GreenTech / GT Hub at Allgäu Airport near Memmingen: How SMEs, medium-sized businesses and start-ups in the Allgäu are shaping the green future

🌿✈️ An innovative center for green technologies is currently being built at Allgäu Airport, which combines the strengths of medium-sized businesses with the innovative strength of start-ups. The aim is to develop the Allgäu into a leading region in Europe for sustainable technologies and to attract the most talented minds in the industry. In the next few years, the network is expected to grow to up to 30 start-ups that focus on digitalization and sustainability. What is special about this project is the close connection between green innovations and medium-sized companies from the region.

The new GreenTech Hub (GT Hub) was founded according to the motto “From the middle class for the middle class”. The four founding shareholders—the Alois Müller Group (Ungerhausen), Südpack (Ochsenhausen) and Reisacher and Kutter (both Memmingen)—are all family-run companies with deep roots in the Allgäu. This unique constellation is intended to create a dynamic ecosystem for start-ups, medium-sized companies, investors and research institutions that specialize in green technologies.

🌱 A dynamic network for sustainable innovation

“We want to think across industries and bring together the best talents, scientists and companies from the areas of digitalization and sustainability,” explains Corinna Tappe, who, together with Dr. Stefan Lenz forms the management of GreenTech Hub GmbH. Tappe is known, among other things, as a mentor and manager of the Bavarian location of the “Startup Teens” network and has extensive experience in the start-up scene.

The modern building south of Allgäu Airport is scheduled to be completed by mid-2025. Office and workshop space will be created on over 2,000 square meters, offering ideal conditions for young companies. At the topping-out ceremony, the GT Hub took the opportunity to present its project to the public at a preview event.

🚀 Ideal location conditions for start-ups

The location at Allgäu Airport offers optimal conditions for the development of a leading GreenTech hub. “With the motorway junction and the airport, we have a perfect transport infrastructure here,” emphasizes Dr. Stefan Lenz. In addition, engineers will soon be able to use new future technologies such as an electrolyzer to produce hydrogen. Existing systems such as the biogas plant as well as planned projects such as a hydrogen filling station, an innovative district heating network and large photovoltaic fields create ideal conditions for the development and expansion of green technologies.

⚡ Unique focus on green technologies

The GT Hub is the first technology network in the region to specifically link green technologies with medium-sized businesses. “There are already some successful hubs in Germany, but our combination and conscious specialization are truly unique,” ​​says Lenz. The thematic focus includes renewable and efficient energies, the development of new materials, innovative business models in the area of ​​sustainability as well as circular economy topics, digital solutions and artificial intelligence.

These areas are of central importance for medium-sized companies in order to secure their future and continue to develop successfully. Andreas Müller, Managing Director of the Alois Müller Group, emphasizes: “It is best for us medium-sized companies from the Allgäu if we bring the smart minds of the scene and their innovative ideas to us in order to advance important topics and processes together.”

🤝 Enormous potential through collaboration

The openness and trust of medium-sized companies create enormous development potential. “We have an active medium-sized business network here and numerous 'hidden champions'. The high density of producing medium-sized companies with decades of experience is an absolute plus for every start-up,” says Corinna Tappe happily. Family businesses from the region are reliable business partners and are characterized by quick decision-making processes - an important factor for young companies.

🌟 Medium-sized businesses as founders of start-ups

Tappe and Lenz would also like to encourage Allgäu companies to spin off start-ups themselves. “Anyone who has experienced the dynamism and energy that a spin-off can unleash is open to such a transformation,” explains Dr. Stefan Lenz. They want to use their experience to support and advise companies in order to make these processes successful.

🎓 Support for founders

Start-ups can look forward to extensive support. The GT Hub is developing an accelerator program that will run for six months. “We support the young companies with boot camps on important topics such as finding investors, financing and market analysis and offer active 1:1 coaching,” explains Corinna Tappe. The network is also used to find suitable partners for the respective business ideas.

💡 Innovations for medium-sized businesses

The shareholders of the GT Hub emphasize how much medium-sized companies can benefit from working with start-ups. Peter Reisacher, Managing Director of Autohaus Reisacher GmbH, explains: “Electromobility brings us to many issues that require innovative solutions. We hope that the GT Hub will allow us to contribute our ideas and develop smart, sustainable solutions together with start-ups.”

Südpack also sees enormous potential: “The future of plastics is green. They must come from renewable raw materials and be returned to a functioning circulation system. We want to actively shape this transformation. In the GT Hub we can give innovative minds a home,” emphasize Johannes Remmele and Carolin Grimbacher, owners of Südpack Verpackungen GmbH & Co. KG.

🛠️ Presentation of innovative start-ups

At the preview event, four innovative start-ups demonstrated their potential. Reverion from Eching presented solutions for highly efficient, CO₂-negative energy generation and long-term storage based on biogas and hydrogen. Oculai showed how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing camera-based data collection for construction sites. B2Square from Meerbusch demonstrated how CO₂ emissions can be drastically reduced in road construction through the use of biobitumen. AssetEnergy from Memmingen presented a digital measurement and billing service that enables tenants to bill heating and additional costs transparently.

📈 Small and medium-sized businesses must accelerate when it comes to digitalization and innovation

Christoph Keese, best-selling author and former editor-in-chief of “Welt” and “Welt am Sonntag”, emphasized in his keynote speech the need for medium-sized companies to become active in digital transformation and technological innovations. “We in Germany are very innovative, but we implement too slowly and invest too little in innovative ideas and young companies,” says Keese. He advocated not being so restrictive with new technologies and creating a good economic climate for start-ups.

🛫 Allgäu Airport as a special economic zone

A vision that Keese shared is the establishment of Allgäu Airport as a special economic zone. “If Memmingen Airport could be made a special economic zone, that would be a real advantage for start-ups and investors,” he explained. This would create additional incentives and further increase the attractiveness of the location.

💪 Strengthen medium-sized businesses with the innovative power of start-ups

The GreenTech Hub at Allgäu Airport combines the strengths of medium-sized businesses with the innovative strength of start-ups, thereby sending a strong signal for the region's green future. With optimal location conditions, a unique network and a clear focus on sustainable technologies, the GT Hub offers ideal conditions for companies that want to actively shape the future. The collaboration between experienced medium-sized companies and innovative start-ups promises to make the Allgäu a leading region for green technologies in Europe.

📣 Similar topics

• 🌿 GreenTech Hub: Sustainable future in the Allgäu
• 🚀 Innovations from the Allgäu for Europe
• 🔄 Medium-sized businesses & start-ups: A green symbiosis
• 🏗️ Ideal conditions for technological advances
• 🌱 The heart of green technologies
• 🤝 Cooperation for sustainable success
• 💡 Sustainability and digitalization in focus
• 🔎 Support and funding for founders
• 🌍 Allgäu Airport: hub for sustainable innovation
• 📈 Medium-sized businesses as a catalyst for innovation

#️⃣ Hashtags: #GreenTech #SMEs #Sustainability #Innovation #Startups

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