International
Global networks and diversity
Strictly international: Intercultural cooperation is our strategy for success.
WHY INTERNATIONAL?
Global networks, diverse and inspiring: The startup ecosystem NEXT MANNHEIM offers the ideal environment for your venture into the German market.
Mannheim is an agile german economic center in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region – in the heart of Europe. NEXT MANNHEIM offers a diverse network with its flourishing startup scene and a top-class academic infrastructure. The mission is to continually internationalise and diversify this dynamic startup scene. We connect Mannheim-based founders with an international network, support intercultural enterprises and invite international startups to our on-boarding programme. Anyone looking for the perfect entry into the German market is welcome to come to Mannheim.
ONBOARDING PROGRAM – YOUR TOUCHPOINT TO MANNHEIM
You are thinking of setting up an entity in Germany in order to explore the European market while running your startup? Get to know Mannheim as your perfect location for your market entry! We create optimal conditions for funding, financing operations, counseling, incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces and networking. An important location factor is a network of global industry players with close links to mid-tier businesses and universities. BASF, SAP, MVV, Roche, John Deere, Daimler-Benz, Bombardier, Bilfinger or ADM/Wild constitute only a small cross-section of the internationally operating groups in Mannheim and the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region.
Get to know our ONBOARDING PROGRAM together with our MARKET ENTRY MANAGERS – they’ll support you individually and create the perfect problem solution fit.
What’s in it for you?
Apply for our programs and become part of the NEXT MANNHEIM INTERNATIONAL STARTUP COMMUNITY:
Step 1:
Digital Incubator Program
A 4-week program on a virtual base that gives you all the knowledge and contacts you need for establishing your company in Mannheim in a time- and cost-efficient way. During the program you get:
- Information about the regional ecosystem and valuable contacts to key industry players
- Expert knowledge and hands-on guidelines about legal, money, sales and culture in Germany
- Individual support by your personal market entry manager
- Promising contacts to potential clients and partners
The program includes in addition to the four lectures once a week a weekly one-to-one-session of 1,5 hour with our experts, meetings with your market entry managers and potential clients.
Attendance is mandatory for eligibility for the subsequent onboarding program.
Step 2:
Onboarding Program
Define your goals together with us and make your decision for Mannheim. We invite you to come to the Rhine-Neckar region and meet your local partners. We offer:
- Three months of free co-working in one of our eight startup centers
- Three months free accommodation in our startup flatshare
- Access to our network with companies and medium-sized businesses in the region. We connect you individually with your ideal customers.
- Events with the Start-up Community
- Individual consulting from experts on: business model, financing, law, start-up advice, etc.
- Optional: participation in our Accelerator Programs
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Step 3:
“International Stammtisch”
Become part of our STARTUP COMMUNITY!
Our International Stammtisch gives you the opportunity to network with like-minded people and get to know Mannheim better. In virtual meetings once a month we meet for exchange and are open for your questions.
WELCOME TO MANNHEIM!
INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS
Offers for business startups and entrepreneurs with intercultural background:
In Mannheim, cosmopolitanism, diversity and tolerance are very much alive. People from over 170 nations live in the city, over 43 percent have a migration background. Intercultural mentality and diversity are natural elements of Mannheim's economy - and NEXT MANNHEIM stands for integration through participation.
The INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS department offers a special point of contact for female founders and entrepreneurs with a migration background. We provide support with advice and training and are the first choice for sustainable intercultural business startups. We evaluate business ideas with regard to marketability and sustainability, we contribute our knowledge and network to promising projects and support the realization of ideas.
Consulting services
The consulting services cover a broad spectrum: from legal basics and funding opportunities to important aspects of intercultural communication and industry-specific regulations in the different phases of setting up a company. More information on subsidies and financing such as the EXI voucher can be found here.
Focus Community Turkey
Due to the large number of people of Turkish origin in Mannheim and the associated economic potential, the focus is on the Turkish community. Our activities pursue the goal of supporting and advising Turkish founders and entrepreneurs in the development of self-employment and in the management of their companies. We support startup initiatives, which improve the economic situation of our Turkish fellow citizens and create jobs.
INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS
Our mission
Mannheim benefits from a very powerful and strong startup scene with more than 300 high potential startups in various industries. They have the potential to become successful internationally operating startups. The goal is to support our local startups in internationalizing and diversifying their activities. NEXT MANNHEIM is embedded in a tightly knit international network of partners, institutions, startup and technology centers, and universities from around the world.
Mannheim and the Startup Hotspot Tel Aviv
Israel has one of the most innovative and vibrant startup scenes in the world. NEXT MANNHEIM has developed close partnerships in Tel Aviv in particular. In 2017, Mannheim and Tel Aviv established a cooperation as part of the B-WIP accelerator program, which was solidified with a representative office in 2018.
Many innovative startups from Tel Aviv are interested in collaborations with German companies. The goal of the cooperation is to create connections to Mannheim's industry and SMEs in order to promote technology and knowledge transfer. Through the representative office in Tel Aviv, Mannheim is perceived as an innovation location in the Israeli startup scene.
Toulon, France
With TVT Innovation, the central agency for economic development for the Métropole Toulon Provence Méditerranée, we have a strong partner in Toulon and on the Côte d'Azur.
System Factory, as part of TVT Innovation, bundles startup activities across sectors as an industrial cluster focusing on areas such as energy, environment, health or marine.
Against the backdrop of a long-standing city partnership between Toulon and Mannheim, we sealed our joint activities in a partnership agreement within the framework of an international Mayors Summit in 2020, so that since then, among other things, onboarding programs, support in market development and free use of co-working spaces can be offered in the respective partner cities.
We have also succeeded in building bridges between the cities of Toulon and Mannheim from the perspective of urban culture and the creative economy with joint activities, including the MUREX Festival.
Skolkovo Technology Park & Russian Venture Company, Moscow
"Young, Russian IT companies are among the most innovative in the world," knows Dr. Claudia Rabe, who is responsible for the STARTUP COMMUNITY at NEXT MANNHEIM, among other things. She established the connection to the Russian Venture Company (RVC), a kind of state "umbrella fund" that distributes funds to other VC funds. RVC, in turn, is located in the world-renowned TECHNO Park Skolkovo, with whose International Department we maintain contacts. Russian startups already visited Mannheim in 2018 - the finalists of "GenerationS", an accelerator program that is advertised throughout Russia - the prelude to a sustainable strategic cooperation with both partners.
Hungary
Mainly based on MedTech startups, our partner Berlin Startup campus offers help for German startups entering the Hungarian market. They also support internationalization towards the eastern Europe. Their support is highly individualized and tailor-made for the startups from Mannheim.
The Hebron-Mannheim Co-Working Lab
The lab aims to create a collaborative workspace for business startups and to establish an international startup scene in Hebron. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the development policy program "Sustainable Community Development through Partnership Projects" (NAKOPA) of the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW). In addition to creating jobs, the programme aims, among other things, to impart skills and initiate a transfer of knowledge between Mannheim and Hebron.
Beyoglu, Turkey
We already have a long-standing friendship and city partnership with Beyoglu, a district in the European part of Istanbul. There is a lively creative industry scene as well as renowned universities, which in this symbiosis have produced a dynamic startup scene.
Kobe, Japan
WOKobe is the official representative of Kobe city in Europe.
Kobe is an attractive business location in Japan for several industry sectors - biomedicine, ship building, aviation, IT and renewable energy. The city is especially advanced in research and application of hydrogen as an energy carrier, which attracts attention from all over the world. Kobe was selected as a Global Startup Hub city. Startups cooperate closely with the city government to solve urban problems.
WOKobe is a non-profit organization and encourage cross-border partnerships between Europe and Japan. Their goal is to inspire companies, from start-ups to corporations, to think big, supporting new business activities and helping facilitating administrative activities for the next steps - towards Kobe.
