry event. Attendees will learn about various aspects of crowdfunding, crowdinvesting, and crowdsourcing and will also have the opportunity to interact with experts on-site.
