vienna-region-raphaela
There is a new startup hub in the Vienna Region: the Südhub. It opened its doors to innovative companies, startups and spin offs in March 2021 in Güssing in Southern Burgenland.
This hub offers support for innovative companies, startups and spinoffs on two levels: consulting and a programme to participate in. On the one hand, the hub is a centre for startups and founders where they can turn to with their questions and problems. A team of experts in the hub brings in many years of experience and has got a lot of knowhow to share. Startups and spin offs can profit from these experiences.
On the other hand, the hub offers an 8 months programme, which helps startups and spinoffs to establish and market their company. This programme offers networking with mentors and companies as well as the provision of knowhow in a workshop series consisting of ten modules. 1-to-1-coaching is also part of the programme. Participants will further be able to get consulting in how to best turn their innovative business ideas into a successful business venture. Experts will help them to validate their prototypes as well as to develop a marketing strategy and find investors.
Furthermore, startups can get an office in and use the infrastructure of this new co-working space, which makes networking, communication and collaboration with others even easier. There is also monetary support for the participants of the programme.
Martin Trink, the manager of the Südhub, is proud to be part of this new business endeavour. Since February 2021 startups and spin offs can apply for the programme. Trink is happy that “there is a huge demand for this programme. We are already talking to potential participants of the programme. Any startup or spinoff that is interested in building their company in Burgenland and has innovative ideas or has built a prototype can apply until the end of April 2021.” It is planned to welcome up to 5 new startups or spin offs every year. The application for the programme is submitted via the Südhub website. Internal as well as external experts review all the applications according to various aspects. Finally a council chooses the programme participants.
According to Michael Gerbavsits, general manager of Wirtschaftsagentur Burgenland, the Südhub “works like a multitool. It supports startups and spin offs exactly where they need help. The operators of the hub know the ecosystem very well, therefore they can act innovatively as well as down-to-earth and can make use of various networks.” Furthermore, he is convinced that there are manifold reasons to think of Burgenland as your future business location. “Burgenland has great infrastructure as well as great educational institutions. There is also a great network of institutions and companies and an excellent quality of life.”
What can startups and spin offs expect after having been chosen as participants for the programme? After an onboarding week, in which the participants will get to know the hub as well as one another, every participant needs to complete the “mini MBA” training programme successfully. The big advantage for the participants is that they can communicate what topics are especially important and relevant to bring their business forward.
The next step are the 10 workshops, 5 of which will focus on entrepreneurship, the other 5 on the development from startup to scale up. To top off the programme, every participant gets 1-to-1-coaching, which will help to bring them further forward as these coachings will focus on the individual needs and solutions for possible problems. More details of the programme can be found on the website.