Thursday evening, it was finally time: After a brief welcome from Georg Räß from HWK Munich and Regina Bruckschlögl from Munich Startup, the program started with a keynote on “New Space & Craft”. A true success story between startup and craft business was told: Munich-based spacetech startup Dcubed and craft business Schweyer Feinmechanik are jointly developing innovative components for the next generation of small satellites. In a brief interview, Alexander Titz, co-founder of Dcubed, and Daniel Dichtl, Senior Mechanical Engineer at Schweyer Feinmechanik, reported on their collaboration with all its challenges and benefits.
Then the short pitches began. Each participating company had only three minutes to introduce itself and its business model to the audience. The subsequent networking part of the event provided space for in-depth discussions and follow-up questions.
First came Definitv Digital: Fabian Glanz presented how his startup’s solution can give craft businesses 25 percent more time. Next was BPSO with Maximilian Salfer on stage. He explained his company’s patented connection system, which dramatically accelerates the assembly of prefabricated wall panels on ceilings. Then the topic turned toward artificial intelligence (AI): Branchly showed how AI can be meaningfully used in customer communication. And Jonas Matting and Matthias Mann from Unvyl explained how to create legally compliant and easily discoverable websites using their AI-based solution – without an agency.
The next pitch took us briefly into the mountains: Qwicklane presented its innovative solution for the tedious topic of “setting scaffolding aids”. Coming back down from the mountains, we turned to the topic of “robotics” – a topic hotly debated in the craft sector as well. On the “Startup meets Craft” stage, Nova Spraytech presented its coating robot for new construction and renovation. It’s no secret that the craft trades are lacking skilled workers and talent. Crafthunt wants to change this situation, at least in construction, and presented its platform for placing construction site jobs. Finally, Stabl Energy presented an innovative solution for storing electricity generated by PV systems when it’s not needed.
The second part of “Startup meets Craft” provided ample room for a deep dive into the presented solutions: In the networking part, all protagonists could be further questioned by the audience and possible cooperations could be arranged. This part was framed by “Bavarian delicacies”: The Rolling Boazn – incidentally also this year’s winner of the “Startup meets Craft” audience award – supplied all participants with drinks, music, and the good feeling that only a Boazn can give. The daily bakery Brotquelle brought not only very good bread and pretzels and cakes, but also a butter pretzel machine. And Metzgerei Moser – a true world champion business – supplied all attendees with freshly grilled sausages and grilled vegetables. Well provided for, many intensive discussions were conducted in a relaxed atmosphere.
And so the event once again showed that the world of startups and that of craft really do go well together – perhaps better than many think.
