MFG European Reporter -

Attended by some 100 researchers, businesses and investors, the 9th Heidelberg Innovation Forum concluded with an awards ceremony for the most compelling business ideas. Winner of the best business idea award from the Baden-Württemberg: Connected –bwcon – initiative was H2Hybrid, which was submitted by Dominik Lembke and his team from the Bavarian Elite Academy.

The bwcon award for best international business idea went to Dr. Dileep Agnihotri for his energy storage solution based on double-layer capacitors with a high energy density, which are less bulky and costly than current versions.

To support the winners in their efforts to bring their products to market, their prize is personal business coaching as part of bwcon’s “Coach & Connect+” programme. The aim of this programme is to provide targeted, industry-specific advice and assistance to new and expanding high-tech companies and founders throughout the various start-up phases – from establishing the company to expansion.

Read more (pdf)

MFG Baden-Württemberg will present the “MFG Visual Experience Lab” at FMX 2010, the internationally renowned platform for computer animation, visual effects, games and digital media.  MFG uses this new laboratory to test and research current visualisation trends and technologies together with universities, businesses and talented newcomers from South-West Germany, providing them with an open experimental forum in which to study current trends and projects and test new applications jointly with MFG.

FMX visitors will have the opportunity to learn how these technologies can be integrated into computer games and virtual training worlds, for example at the “MFG Games Track” on May 5 or at the demonstration of the “MFG Visual Experience Lab” on May 6.

Read more in MFG’s press release (pdf)

COO of Beyond A Strategy Mona Pearl gave the keynote at Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2010 live from Chicago. Actually she were supposed to travel to Heidelberg, but because of Iceland’s volcano caused the huge cloud of ash her flight was not possible. We streamed her speech live from Chicago. Thanks again, Mona, for getting-up that early to give your inspiring keynote!

In advance we had the chance to interview Mona Pearl on the phone. In this interview she gave some background info on her biography, her view on success and the three steps which are important to become a successful entrepreneur.

Read the full interview with Mona Pearl (pdf)

The KIS Mobile Convention on 18 May 2010 (13:00-18:00) deals with this question. Focussing on Knowledge Intensive Services and Applications for Mobile Devices regional stakeholder will be brought together in Stuttgart.

The event is organised by Ministry of Economics of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg and MFG Baden-Württemberg – Innovation Agency for ICT and Media. Partners are FZI – Forschungszentrum Informatik and Forum SatNav MIT BW e.V.

Become member of the Linkedin-group “KIS Mobile Convention Stuttgart” and meet participants and presenting companies already before the event.

More information and registration…

From 4th to 7th May FMX will introduce for the 15th times the world’s leading experts in the creation, production and distribution of digital entertainment and interactive visualization.
An event created by Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and organized by the Institute of Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Postproduction, FMX will take place in Stuttgart and will consist of different sections: Conference, Trade Floor, Workshops & Masterclasses, Recruiting Desks, Education, Screening and Events.

The MFG will also be there and on the 5th of May it will present its Game-Track, an opportunity for young game companies from the region of Baden-Württemberg to introduce their products and visions to an international audience. Baden-Württemberg is in fact one of the world’s leading research locations in the field of visualization and simulation technologies.
Two keynotes will round up the track. The first one focuses on game experimentation as a way to foster creativity and keep re-inventing the medium of games, given by Heather Kelley, award-winning game designer, co-founder of the Montréal based experimental art game collective Kokoromi, as well as co-organizer of the influential Gamma game festival and award series. The other talk will concentrate on browser based online games: Carsten van Husen, Head of Publishing of Karlsruhe based world market leader Gameforge, will give a one-hour insight into his company’s business.

We will wait you for the Game Track on the 5th of May! Here you can find a more detailed program.

As you probably realised we didn’t post that much on our blog recently. We’ve been quite busy writing project proposals for Lifelong Learning Calls 2010.
We met the deadline, but weren’t doing much else. We’d like to apologise for that. But now, here is our proposal news:

We submitted SESAM. The project develops a Serious Game supporting students and young entrepreneurs to learn how to organise and manage an event within the creative industries. Also SMeLE has been submitted, focussing on the Usage of Social Media Tools in Learning Environments of the Knowledge Intensive Sector.

Plus, we join the projects
- BRAIN (Blu Ray Apprentissage Industriel Numerique) – as you can imagine this one is lead by our French partner afpa.
- EU-ISN (European Innovation Skills Network) – this network proposal is led by our Belgium partner MENON.
- VETWORK (Bottom-up Consensus Building and Stakeholders Networking for Innovation in VET), led by Belgium partner European Association of Institutions in Higher Education and
- Web2.SME (Inter-Organisational Social Network for Innovation and Internationalisation of SMEs), led by our Spanish partner Camara Oficial de Comercio, Industria y Navegación.

Keep your fingers crossed for one or another successful proposal…
And if you have any good ideas for other calls or you’re generally looking for a new partner, please feel free to contact us any time! More information on current calls can be found in our Project Development Newsletter (pdf).

Heidelberg Innovation Forum takes place on 22nd of April 2010. In two parallel panels 26 business ideas will be presented. Topics range from Green IT and ICT innovations, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energies and Sustainable Mobility.

Within 8 minutes each panellist will present his/her idea to investors and decision makers. In the breaks it is time to “Meet the Panellists” and engage in transfer business. Top industry representatives and researchers are expected to attend.

Register now and receive a 20% discount for two or more registrations by the same company or institution!

Heidelberg Innovation Forum is organised by MFG Baden-Württemberg mbH in collaboration with the European Media Laboratory, established by SAP co-founder Dr. h.c. Klaus Tschira.