Mercedes-Benz supports boot camp for young entrepreneurs

Jump start for good ideas

There are many creative ideas – but often there is a lack of financial resources and good contacts in order to develop new and sustainable business models. Now Startupbootcamp Berlin provides ten selected start-ups the opportunity to put their innovative ideas into action with support of Mercedes-Benz, Bosch and HDI.

Startupbootcamp is a platform for innovative start-ups that has supported young entrepreneurs together with partners from industry since 2010. The focus of this year’s program under the name “SBC2Go” are proposals in the technology sector dealing with mobility, connectivity or Big Data.

Mobility

The mobility demands of the society and the way they access is changing at a fast pace due to the increasing ubiquity of smartphones and internet. This means that companies have to account for a new set of consumer behaviors, and expectations. The ways in which people and goods may move from a point A to point B is still an open domain showing the need for new intelligent mobility solutions.

Connectivity

With an increasing number of connected devices, the ‘Internet of Things’ presents us with a huge range of opportunities based on the possibility that objects are able to interact with each other. Connecting cars to smart parking systems to drastically reduce gas wastage may be just one example.

Big Data

With the increase of connectivity and mobility, a new challenge of handling unprecedented amounts of data arises. According to research by IBM, 90 percent of the data today has been generated in the last 2 years. So simply capturing data is not enough, it’s now about using data in a smart way - remembering that the numbers represent real people, and predicting what impact their behavior will have.

As part of the boot camp ten promising start-ups are given the opportunity to develop their ideas within three months and present them to potential investors at the “Investor Demo Day” afterwards.

Within the strategic partnership of Startupbootcamp with Mercedes-Benz, HDI and Bosch all creative minds get what they need for a successful start of their company: A start-up capital of 15,000 euros, technical know-how, professional marketing and communication activities as well as experienced mentors. Offices in Berlin and free minutes to use car2go belong to the starter package as well.
“We are always looking for creative innovations and promising business ideas. Thanks to the partnership with Startupbootcamp we can open the doors to young start-ups, which otherwise would perhaps remain closed. At the same time, we intensify the dialogue with the interesting community of entrepreneurs, mentors and investors”, said Dr. Frank Spennemann of Business Innovation at Daimler AG and Project Manager for Startupbootcamp Berlin.

Applications for the Startupbootcamp Berlin 2013 can be submitted until 2nd of June 2013 under www.startupbootcamp.org. The program runs from August to October and ends with the “Investor Demo Day”.