The Bits & Pretzels startup festival kicked off with an opening speech by American civil rights activist Tarana Burke. This year, the focus is on Diversity.
The rainbow flag above the entrance to the ICM at the Munich Trade Fair welcomes visitors to Bits & Pretzels: This year’s startup festival’s motto is “Diversity.”
To bring the topic to life, the three organizers, Andreas Bruckschlögl, Bernd Storm, and Felix Haas, forgo their usual opening speech and instead give the floor to the women: Kuchentratsch founder Katharina Mayer and her cake baker "Grandma Anni" will talk about how diversity benefits their company. Leila Janah, founder of the social enterprise Samasource, will then take the stage. The three hosts will stand at the side of the stage.
After a brief welcoming address by Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs Franz Josef Pschierer, the trio of organizers, together with Klaus Dittrich, Chairman of the Management Board of Messe München, announced that the trade fair would participate in the Founders' Festival and acquire a 10 percent stake. The Munich City Council still needs to approve the deal. Klaus Dittrich says:
"Startups, like trade fairs, represent innovation. Visitors here regularly experience new products and technologies. We have therefore always supported startups through various concepts at our events. Bits & Pretzels reinforces our commitment and enhances Munich's status as a hub for the international startup scene."
Me too: Just two words?
The main speaker in the morning will be the civil rights activist Tarana BurkeThe New Yorker is considered one of the founders and keynote speaker of the Me Too movement. As early as 2006, Burke used the phrase to give victims of sexual violence a way to express themselves and thereby overcome the trauma of the violence they suffered. Her target audience was African-American women and girls. She was already communicating via social media, aiming to reach as many victims as possible. Back then, the platform wasn't called Facebook or Twitter, but MySpace. Ten years later, the hashtag Me Too became a worldwide phenomenon. Me Too condenses Burke's civil rights work over several decades:
"It was just two words that expressed what these people felt. They felt seen, heard, and understood."
Burke herself makes the connection between her personality and the tech-focused startup festival: As a Black woman, she can doubly fulfill the diversity theme. With her civil rights work, she has also demonstrated how an idea can become something big through sustained commitment—a classic startup theme.
The battle for the Munich Startup Award has begun
Many other sessions at Bits & Pretzels have a much more obvious startup focus. A total of seven stages provide founders with basic know-how, advanced knowledge, and new ideas. A matchmaking area provides the opportunity to make new contacts. Startup companies present their products and services in a dedicated exhibition area.
The Pitch Stage offers a special element of excitement throughout the three days of the festival: For two days, startups compete against each other in front of a jury. The winning team will be determined in a grand finale on Monday evening.
https://twitter.com/munich_startup/status/1046355705123536896
The highlight from Munich's perspective, however, comes on Tuesday: The first-place local team in the pitch competition will receive the Munich Startup Award, endowed with 5,000 euros, from Mayor Josef Schmid on the stage of the Schottenhamel festival tent in front of 5,000 guests.
