This year, the AsiaBerlin Summit brought together our community from Berlin, and Asia spanned over 5 Days with 50+ Panels, 85 Keynote, 8 Workshops, 366 speakers, and over 2.700 Participants. We went bigger and stronger. While there were numerous fresh experiences this year, some stood out for us. First, we had more robust participation from the Berlin startup ecosystem with some young founders as first-timers to the Summit. Second, we hosted various country-specific and topic-specific satellite events in collaboration with our partners. Third, we organized the investor’s day for the second time in a row. Lastly, our main program on Day 1 and Day 2 had five focus tracks: Internationalization, Female Entrepreneurship/Diversity/Lgbtqi, Social Entrepreneurship, Smart City |Urban Tech | Green Tech | Climate Tech, Fintech.
On the first day of the Summit (04 October), we opened the conference with breakfast with Ramona Pop (Berlin Mayor and Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises). She said, “The AsiaBerlin Summit brings together startups, investors, corporations with government institutions to break down the existing cultural barriers between Asia and Germany. With the AsiaBerlin Summit we create a basis for intercontinental cooperation. This cooperation of the best and most innovative minds in our ecosystems is the basis for new and sustainable economic growth, and thus promotes the development of solutions for our global environmental challenges,”. Read full highlights of Day 1 here.
Voices of Corporates
“ Due to the close cooperation between startups, research, and industry, Berlin offers a unique ecosystem for innovation. We must use this potential to jointly develop new ideas and create sustainable innovations from them. For this, the AsiaBerlin Summit offers an international platform” said Cedrik Neike (Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG)
“Innovations are created when people bring their ideas and different perspectives together. But innovation also requires curiosity, courage, and the willingness to reinvent oneself. This is exactly where AsiaBerlin summit comes in to help established companies and startups complement each other, grow their ecosystems across borders.” added Thomas Saueressig (Member of the Executive Board of SAP).
Voices of Berlin startups
Nina Pütz, CEO, Ratepay GmbH mentioned that around 50% of the global payment revenues come from Asia. “ I always say hot trends in payments have been generated there. If you look at Asia, it is primarily cashless. Germans still have pocket money. So there are things we can really learn and adapt to as well.”
Lesley Li, Founder & CEO at U Impact says, “I find it really exciting as a startup founder with Asian background coming to AsiaBerlin Summit. You get in with the ecosystem, investors, potential clients, and the users we were providing our service to. It is super exciting for me to get in touch with this multi-cultural environment in one place in a few days. You don’t have to travel anywhere.”
Iva Jankovic, COO of Betahaus, concludes that one of the main attributes of a platform like AsiaBerlin advocates a bit about the ecosystems. “I think there’s a big gap in understanding the Asian market and the diversity within it. A platform like AsiaBerlin allows me to understand that and get connected. Right now, at Betahaus, we are hosting a lot of startups from Korea, and they appreciate the insight that they’re getting about the European market from a platform like AsiaBerlin.”
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