Odile Limpach

Peter Kreutter: An Outside-In View: How the Games Industry Can Link Entrepreneurship and Purpose for Real Social Impact

For half a decade now, the non-profit sector has been increasingly affected by the trend toward digitization. In search of role models in other areas, foundations and other NGOs are turning to the gaming industry. Peter will talk about his personal experiences working for a non-profit organization and how he became fascinated by the entrepreneurial spirit and dynamics of the gaming industry. He will discuss some ideas of how both sectors can learn from each other for greater social impact and purpose.

Jörg Müller-Lietzkow: Are the Public Universities Ready for Game-Entrepreneurs?

During the last 12 years, I was running a Games Lab at the University of Paderborn before becoming President of the HafenCity University of Hamburg. We saw many great projects and I often wondered, if they might be a good starting point for founding a company. We, like many other universities, had a transfer office and other support mechanisms to accelerate young Start-ups but soon we learned: Good game students are not always interested in the economic aspects which are absolutely necessary for founding and managing a company. Over the last couple of years, I learned that there is a difference between those projects which are suitable for academia and those ready for the market. With my impulse lecture I want to state what I think has to be done to foster a more business oriented Start-up culture in this area of studies.

Christian Zabel: Where Do Virtual and Augmented Reality Companies Settle? The Role of Clusters and Networking for Young XR Companies in Germany.

Based on the first-ever representative online survey of Germany’s XR industry, different patterns of where and why firms choose their company location emerge. Given the high dynamic of around 70 company creations per year in Germany alone, the presentation points out the factors that entrepreneurs from this industry find relevant when locating their companies. This also highlights interesting insights in which factors are relevant when new companies in this sector are created.