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With their great innovative capacity, green startups are driving the transformation of the German economy. This is shown by the 4th Green Startup Monitor, compiled by the Startup Association and the Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability.

Young innovative companies in Germany have a clear focus on the issue of sustainability: The support of innovations to tackle climate change (38%) forms the most important demand of German startups to politicians after the reduction of bureaucracy (40%). Thus, they are the driver of the sustainable transformation of our economy. This becomes clear in the energy sector: More than two-thirds of all startups in the energy sector can be classified as green because they accelerate Germany’s steps toward climate neutrality with their environmentally friendly products and services.

Women founding “green”

Green startups have become a central part of the German startup ecosystem; almost one in three German startups is green, according to the findings of the Green Startup Monitor. In addition, green startups are also doing pioneering work in terms of diversity. At 21 percent, the proportion of female founders is significantly higher than in the startup ecosystem as a whole.

At the same time, green startups want to have the greatest possible impact with entrepreneurial means and are transformation-oriented: 35% of these startups combine their sustainable orientation with an orientation toward rapid growth in order to change value chains and markets. In doing so, they meet the challenge of a sustainable transformation of the German economy with radically new entrepreneurial approaches to solutions, whereby they are more innovative and technology-oriented than conventional startups. German universities are an important starting point for green innovations. Almost one third of all green startups are research-related startups.

Little push in the construction and financial sectors

Green innovations are essential for achieving the climate targets. Green startups are spread across almost all sectors of the German economy. In addition to the energy industry, the proportion of green startups in agriculture is particularly high (66 percent). Other climate-relevant sectors such as construction and real estate (25 percent) or tourism (18 percent) urgently need to catch up. The same applies to financial service providers. Startups in the banking, finance and insurance sectors are not providing sufficient impetus for the realization of the Sustainable Finance Strategy of the EU and the German government.

Universities as hotspots

The dense network of outstanding university research in Germany is the origin of numerous innovative green companies. Almost one third of all green startups are research-related startups. Green founders often get to know each other at university (40%). Among green startups, the share of founders with a degree in engineering is significantly higher (29 percent) than among non-green startups (20 percent). While three out of four startups have taken advantage of consulting services and financial support such as EXIST funding, there is still considerable need for development in terms of sustainability-related offerings. Sustainability-related consulting and support services for startups have so far been scarce at German universities.

Prof. Dr. Klaus Fichter, Co-author GSM22, Founder and Director of the Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Adjunct Professorship for Innovation Management and Sustainability (PIN):
“The Green Startup Monitor 2022 shows the high importance of universities and research institutions for innovative green startups. One serious deficit, however, is that universities have so far provided hardly any sustainability-related services as part of their startup support. Here, university managers and funding policy are equally in demand. The study Sustainability in University Start-up Support shows practical examples and starting points.”

Prof. Dr. Yasmin Olteanu, Co-Author GSM22, Borderstep Research Fellow, Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Professor of Business Administration/Entrepreneurship.:
“Every third green startup is transformational, i.e. a high potential for the big transformation towards a sustainable society and economy. These green startups think much bigger, are more innovative and technology-oriented – and thus actually highly attractive to funders. Nevertheless, a lack of capital is currently holding them back – especially in the area of venture capital. Our demand: a targeted improvement in the financing conditions for transformation-oriented startups in Germany.”

David Hanf, Vice Chairman Startup Association: “The Green Startup Monitor 2022 clearly shows that startups with a positive ecological impact have established themselves in Germany at a high level. This is good news in the context of the necessary transformation towards a climate-neutral economic system, because what matters now is speed and consistent implementation. To this end, startups need target-group-oriented support, especially for growth companies that have the potential to sustainably change markets in the sense of a generation-appropriate future.”

Green Startup Monitor

The Green Startup Monitor analyzes the importance of those startups that contribute to the ecological goals of a Green Economy with their products and services. It was published for the fourth time by the Borderstep Institute and the German Startups Association in 2022. The study is based on data collected through an online questionnaire from 1,707 innovative and growth-oriented companies that are less than 10 years old and have their headquarters in Germany. The Green Startup Monitor can be downloaded free of charge.

Study Sustainability in University Start-up Support

The brochure offers universities and especially university start-up consulting an insight into the spectrum of support services.

Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability gGmbH

As an independent and non-profit scientific institution, Borderstep researches the future and examines what is coming (innovation) and what is staying (sustainability). The focus is on developing solutions to problems and action strategies for sustainable economic activity.

Startup Association

The Startup-Verband is the representative and voice of startups in Germany. It explains and represents the interests, viewpoints and concerns of startup companies to legislation, administration and the public. It promotes innovative entrepreneurship and carries the startup mentality into society. The association sees itself as a network of startups in Germany.

What is the current state of sustainability in Europe? Can the EU position itself internationally with it? And what do sustainable business models look like in concrete terms? “Responsible Innovation Story” explores these questions in a video interview.

Borderstep Director Prof. Dr. Klaus Fichter talks to host Prof. Dr. Andre Martinuzzi.

The most important findings of the interview:

• Sustainability innovation has gained a lot of momentum, especially in the vibrant start-up scene.
• However, funding programmes that support start-ups to scale up and leave their niche markets are still underrepresented.
• Only by building a robust sustainability-based innovation ecosystem can we create a future-proof unique selling proposition for Europe

The Journal of Cleaner Production is planning a special issue to evaluate and forecast the impact of new ventures on sustainability. Borderstep director Prof. Klaus Fichter is one of the guest editors.

Journal of Cleaner Production calls for submissions

Scientists are invited to submit their research for publication.

Paper submission procedure:

• Proposal submissions can be submitted until March 31, 2021, after which they can be elaborated in detail. The text length must not be less than 3000 words.
• A Paper Development Workshop on April 30, 2021 will support the researchers in the process. The participants will be selected by the guest editors. The event will take place online.
• The deadline for submission of full papers is July 1 to August 31, 2021.

More information on the schedule can you find here.

Guest editors of the special edition are:

• Klaus Fichter, Borderstep Institut und Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Deutschland
• Florian Lüdeke-Freund, ESCP Europe Business School, Deutschland
• Stefan Schaltegger, Leuphana Universität, Deutschland
• Simon Schillebeeckx, Management-Universität Singapur, Singapur

Start-ups implement environmental innovations

Entrepreneurs and start-ups are key players in the implementation of environmental innovations and new approaches to cleaner production. Therefore, the analysis of the impact of entrepreneurial ventures is of central importance for research in the field of cleaner production and entrepreneurship.

In order for entrepreneurship to promote sustainable development, it is crucial to understand how established firms and emerging young companies have a positive impact on sustainability.

Assessment of sustainability impacts of start-ups has hardly been researched so far

The sustainability impact of established companies and their products and services has been a key topic in business-related sustainability research for many years. This is true, for example, in the areas of social and sustainability accounting and reporting as well as entrepreneurship research.

However, the assessment of sustainability consequences of start-ups, for example by means of life cycle assessments or social impact analyses, is a neglected research area. This special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production is intended to change that.

Looking for tailwind and capital: An article on the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s innovation platform presents the results of the Green Startup Monitor 2020. Borderstep uses this instrument to analyze Germany’s green start-up scene in cooperation with the .

The team of authors examines how the ecosystem of sustainable start-ups has developed in recent years and which formats have a positive impact on the community. One example of this is the StartGreen Award, which Borderstep has been presenting since 2015 as part of the Startup Week Germany.

The fact that sustainability is not an explicitly “green” topic is demonstrated by the Sustainability4All project, which the article also introduces. Its goal is to anchor sustainability in the entire founding process – for future-proof business and stable business models. As the current crisis demonstrates, all companies are well advised to address this issue. And not just to serve “the environment”, but first and foremost themselves.

Investors now recognise the value of sustainable business models and manage their investments accordingly. Nevertheless, the capital question remains the biggest problem of green start-ups, the authors state.

You can read the full article here.

The Smart Living industry association has submitted a statement on the Building Energy Act to Peter Altmaier, Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy. In this statement, the association refers to the climate protection contribution of digitisation in buildings.

For this statement, Borderstep has calculated figures on the possible CO2 reduction through building automation systems in existing residential buildings in Germany.

“With an annual renovation rate of 300,000 apartments, around 2.3 million tons of CO2 can be avoided in 2030,” explains Dr. Severin Beucker, an expert on smart energy at Borderstep.

The building stock in Germany is responsible for a significant proportion of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Digital energy management can help to significantly reduce this share and promotes the use of renewable energies. It is both economically and ecologically an important alternative for the refurbishment of existing buildings.

The use of smart building technology and intelligent control of energy use in buildings can thus make a substantial contribution to climate protection. This should be supported by targeted incentives for the use of intelligent systems and digital solutions in buildings, according to the statement.

The figures come from the Borderstep working paper “Reduction of CO2 emissions in existing buildings through digital energy management“. The publication (only in german) can be downloaded free of charge.

Cloud Computing, 3D-Printing, Big Data, Industry 4.0: The world of work and life is changing drastically due to digitisation. How does this affect climate protection? This is the topic of CliDiTrans, a new project of the Borderstep Institute.

Some studies are calculating the potential for reducing global CO2 emissions through ICT by up to 20 percent by 2030. These studies, however, do not take two essential aspects of increasing Digitisation into adequate consideration:

Firstly, digitisation triggers changes in demand. Completely new products and services are emerging or existing solutions are becoming better quality and cheaper at the same time, so that there is greater demand for them. Secondly, the use of ICT solutions is associated with national and international shifts in production processes.

Together with the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research and the practice partner Zweckverband Kommunale Datenverarbeitung Oldenburg (KDO), Borderstep analyses the climate protection effects of digitisation on the basis of case studies and macroeconomic considerations.

The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the funding programme “Economics of Climate Change”.

Clean Energy Wire interviewed Borderstep Director Prof. Dr. Klaus Fichter about the start-up scene in Germany. What role do engineers play in the “Green Energy Valley” to which Germany has developed? How can start-ups raise capital compared to Silicon Valley?

The interview introduces the reader to current research results of the Borderstep Institute, such as the Green Startup Monitor, which Borderstep has created in collaboration with the Startup Association of Germany.

The English-language portal Clean Energy Wire (CLEW) prepares the topic of energy transition in Germany for international media.

Read the full interview here.

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”.

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