Space meets Handwerk — which sounds like space travel and a workshop — is a successful format launched by the Chamber of Skilled Crafts for Munich and Upper Bavaria (HWK Munich) and AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen. The goal of the event is to specifically match high-tech craft businesses with their specialized range of services with startups from the AZO-managed ESA BIC Bavaria startup center that are looking for precisely this specialized support. With this concept, Space meets Handwerk has now entered its second round.
Following last year's pilot run and the resulting positive feedback, the Munich Chamber of Crafts and Trades, together with AZO, once again invited selected skilled trades businesses and startups to a round of speed dating at the Chamber of Crafts and Trades. Speed dating may sound like a time before Tinder, but this evening it once again proved to be an effective tool for intensive and focused exchange between all participants.
Georg Raess, Innovation Consultant of the HWK Munich, about the intention of the HWK Munich to organize the event:
"From my own startup experience, I know that you rely on good manufacturing partners, especially when it comes to implementing physical products or components. Specialized craft businesses are practically on-site and, thanks to their individual approach, very flexible. This can be extremely helpful. Now it's time to bring both sides together."
Startups from ESA BIC Bavaria and high-tech craft businesses from the Munich Chamber of Crafts and Trades accepted the invitation to participate in Space Meets Crafts. The latter were selected based on the startups' requirements, which the AZO had previously surveyed. On the startup side, Teratrace, Kiutra, Silentwings and Manaomea The companies Habich & Martin, Messtec Power Converte, KL Technik, Feinmechanische Werkstätte Thomas Markl, and Wearable Solutions represented the local craft businesses.
After a brief round of introductions from all participants, the speed dating session followed. Each startup and craft business had ten minutes to exchange ideas. Hartwig von Bülow, Head of the Innovation, Technology, Environment Department at the Munich Chamber of Crafts and Trades, was enthusiastic about the evening's proceedings:
"Getting to know each other is the first step toward collaboration. At the speed dating session at the Space meets Handwerk event, no one was bored—even the bell barely separated the participants."
The Munich Chamber of Crafts and Trades (HWK) will explore whether and what kind of collaborations will emerge from the evening together with the AZO. However, experience from last year has shown that it is not necessarily the most obvious matches that lead to successful collaborations beyond the evening.
