Measure focuses on joint business models and closer links to Silicon Valley
The SQUARE Innovation Hub at the Hamburg School of Business Administration (HSBA) signed a collaboration Wednesday (September 11, 2019) with Plug and Play, effective immediately, to boost Hamburg’s innovative strength and to forge closer links with Silicon Valley. This comes after the company opened its fifth German branch in Hamburg earlier in June.
Bringing international players together
“Companies in Hamburg faced the great challenge of successfully mastering digitization and positioning themselves for the future. Plug and Play networks companies with start-ups and makes an important contribution to their competitiveness. The co-operation with HSBA enables us to bring regional and international players closer to the goal of an ultimate ecosystem for companies and young founders in Hamburg,” said Nieky Sarah Ipektchi, co-founder of Plug and Play Hamburg.
Access to Silicon Valley and global expertise
The partners will help develop innovative business models in Hamburg and give start-ups and established companies direct access to the Plug and Play ecosystem in Silicon Valley as well as global expertise. SQUARE is planning a regular presence at Plug and Play to bridge the gap to Silicon Valley and to promote access to experts, innovation leaders and start-ups. Plug and Play will advise SQUARE on developing its own accelerator and will host joint events there to this end. Dr. Uve Samuels, Managing Director of HSBA and CEO of Square, said: “Plug and Play is lending us support with expert know-how from Silicon Valley and is becoming an important part of our work at HSBA as well as in the SQUARE HSBA Innovation Hub.”
Benefits for Hanseatic start-up system
The senate and Hamburg Invest had paved the way for the U.S. accelerator early, which proved a factor in favour of Hamburg. Michael Westhagemann, Senator for Economics, Transport and Innovation, welcomed the new co-operation and noted: “The combined expertise of the two partners will facilitate more targeted talks between established companies, start-ups and science. Dr. Rolf Strittmatter, Managing Director of Hamburg, also expressed satisfaction with the co-operation, and remarked: “Hamburg’s start-up ecosystem will become even more attractive for entrepreneurs all over the world as a result of this offer.”
cf/kk/pb
Sources and further information:
www.plugandplaytechcenter.com