Introducing Germany's Digital Hub Initiative
Twelve digital hubs are located across Germany - each reflecting local industry specialization. They cover a number of sectors including logistics, mobility, insurtech, fintech, and smart infrastructure.
The goal of the Digital Hub Initiative is to foster innovation and transfer knowledge as well as technology cooperation and to accelerate the digital transformation of the German economy. The Digital Hubs match start-ups with SMEs, big corporations, investors, and academia. The Digital Hub Initiative hosts a total of 12 hubs. They are spread across the country. Each digital hub has a specific industry focus.
What the Digital Hub Initiative has to offer
Combining the innovative approach of entrepreneurs and start-up talents with the resources and skills of established enterprises, the initiative creates digital business opportunities and adds economic value to both established and growing businesses.
Each hub constitutes a unique innovation hotspot. Here, entrepreneurs, start-ups, corporations, and research facilities cooperate to develop concrete programs for the challenges of the digital age. Together, the 12 digital hubs form a strong network that enables the exchange of ideas, programs and expertise.
Start-up Finder: The Start-up Finder provides access to hundreds of start-ups from the Digital Hub Initiative ecosystem.
Program Finder: Looking for accelerators, corporate innovation or co-working spaces? You can find programs offered by the initiative and each hub here.
Expert Finder: The expert finder tool grants access to experts from all sectors with the necessary skills to tackle any digitalization challenge.
The Digital Hub's goal is to strengthen Germany’s position as a world-leading digital economy, whilst enabling international talents to realize their business ideas in Germany and inviting global companies to invest in the digital innovation built within this network.
International networking with the Digital Hub Inititative
The Digital Hub Initiative frequently organizes international events with common booths and side events at leading international fairs (Web Summit, Slush, South by Southwest, and Viva Technology). Start-ups are welcome to join, exhibit and take part in a joint German presence.
International Ambassadors
The Digital Hub Initiative has established a network of “international ambassadors.” The network serves as the first point of contact for the international start-up community and promotes Germany as a start-up location abroad. The network includes ambassadors drawn from the numbers of Germany Trade & Invest’s experts in different regions across the world. International start-ups can receive advice and information on how to best gain access to Germany’s start-up network and potential partners. Find the ambassador closest to your location at the Digital Hub’s International Ambassador website.
The Digital Hub’s success stories
The Digital Hub Initiative promotes cooperation and collaboration between start-ups, more established businesses and research partners to forward innovation and digitalization in Germany. In trecent years a multitude of partnerships have arose - many of these are now considered best practice examples and pioneers in their industries. Learn more about recent success stories.
Wandelbots & Volkswagen
Wandelbots is a spin-off from Technische Universität Dresden and connected with VW through the Smart Systems Hub Dresden. In 2018 they started their collaboration with a project dedicated to human-robot cooperation. To date, Wandelbots has raised more than EUR 30 million in funding and is now working with Microsoft and Siemens. The cooperation with VW marked a breakthrough for Wandelbots in industry partnerships.
R + V Insurance & Nect
R + V is the first insurer in Europe to offer its customers the opportunity to activate the digital customer portal “My R&V” with the video identification process of Nect within a few minutes. Via the portal R + V customers can edit and manage their insurance contracts digitally and receive updates on claims processing. The "selfie" ident-process was developed by Nect in close collaboration with R + V. The cooperation arose from discussions in InsurTech Cologne Hub.
Freque attracts angel investment
Thanks to its participation at SXSW 2022, made possible by the Digital Hub Initiative, an angel investor from the UK was able to take in the Freque start-up pitch at the German Pavilion. The mediatech start-up, from the Digital Hub Potsdam, aroused so much interest that contact was established between the two and a significant investment made by the UK investor.
CibusCell partner in MED Light Project
CibusCell has become a project partner of the MED Light Project - a project for the production and export of green hydrogen in the MENA region within an international network. The project involves the production, transportation and use of green hydrogen from two sources: one in Israel and one in Spain or Portugal. Various partners from Germany, Turkey, Norway, Israel, and Spain are involved. CibusCell participation will be in the areas of control systems and advanced analytics. The start-up comes from the Digital Hub Mannheim/Ludwigshafen and participation at the GITEX in Dubai was able to help CibusCell land such a prestigious project.
