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The Borderstep project StartGreen@School was selected by a jury of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as the German finalist of the European Business Promotion Award. The winners of the German preliminary decision have been invited to Helsinki for the European award ceremony: “The two selected projects are involved in important socio-political areas. They recognise the current challenges and promote sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship. I wish them every success for the award ceremony in Helsinki in November,” said the Federal Government Commissioner for SMEs, Christian Hirte.S

StartGreen@School promotes sustainable start-up culture in schools. “With the selection of StartGreen@School, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy shows that the promotion of sustainable management is becoming increasingly important. We are very pleased to be able to present the project at European level,” emphasizes Dr. Katharina Reuter, head of the StartGreen@School project.

Since 2006, the European Commission has been awarding the European Business Promotion Award to public authorities, business and educational institutions as well as public-private partnerships that have rendered outstanding services to promoting entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurship. The prize is awarded in the 28 member states of the EU as well as in Iceland, Norway, Serbia and Turkey.

StartGreen@School promotes a sustainable start-up culture in schools. The project partners include Borderstep, UnternehmensGrün e.V., the Futur Institute of the FU Berlin and BildungsCent e.V.

StartGreen@School is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety as part of the National Climate Initiative (NKI).

The recently released Green Startup Monitor (GSM) shows that sustainable startups have left the niche: In 2018, 26 percent of the young, innovative growth companies in Germany were operating with products and services that contribute to a Green Economy.

GSM identifies specific challenges and needs and recommends measures to improve the start-up and market environment of these green start-ups.

It was published by the Borderstep Institute in cooperation with the German Startups Association and financially supported by the German Federal Environmental Foundation.

The current GSM can be downloaded here free of charge.

Every fourth company in the EU uses cloud computing. Whether for email services or storing and sharing data. The Environment Agency Austria and the German Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability are analysing for the first time which IT infrastructure and IT services are used via the Internet and how the use of cloud computing will develop in the EU-28 over the next few years. The experts survey how high the energy demand of cloud computing is and how energy efficiency can be taken into account in the public procurement of cloud services. The aim is to develop recommendations for energy-efficient and environmentally friendly cloud computing services in Europe.

Trends such as 5G and Industry 4.0 are changing the structure of the cloud

One focus of the experts’ analysis of cloud computing deployment in the EU is on the energy efficiency of the huge central data centres that ensure that data can be stored online and accessed anywhere. With new technologies such as Industry 4.0 and Autonomous Driving, the decentralized storage and processing of data will also gain in importance in the future.

A model from the Borderstep Institute, which is already in use in Germany, is being used to measure energy consumption. The German project partners are responsible for the analysis of cloud technologies and services and their current and future areas of application. The Austrian Federal Environment Agency is dedicated to the framework conditions for the cloud computing market in Europe. The experts examine which framework conditions, such as eco-label standards or national specifications for environmentally friendly technologies, currently exist for virtual structures and services in the member states. On this basis, they develop strategies for public procurement of environmentally friendly digital services.

Database on the energy requirements of data centres in the EU

For Germany, there is already very detailed data on the energy requirements of the data centres – above all through the work of the Borderstep Institute. For other European countries and the EU as a whole, the data situation is much worse. “The project should create a new database that also takes into account the regional distribution of data centres in the EU,” says Dr. Ralph Hintemann, project manager at the Borderstep Institute and expert for data centres.

Trends like 5G, industry 4.0 and autonomous driving are changing the cloud infrastructure, explains Simon Hinterholzer, researcher at the Borderstep Institute. “So far, it’s mainly large cloud computing centers that process and store data. For the future, we expect an enormous number of small and very small data centers to be set up, for example, in switching centers or on the roadside.” According to Hinterholzer, operating these so-called edge data centers in an energy- and resource-efficient manner represents a major challenge for the future.

The project will provide an insight into the relevant future technologies that enable energy-efficient and sustainable cloud computing.

Borderstep Institute was pleased to welcome the association On Purpose in its Berlin office on 22nd February, 2019. Their associate-programme offers motivated professionals the opportunity to get to know the sustainable entrepreneurship sector through a one-year placement in different working environments, ranging from start-ups to non-profit organisations. Currently, Martin Strobel is developing the StartGreen platform at Borderstep Institute as an On Purpose associate.

During their visit, the On Purpose associates received an insight into Borderstep’s work in the field of Sustainable Entrepreneurship. Specifically, the projects GreenUpInvest and StartGreen were introduced by Alexander Schabel, senior project manager at Borderstep. Further, Dr. Yasmin Olteanu, researcher at Borderstep, presented the results of the publication Green Start-Up Monitor 2018, which was developed in collaboration with Bundesverband Deutsche Startups.

A concluding creative session offered the possibility to discuss different questions at the interface of economy and sustainability, ending the day with interesting insights into advancing sustainable entrepreneurship and green economic activity.

The format “Strengthening Green Start-ups” is intended to convey knowledge about the framework conditions, significance, trends and hurdles for green start-ups.

With a total of 12 events from the Ruhr area to the Black Forest, Borderstep will be exploring the green start-up scene in Germany from February 2019. The partner for the entire dialogue series is the Bundesverband Deutsche Startups e.V. (BVDS). The events are sponsored by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU).

The Green Startup Monitor will be presented by Dr. Yasmin Olteanu, researcher at Borderstep, at the launch event for the new dialogue format at E-World Essen. The Green Startup Monitor 2018 highlights the importance of green start-ups in the German start-up process, identifies specific challenges and needs and recommends measures to improve the start-up environment. Data from over 1,000 innovative and/or growth-oriented start-ups were examined for the Monitor.

The winners of the StartGreen Award 2018 have been announced. The award ceremony took place for the fourth time in a row as part of “Gründerwoche Deutschland” at the Federal Environment Ministry. The StartGreen Award is given to innovative start-up concepts, start-ups and companies whose services and products contribute to climate protection and sustainability.

The awards went to ME Energy from Berlin (category start-up concept), Nuventura from Berlin (category start-up) and Solmove from Potsdam, Brandenburg (category energy of the future). The Clean River Project association from Winningen (Rhineland-Palatinate) received the special “New Perspectives” prize.

During the event, the StartGreen@School Award was presented for the second time in a row, honouring outstanding green student companies. The prizes went to Schmids Druck Studio, Carlo-Schmid-Oberschule Berlin-Spandau (1st place), Fair Plant-Gruppe, Maristenkolleg Mindelheim, Bavaria (2nd place), SPEED, Werdenbergschule, Trochtelfingen, Baden-Württemberg (3rd place).

The special prize SDG Investments with a value of 5000 Euro each was won by the start-ups BLAUHERZ. from Weinheim, Baden-Württemberg, Manyfolds UG from Munich, Bavaria, ME Energy from Berlin, Nuventura from Berlin and Solmove GmbH from Potsdam, Brandenburg.

“We are delighted that the StartGreen Award has been so well received by the founding teams and start-ups and that we have had a consistently high number of applicants since the first award ceremony in 2015,” explains Prof. Dr. Klaus Fichter, Head of the StartGreen Award and Director of the Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability, initiator of the competition. The quality of the applications and the innovativeness of the submitted start-up and business concepts had even increased. “We are observing a professionalisation of the green start-up scene, which is also reflected in the presentation of our own projects”

With StartGreen Award 2018 to San Francisco

All applications in the “Start-up” category also had the opportunity to qualify for the Cleantech Open Ideas Challenge in California. And the winners of the German preliminary round of the Cleantech Open Ideas Challenge (California) proved to be professionals in the art of presentation. They pitched their project prior to the award ceremony.

In cooperation with the StartGreen Award, the RKW Competence Center selected the start-ups paprfloor, Manyfolds UG and Nuventura. In addition to travel expenses, the start-ups will receive intensive pitch and PR training in advance and a supporting programme in California.

The candidates who have competed for Germany in recent years have been very successful internationally. The start-ups interpanel, Intrapore and INERATEC won in the categories “Scale Track” and “Growth Track”, the start-up Matteco achieved the 2nd place in the category “Seed Track”.

Borderstep Director Prof. Dr. Klaus Fichter is co-chair of the track “Sustainability, Circular and Green Tech Innovation” of the EURAM 2019.

With the theme Exploring the Future of Management: Facts, Fashion and Fado, EURAM 2019 invites you to participate in the debate about how to explore the future of management. Management is about doing things through people. Who are these new people? The behaviour of organisations vis-à-vis society is increasingly scrutinised and its impact cannot be ignored. Strategy, behavioural sciences, business and society, networks, services and global value chains, entrepreneurship and innovation… these and many other topics can and will be discussed during EURAM 2019.

Short description of the track:

Innovation researchers and practitioners are increasingly interested in reframing ecological and societal challenges as opportunities for innovation. In this track we explore recent advances towards the broader field of sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) as well as the subthemes of circular and green technology innovation. We are keen to understand these innovation directions on the levels of products, product-service systems, and business models and are particularly interested in a better understanding of the innovation and entrepreneurial processes, as well as the related ecosystems, underlying these innovation outcomes. More information.

The conference will take place from 26 to 28 June 2019 in Lisbon. Scientific articles (full papers) can be submitted until 15 January 2019.

The twin cities of Berlin and Los Angeles discussed the topic of Smart City. As part of the Berlin Urban Tech Summit 2018, the central Berlin business conference, Berlin welcomed Chief Sustainability Officer Nancy Sutley from its twin city Los Angeles (USA). At the invitation of State Secretary Christian Rickerts, Borderstep and his partners presented to her the WindNODE project.

The participants then exchanged ideas on Smart City Projects and intelligent neighbourhoods in the twin cities of Los Angeles and Berlin. The focus was on the common challenges in the expansion of renewable energies in the two cities. In Los Angeles, surplus renewable energies are to be increasingly integrated into the supply via storage technologies. In WindNODE, on the other hand, in addition to storage, the flexibility potential on the consumption side (industry, infrastructure and consumers) is also being researched.

Dr. Severin Beucker, Managing Director and co-founder of the Borderstep Institute, referred in this context to the large storage and flexibilisation potential in the building sector. The possible use of power-to-heat and power-to-cold technologies can also be developed relatively easily and economically for energy transition. There is still plenty of potential in both cities.

A further exchange has been agreed for the coming months.

The StartGreen Award 2018 goes into the semifinals. From October 4 to October 30, 2018, one favourite in each of the three categories can be voted for online. Who convinces in the public voting with their own founding idea? There are five companies to choose from in each of the following categories: foundation concept (not yet founded), start-up (up to 5 years) and energy of the future – powered by EWE (foundations in the energy sector up to 15 years).

Three finalists per category will be selected from the voting and the points achieved in the previous assessment. They can pitch their idea in front of the expert jury and fight for victory in their category.

A total of 167 projects from the green start-up scene submitted their ideas this year for consideration at the awards ceremony in the Federal Ministry for the Environment in Berlin on 15 November 2018. There are cash and non-cash prizes worth a total of 60,000 euros to be won.

As the Green Economy Start-up Monitor published by the Borderstep Institute shows, 17 percent of all economically important start-ups in Germany already have green products or services in their portfolio. These are those that make a clearly recognisable contribution to environmental and climate protection.

The StartGreen Award aims to support this development. It is organised by the Borderstep Institute and specifically promotes the networking of green start-ups, companies, investors, funding institutions and political pioneers for a green economy. The patron is Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze.

The award ceremony will include a network forum on all aspects of green entrepreneurship. In addition, investors and start-up teams will discuss the topic of financing options for green economy start-ups on a panel.

The winners of the German Cleantech Open Global Ideas Challenge will then present their projects in a pitch. They are allowed to travel to California for the finals of this international competition.

The entire event in Berlin is open to the public and free of charge. Registrations are now possible.

To the Voting: Public Voting StartGreen Award 2018

Start-up teams and young companies in the field of climate protection, green economy and sustainability can apply for the StartGreen Award (SGA). Application deadline is July 31, 2018.

The leading startup award for sustainability solutions in Germany will be presented for the fourth time in a row in 2018. The focus is on networking green start-ups, companies, investors, funding institutions and political pioneers for a green economy.

Community award for the green startup scene

The community award for the green startup scene will be awarded this year in three categories: start-up concept (not yet established), start-up (up to 5 years) and energy of the future (0-15 years). For the first time, the SGA is looking for concepts and start-ups in the category “Energy of the Future”, which work on solutions for the sustainable production and use of energy.

The green start-up community can participate by a public vote to decide who is worthy of recognition. The final pitch in front of a specialist jury is about cash and prizes worth more than 60,000 euros. In addition to a cash prize of 5,000 euros per category, the # SGA18 main partner SDG Investments offers the registration of the finalists of the categories “Start-up” and “Energy of the future” on the SDG Investments platform (equivalent to 5,000 euros each).

With # SGA18 to San Francisco

All entries in the “Start-up” category also have the opportunity to qualify for the Cleantech Open Ideas Challenge in California. The international competition for enterprises from the Cleantech range takes place 2019 in San Francisco (USA). The three selected winners of the German preselection are nominated for the final. In addition to travel expenses, the teams will also receive a coaching package and mentoring for the preparation of the competition as well as intensive on-site support. This prize is made possible by the main partner RKW Competence Center.

The candidates selected for the 2016 and 2017 StartGreen Awards were very successful on the international stage. The start-ups Interpanel and Intrapore prevailed against the international competition in the categories “Scale Track” and “Growth Track” at the Cleantech Open Global Ideas Challenge 2017 in San Francisco (USA). In the following year, the start-up Matteco reached the 2nd place in the category “Seed Track”, Ineratec, a spin-off of KIT, was able to win as another German representative in its category “Scale Track”.

The award ceremony will take place on 15 November 2018 at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) in Berlin.

Application and further information: www.start-green.net