The opening message of the Startup Germany Stage was that attendees should use this stage as a source of motivation, practical direction, and concrete evidence that Germany’s startup ecosystem has positive momentum despite negative economic headlines. The host welcomed the audience at Bits and Prezels with humor about early mornings, Oktoberfest, coffee, and the fact that people had chosen this stage over the main stage. She framed the room as a place to counter the morning news cycle about German OEM challenges and electric-car competition from China, promising “good numbers and good stories” that Germany can build its future on.

The first examples focused on recent proof points and ecosystem data. The host highlighted that, on September 6, a private company from the region, ESA Aerospace, had successfully launched into orbit for the first time in Europe, calling it something Germany does not talk about often enough. She then pointed to the Startup Verbund, the German startup association, which had sneak-peeked numbers from the German Startup Monitor. According to the host, Germany is growing and is on track for a record year in VC money, with 8,000,000,000 already recorded by the half-year mark and more months still to come. On that basis, she said the audience could “confidently say” it would be an awesome year in Germany, with many startups being built and many topics where the market can still be seized.

The session then positioned the day’s central question: how Germany can move from leading-edge and cutting-edge research to market-ready companies, not only for the German market but also for the global market. The host connected this agenda to the government’s startup and scale-up strategy, released about two and a half months earlier, which she described as the basis for the day’s stage program. She specified that the strategy contains 152 concrete measures, some already in place and some still being built, across eight important fields. These measures are intended to help bring research out of labs into companies, provide financing for later-stage growth, and make “Startup Germany” happen.

The host also acknowledged specific work still to be done, including a decline in startup-corporate partnerships and cooperation from 70% to around 50%. She previewed the day’s flow: ecosystem discussions in the morning, research-to-startup, scale-up, and talent topics later, including talent beyond the hubs and beyond TUM, as well as foreign talent attraction. Finally, she emphasized that the strategy had been developed through consultation and dialogue with the ecosystem, not in isolation, and encouraged founders, VCs, and confused international startups to visit the Startup Germany booth near the merry-go-round to navigate programs, funds, support systems, and connections.