Bayern Innovativ - Living innovations

Report from the event:

Innovative strength is the life insurance of a business location.


To support particularly small and medium-sized enterprises in the implementation of innovative ideas, there is bayern innovativ - Bayerische Gesellschaft für Innovation und Wissenstransfer GmbH. Managing Director Dr. Rainer Seßner was a guest at the Maximilianeum round table of the OstWestWirtschaftsForum Bayern in Munich.

bayern innovativ, based in Nuremberg, is a subsidiary of LFA Förderbank Bayern. The organization's declared goal is to ensure that "every viable idea becomes an innovation," says Managing Director Dr. Seßner. He defines innovation as "novel concepts that are also active and exist on the market".


In addition to arranging cooperation partners, active support for companies also consists of providing and exchanging knowledge and data. One goal is to become a "Bayern-XING" that brings together managers and know-how. "It's often like being in a large corporation: we know that there is certainly at least one person out of 50,000 who knows the answer to a question - but that person has to be found first. We also want to help smaller companies network with each other. This is particularly important, he says, as SMEs cannot afford their own innovation departments in most cases.


For this reason, another important pillar of Bayern Innovativ's work is to provide advice and information on the wide range of funding opportunities that are not always easy to understand.


Bayern Innovativ is divided into five areas of activity: the interdisciplinary ThinkNet, technology and knowledge exchange, funding consultancy, marketing and communication as well as innovation services.


"Of course there is also innovation funding in other federal states, but we are certainly unique in this bundling and scale," says Seßner. The success proves him right: Numerous companies supported by Bayern Innovativ have been awarded prizes for their innovations and are successful on the market with new concepts.


He cites the textile manufacturer V.FRAAS as an example:

With the help of bayern innovativ, the company from Helmbrechts in Upper Franconia has used its textile know-how to develop a new building material, textile concrete, which represents a genuine alternative to conventional reinforced concrete. There are many such success stories, but still many enterprises would not know, which possibilities result from the innovation promotion, supplements Gf. vice-president Hermann Poenisch.


Bayern Innovativ does valuable work for Bavaria as a business location and offers excellent development opportunities for innovative companies and concepts. In the meantime, the Bavarian Model of Innovation Promotion has also become a role model for others. Internationalization is now playing a role, for example there are partnerships with Quebec and Japan.


Gf. Vice President Hermann Pönisch thanked Dr. Seßner for the interesting lecture and the good discussions during the Maximilianeum round for the OstWestWirtschaftsForum Bayern. At the next event in this series, the former managing director of Bayern International will give a lecture - a supplement to this round with a focus on possibilities of supporting the Bavarian economy abroad.

Hofbräukeller, Wienerplatz, Maximimilianstube
Monday, 01 July 2019, 11:00 to 13:00
"Bayern Innovativ - Living Innovation"
Dr. Rainer Seßner
CEO Bayern Innovativ GmbH

 
Bavaria is one of the economically strongest regions in Europe. Our state enjoys an excellent reputation worldwide as a high-tech location. The gross domestic product per inhabitant is one of the highest in the world. With large international corporations, strong small and medium-sized enterprises and forward-looking research, Bavaria is at the forefront of technological and economic progress. In order to maintain and promote the dynamism of the economy, the state government has created institutions that are active in various areas, such as Bayern International, Invest in Bavaria and Bayern Innovativ.

The mission of Bayern Innovativ is stated on the website: "Bayern Innovativ is a knowledge manager, a driving force and an accelerator of innovation. As a neutral institution of the Free State of Bavaria, Bayern Innovativ bundles relevant expert knowledge, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, so that they can successfully implement their innovations". What are the fields in which Bayern Innovativ is active, what are the focal points, how are Bavarian companies supported? These are the topics we will be informed about.