Boot Camp Germany, Hessen

Frankfurt am Main, 28–30 April 2015 – To give us all a relaxing break before a 2-day ClimateLaunchpad Boot Camp, our first meeting was meant to be an introducing part – us to each other and Frankfurt am Main to those who come from other parts of Germany. We spent the evening of 28 April walking through Osthafen (the Eastern harbour district) discovering this old and yet very modern part of the city with its cosy cafés on the bank of the river Main, a citizens’ gardening project, sports areas, busy harbour streets and a newly opened building of the European Central Bank. At PiER F, where we had our dinner, we got to know some ideas hosted by this young institution meant to become a centre for creative and sustainable companies.

The following two days (29-30 April) were dedicated completely to the work on business ideas of the ten participating teams coming from Darmstadt and Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Munich, Hannover, Aachen and Bochum. Their ideas vary from water purification to electricity production by noise, from bike locks to on top house units, from small wind turbine systems and solar fabrics to fuel cell technology and gas generators. Pascal Klein, our ClimateLaunchpad certified trainer, supported by Gudrun Lantelme, Stefan Roetzel, Karim Mustaghni, Nico Höler and Irina Shults, presented 7 ClimateLaunchpad modules and helped the founders apply them to their specific ideas. Working athmosphere was encouraged by a cosy location kindly provided by Gründermaschine, a young incubator with a profound knowledge in the fintech field, and by Ayurvedic slow-food from “labouche”.

The teams are going to work on their market segmentation and customer value propostion, financials and the deal to further develop their ideas and to perfect their final pitch. Six follow-up sessions in May and June will help them prepare for the National Finals on 23 of June. Three best teams will go to the European finals in September. Good luck!

ClimateLaunchpad Germany boot camp was organised by TU Darmstadt Energy Center in close cooperation with HIGHEST, a start-up center at TU Darmstadt.

Irina Shults, ClimateLaunchpad National Lead Germany