Prof. Dr. Klaus Sailer, Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Munich University of Applied Sciences since 2006 and Managing Director of Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE), talks about successful startups from the SCE, social responsibility and the current spirit of optimism in the Munich ecosystem.
For those who don’t know Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship yet: What do you do, what is your target group?
The SCE is an affiliated institute of the Munich University of Applied Sciences (HM) and aims to promote entrepreneurial thinking and action. To this end, we offer a wide range of qualification formats and support innovative projects, teams, and startups on their path to success. We have not only experienced startup consultants, but also an incubator and a large network that helps our teams find the right partners and stakeholders. In all our activities, it is important to us to focus on social responsibility. Our primary target group is, of course, the students and alumni of the Munich University of Applied Sciences, but we also welcome innovative ideas, projects, and teams from outside.
Which startups that started with the support of the SCE will we hear a lot about in the future?
Every year, we welcome around 20-25 great, successful startups from a wide range of fields – from high-tech to social ideas. And we've grown fond of all of them. Some remain "hidden champions," while others are on everyone's lips. I'd love to include a whole list, but certainly, to name just a few, the better-known ones include Freeletics, FTapi or Ridetronic, which became known through its successful participation in the ProSieben television show "Das Ding des Jahres". In the technical field, we see a lot of potential in companies such as Toposens, ProGlove, Rapitag or Fazua, Seiratherm and Adnymics. Spyra, which is developing the water pistol of the future, has just launched a very successful Kickstarter campaign, Urmo wants to emulate them with a further developed, portable Segway successor. But we also find ventures where social benefit is paramount, such as NearBees, very exciting.
Important: International exchange
The SCE is considered to have excellent international connections. What projects are you pursuing outside of Germany?
Let's see how things develop with the open markets. Regardless, it's important to us that both our students and our teams can learn from other ecosystems and cultures and exchange ideas. Therefore, the SCE offers various international training formats where participants can not only make interesting contacts, but also carry out projects and found startups. These include, for example, BIPA, a ten-week program with cooperation partners from Israel, our bootcamp with participants from all over the world and curricular formats with the Polytech Saint Petersburg and the CalPoly University in California.
With our Open International Incubation Program "coneeect IN," we are currently building an international network that allows us to facilitate an uncomplicated international exchange of students and, above all, startups with partner universities around the world. The partners see themselves as a large incubator open to all teams from all locations. For other international activities, we cooperate with the other entrepreneurship centers of Munich universities. With the jointly established Social Entrepreneurship Akademie For example, we offer the Global Entrepreneurship Summer School at four different international locations.
As an affiliated institute of the Munich University of Applied Sciences, you're actually very locally based. How do you benefit from the global network?
Universities, too, will need to think more and more internationally in the future if they want to remain attractive to students. That's why it's important to us to expand our international offerings, especially in the area of entrepreneurship. It's important to us that students open up and are curious about the world. And we want our teams to network with international startups, partners, and ecosystems; we also want to attract international teams to Munich. In my opinion, universities offer an ideal environment for this, as exchanges can be organized very playfully and easily, and participants are still open to many new impressions, new ideas, collaborations, and changes. At the same time, many of the international formats are also open to target groups that are not directly connected to the university.
Incentive not to get comfortable
The SCE isn't the only entrepreneurship center at a university in Munich. What does the collaboration with the other centers look like: cooperation or competition?
In my opinion, the collaboration between the entrepreneurship centers is very fruitful for the centers themselves, but also for the entire ecosystem in Munich. I value my colleagues very much, and we also get along very well on a personal level. This leads to us tackling projects together that we are convinced we can handle better together than alone. The aforementioned Social Entrepreneurship Akademie, for example, has become an integral part of the ecosystem, and the jointly founded MUC Summit GmbH, for example, aims to MUST Summit help expand the international network of startups, companies, universities, and politicians in Munich. Of course, each center is also highly motivated to offer the best formats. I see this as an incentive for all of us not to become complacent, but to continue to develop in order to remain attractive.
Do the Munich University of Applied Sciences and the Munich universities approach entrepreneurship differently? Is there a substantial difference between the students and their propensity to start a business?
Every university has its own target group and its own profile. At HM, we aim to support all faculties equally and therefore promote technical, non-technical, and social projects equally. The focus of each university varies slightly depending on its orientation. We are committed to fostering a transdisciplinary understanding and showing teams what a powerful tool entrepreneurship is for them to shape their own lives and (at least a small part of) the world independently. Therefore, topics such as personal development, teamwork, and the promotion of systemic thinking within an ecosystem play an important role in both our qualification programs and our start-up support.
One major difference is certainly that universities have more doctoral students and therefore conduct more research projects. These projects have great potential for innovation. Our founders are mostly students or alumni. But we are quickly catching up in the area of applied research, and we are also becoming increasingly better at getting our students excited about entrepreneurship.
At HM, we are also working to expand the understanding of entrepreneurship to include co-creation and to develop new innovations through collaboration between professors, scientists, students, companies, social organizations, and politicians.
“We are currently in a good spirit of optimism”
The startup scene in Munich has grown significantly in recent years. How do you think the Munich ecosystem compares internationally?
There's no doubt that startup activity in Munich has seen a lot of momentum in recent years. Many different supporters—such as government ministries, the city, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, universities, and companies—are committed to making a difference. It's fun to be part of such a process.
How far along are we compared to other ecosystems? The answer varies depending on your perspective. In recent years, Munich has often been compared to Berlin. It's like comparing apples and oranges. In Berlin, the entrepreneurial ecosystem is more visible to the outside world. There are many independent initiatives driving the field forward, students are more willing to take risks, rents are cheaper, international visibility is higher, and the willingness to embrace change more quickly is certainly greater. In Munich, on the other hand, the opportunity costs are higher. Potential founders have to choose between a well-paid job or the uncertainties of a startup. However, those who leave their "mia san mia" comfort zone and decide to start a business are very serious about it, and the probability of success is comparatively high.
At the same time, startups in Munich are "lucky" in that they already encounter many successful large and medium-sized companies. While this shifts the focus of the ecosystem and also means competition, it also offers many opportunities for collaborations. In my opinion, our previous focus on successful companies means that we are still lagging behind in the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem compared to other countries. It took us some time to gain the necessary momentum and to network and orchestrate the various players effectively. But we are currently experiencing a positive spirit of optimism. All stakeholders see a unique opportunity to develop and implement our own model for an ecosystem that combines the strengths of the economy, the innovative power of startups, and existing social systems.
