Hamburg to become flagship of AI start-ups

20 December 2021

German government earmarks EUR 3.8 million for "AI.Startup.Hub Hamburg"

The German Ministry for Economics and Climate Protection (BMWi) has earmarked EUR 3.8 million for the "AI.Startup.Hub Hamburg" after counting Hamburg among four model artificial intelligence regions. The project is a joint effort by six stakeholders in science and industry to boost start-ups specialising in the technology as digitalisation progresses.

Hamburg focusing on AI technology

"The funds for AI.Startup.Hub boosts the entire AI ecosystem in Hamburg and will have an enormous impact on the entire science location," said Katharina Fegebank, Senator for Science and Research. The aim is to ensure that Hamburg plays a key role in the development and advancement of AI in future. Michael Westhagemann, Senator for Economics, stressed: "The choice of Hamburg as a model of AI shows that the north is a fantastic centre of innovation. The hub is an excellent addition to our AI funding landscape."

AI ecosystem to be promoted more strongly

The initiators of the AI.Startup.Hub hope to identify and prepare new AI start-ups to launch on international markets. The aim is to render the Hamburg Metropolitan Region and north Germany a "visible beacon" for such start-ups by 2025. To this end, the hub will offer events and services tailored to start-ups needs in eight modules - from ideas generation, incubation and scaling to internationalization.

Bringing diverse stakeholders together

The AI.Startup.Hub is a merger of Hamburg Innovation GmbH, AI for Hamburg GmbH (AI.Hamburg) and the Artificial Intelligence Center Hamburg (ARIC). Hamburg Innovation GmbH is a knowledge and technology transfer company of Hamburg's public universities and links up science with business and politics. AI for Hamburg GmbH is a private non-profit organization that promotes the use of AI and machine learning across the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. ARIC serves as a link between application-orientated research and practical application in AI. The "MachineLearning in Engineering" initiative by the Technical University of Hamburg (TUHH), German Entrepreneurship, which specializes in scaling up start-ups, and the consulting firm Exponential Innovation Institute are also involved in the hub.

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