A new chapter has been added to a century of media history: On May 12, the MediaTech Hub Potsdam officially opened its new location on the grounds of Studio Babelsberg. Around 200 guests from the worlds of politics, business, startups, and the creative scene accepted our invitation to tour the facilities where the media industry, young entrepreneurship, and tech innovation will come together in the future.
In their opening remarks, MTH co-managing directors Peter Effenberg and Felix Briegel highlighted the potential this holds for the transformation of the industry, even beyond the Babelsberg location. Noosha Aubel, Mayor of the state capital Potsdam, Christina Schmidt-Holtmann from the Federal Ministry for Digital and Government Modernization, and Jörg Bachmaier, CEO of Studio Babelsberg, echoed these sentiments in their subsequent welcoming remarks.
State Secretary for Economic Affairs Hendrik Fischer also emphasized the broader economic significance that places like MTH Potsdam play in this transformation: “Those who fail to invest today—in people, in infrastructure, and in the integration of technology and creativity—will find themselves watching from the sidelines tomorrow as others shape the market.”
Many guests took the opportunity to explore the new location during guided tours. There were new startup offices and coworking spaces to discover, as well as video conference rooms, a podcast studio, and, last but not least, Café Maria. The opening was marked by a thematic focus. After all, MTH Potsdam is intended to be not just another coworking space for the creative industries, but a platform and hub for collaboration in the face of profound change in the media industry.
Guests at the event got a firsthand look at how this transformation is taking shape through showcases by various startups from the MTH Accelerator. Among them were the teams from Sonalab, Clearlea.se, CreamAI, and Nound. In addition, Unframe presented AI avatars it had designed in-house in one of the new call rooms. Guests also had the opportunity to engage directly with the startups seven200.AI Studios, Mimic Minds, Marktkost, Wavery, and Deal Engine—all of which have offices at the hub. During the discussions, it became clear what the hub is intended to represent in the future: direct interaction between founders and the media industry, and the shortest possible path from idea to implementation.
This is precisely what the new realities of production demand. Artificial intelligence is transforming production processes, virtual production is changing the way film shoots are organized, and streaming platforms and digital distribution channels are challenging traditional value chains. This makes seamless collaboration between startups and the media industry all the more important—a collaboration made possible by MTH Potsdam’s move to the Studio Babelsberg campus.
This is precisely where the MediaTech Hub Potsdam comes in, which is why the grand opening of the new location was much more than just a signal pointing toward the future. From now on, the key questions will be addressed in Babelsberg: How can production be made more efficient? How can new technologies be brought from the experimental stage to the market? And how can the next generation of German media professionals be successfully established on the international stage?
MTH Potsdam is addressing these issues by serving as an interface within the regional media ecosystem, fostering entrepreneurial spirit, technological innovation, and media production.
To this end, the MediaTech Hub Potsdam will play a central role in managing the site. The goal is to strategically advance the development of the media city in collaboration with all local stakeholders and to establish it as a leading national center of excellence for media technologies. At the same time, a strategic partnership is being formed with Studio Babelsberg: Together, they will now drive forward projects and exchange formats on future technologies to more closely integrate new ideas with production practices.
Babelsberg has always been synonymous with change in the media industry. With the opening of the MTH Potsdam, a new framework is now being created to actively shape this change—in collaboration with startups, companies, researchers, and the creative industries.
