The Enabler Day (21 September) at Indo German Startup week 2021 was a day full of engaging conversations between startups and corporates. We dived deep into Corporate-Startup Ecosystems and how they go hand-in-hand with innovation. How can we help startups expand cross-border with the support of corporates and innovation hubs? How did foreign founders make it in Germany or India?  Here are some of the key takeaways.

We opened Enabler Day with 3 Keynote speakers who all touched on the importance of Corporate-Startup engagements:

  • Gerd Hoefner, Senior Vice President, spoke about how Siemens Healthineers is using AI and digitization to revolutionize healthcare and provide healthcare services for the future.

  • Hemanth Sheelvant, Head of open innovation India and shared how Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions’s consistent corporate engagement has supported numerous startups to reach the global market with consulting, mentoring, coaching and more!

  • Shradha Sharma, Founder & CEO, YourStory Media talked about contemporary India’s readiness as a market and as a hub for collaborations for German investors and that India is fast becoming the #StartupNation

Our panel Enabling startups without borders – Relevance, Mechanisms and Success stories shone a light on the challenges and opportunities for internationalization for Indian & German Startups:

  • Christian Lorenz, Managing Director, Code_n (DeHub Stuttgart) encouraged Indian Startups to internationalize and emphasized the growing opportunities in user-centric data platforms, cognitive data layers, and the XR industry.

  • Dr Rainer Seider,, Head of Unit International Cooperation, Berlin Ministry for Economics, talked about the complex challenges of internationalization and highlighted the lucrative startup markets in India and Germany despite today’s travel restrictions.

  • Dr. Sumedha C., Program Director, German Accelerator signalled to Startup founders who are looking to expand in international waters to have a clear mindset and awareness on why they want to internationalize, and carefully make the business case for internationalization.

  • Praveen Mokkapati, Deputy Director, NASSCOM reminded startups to keep an eye out for competition on the home turf while internationalizing, have recognizable customers, a strong revenue bank and a reliable partner in the country.

  • All the panelists pointed to the startup boom in sectors like AI, edutech, fintech, healthtech, Tier 2, AI, Blockchain, Data and XR.

 In our session Startups transcending borders we heard from:

  • Aruna Schwarz CEO of Stelae Technologies provided an insight into her strategies for garnering international partnerships for software Startups from the get-go and focused on the power of networks in driving success.

  • Frauke Kempken Head of Sales, entrafin GmbH talked about why her company is interested in India and SMEs in particular. She also gave an insight into how they made the best of the pandemic situation. 👆

  •  Gaurav Johri, Co-founder and CEO gave us a window into how Doppelio was born in the pandemic, his learnings, how to create a category for yourself and how going global helped them expand.

  • Speakers pushed Startups to seek opportunities in corporate innovation labs, use intermediaries, use personal contacts and reiterated the golden rule: networking, networking, networking!

Our panel Disruptive corporate innovation in DeepTech: Roadmap for Indo-German startups took us on a journey through their lessons in tech and innovation:

  •  Maren Lesche Founder & CEO, Startup Colors spelled out the power of deep tech solutions in the B2B environment the high benchmarks set on topics like AI and on the opportunities in Germany.

  • Uday Haeleangadi Prabhu, Head of Innovation & Connected Products, Robert Bosch illustrated the multiple facets of the innovations. He reminded Startups that innovation is not just about selling but about maintaining the process- from cradle to grave, innovating throughout the product journey.

  • Manjunatha Kukkuru, AVP and Principal Research Analyst, Infosys provided guidelines to founders and entrepreneurs to help them go global.

  • Juergen Simon, Head of Siemens Healthineers Technology Accelerator, Siemens Healthineers pushed Startups to use an international approach to show global players their value and relevance.

  • The areas of mutual interest for India and Germany and opportunities for co-innovation and co-creation in these two regions. was the crux of the session.