ESMT Berlin launches German Tech Entrepreneurship Centre

When asked why tech startups in particular should launch in or relocate to Germany, Mr Rohe lists a number of factors: “Germany is the best place to launch a tech startup for a variety of reasons. First, we want to bridge the gap between corporates and startups – a lot of European corporations are based in Germany so there is a lot of potential for that. ESMT itself was a university that was created by 25 of the country’s top corporations.

“Germany attracts a lot of foreigners who start their tech careers here. Around 45% of the companies that are started here are created by foreigners and around 80-90% of students at ESMT are international too – so a lot of talent comes to the city. It’s also very cheap, the rent is eight times higher in London and four times higher in New York for commercial properties compared to here.”

Mr Rohe gave a presentation on the matter of living expenses in New York last week, saying: “To enjoy a quality of life equivalent to that you could have on US$3,000 dollars a month in Berlin, you would have to make US$7,800 in New York; that’s a huge difference. So it is very affordable here and good entrepreneurs always go where they can get the most affordable resources. There’s about 150,000 students over all in the city and there’s a lot of young talented people here.”

ESMT has partnered with some of Germany’s biggest companies, including Henkel, RWE and the Globumbus Foundation to launch GTEC. The founding partners will also offer students the chance to attend open lectures and office hours with the companies in order to further broaden their skills.

GTEC aims to assist students and entrepreneurs achieve their tech startup dreams. Aside from the support offered by GTEC’s founding companies, the center has a 1,200 square meter GTEC lab where students can network. They can also enter the Berlin Startup Academy (a three month, two day a week accelerator program), and take advantage of corporate venture capital.

“This is a welcoming, open campus for anyone around the world regardless of whether they’ve completed a MBA at business school or are just finishing college and want to start a business. We’re open to anyone with a passion. We also provide an open lecture series which runs every two weeks, where we have international entrepreneurs coming in to tell their stories. We make those lectures not only accessible to the people at the centre but to people around the world by uploading them to YouTube.”

We asked Mr Rohe why he thinks more and more MBA students are choosing tech careers over the traditional finance route, he said: “They’re looking for a different kind of employment. They don’t want to work in large corporations – they either want to create their own startups or work in a more dynamic industry where they can also pursue their own ideas and dreams.”