The MediaTech Hub Potsdam has a new managing director: Katja Richter. She has only been responsible for managing the hub since 15 February 2025 and is therefore still very new in her position. Nevertheless, it is a good opportunity to introduce Katja Richter. In this interview, we talk to her about her career path to date and her experiences, but also about where the MediaTech Hub currently stands, her vision for the future of the company and possible challenges and opportunities.
Hello Katja, it’s great that you’re taking the time to talk to me. Everything is still very new for you. How were your first few days as the new Managing Director of MediaTech Hub Potsdam?
So for me personally, it was particularly important to get to know the team. I wanted to find out exactly what the mood was like and what the team was particularly concerned about. And we really got off to a great start, holding various meetings and I spoke to every single person to find out what motivates them and how the tasks are distributed. Also, for example, where they see opportunities for development for the hub. That was the focus of my first few days here at the MediaTech Hub.
On the other hand, I also started with networking and committee work. Whether it was the participants here in the Potsdam start-up environment or from the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region, it was mainly about making myself known and getting to know the players.
I think it has been wonderfully varied so far and has of course helped me a lot. There have been many topics and lots and lots of impressions. But I must emphasise one thing in particular: The team here makes it really easy for me. They have made me feel very welcome and support me as best they can with every question and every challenge.
That basically sounds like an almost perfect start. Was there an event in the first few days that surprised you in a particularly positive way?
I can think of lots of little moments, which is why I don’t want to emphasise any one event in particular. I really had a moment with almost every team member when we thought to ourselves, ‘Oh yes, that’s a good idea, let’s pursue it further, we have to look into it’. The great event is therefore not actually a specific event, but it is this commitment and motivation that I find here. It’s the team that is so motivated, committed and open. For me, that really is something very special and not something to be taken for granted.
Let’s take a step back at this point. Would you like to briefly introduce yourself and tell us what your career path has looked like so far?
With pleasure. I was born in Eisenhüttenstadt in Brandenburg and studied business administration at the University of Potsdam. However, it was important to me from the outset not only to acquire specialised business knowledge, but also to prepare myself for managing teams and companies. That’s why I studied work and organisational psychology as an elective subject at the Free University of Berlin and completed a second degree in conflict management and mediation at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). During this time, I also worked in the start-up services of various Brandenburg universities, including in the pilot service, but I also gave seminars on business planning and worked on exciting research projects.
But with each passing year, the urge to start my own business grew a little stronger. I found my first co-founder at an event organised by Potsdam Transfer, a speed dating event for founders where people from business administration were matched with female scientists. He was a biologist and had lots of ideas. And my job was to see how these ideas could be turned into a business and a product could be developed. There were a lot of ups and downs during this phase. But we learnt more with every piece of feedback and eventually we were awarded an EXIST grant. This allowed us to develop our business model and the product for a year. From then on, things continued very successfully. We founded a biotechnology company, found investors and raised investments totalling five million euros. For example, we also realised a scientific project together with the University of Potsdam.
After that, I either worked for start-ups or advised founding teams. After being employed again for a while, I founded another start-up a good year and a half ago, beeta.one, in the IoT sector. We also had some successes with beeta.one. For example, we took first place in the Bitkom competition last autumn, where we submitted a data project.
At the moment, however, everything is progressing incredibly slowly. It is difficult to attract new partners. Customers are also holding their money together. Innovation projects are being cancelled by the dozen and when they are, it’s not with a start-up that you’re not sure will still be around next year. Nevertheless, we told ourselves that we wouldn’t give up and that we wanted to keep working.
Because our start-up is part of the Digital Hub Initiative network – we were at the Smart Systems Hub in Dresden – we were also connected to the MTH Potsdam on LinkedIn. And that’s how we realised that they were looking for a new managing director. My co-founders said, ‘Katja, we don’t know what’s going to happen with beeta, you absolutely have to apply for it, you’ll fit in like a glove’. And then I applied and here I am.
Was there also a personal reason for you to apply for the position of Managing Director of the MediaTech Hub Potsdam?
Basically, my motivation was what I mentioned at the beginning, namely that this is where things come full circle for me. The MediaTech Hub Potsdam is a hub that supports start-ups with the MTH Accelerator, offers young companies affordable office space with the MTH Space and forms a network for established companies with the MTH Innovator, where it aims to initiate innovations. And we have the MTH Conference as a major event for dialogue in the industry. Basically, I can bring everything I’ve done over the last 18 years and the experience I’ve gained to bear here and create added value.
Keyword added value: In your opinion, what is the potential – the added value – of the MTH Potsdam?
We had a workshop today where, among other things, we talked about the fact that the MTH Potsdam is a hub. In other words, bundling and communicating is one of the main tasks of the MediaTech Hub. This has the potential to turn the MTH and the term ‘MediaTech’ into a brand across Germany and even Europe
Great work has already been done here in recent years. The foundations are there, the network is there. And for me, the task now is to get even more out of it and to continuously expand and strengthen the whole thing. Established companies often don’t know anything about the innovations of young companies. This is where we need to promote dialogue.
There is a kind of life cycle for companies, often starting with the idea of becoming self-employed. Here, for example, we have the start-up services of the University of Potsdam, the Hasso Plattner Institute or the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF as contact points for advice. Then comes the business model, the product, the search for investors begins and start-ups have to get investor-ready and establish themselves on the market. And then, once they have established themselves on the market, they can either support SMEs with their innovative solutions or become an established company themselves. In this life cycle, it is again our job to look closely at where we as a hub can provide added value and support the ecosystem.
Do you have a vision for the MTH Potsdam?
So much of what I have just said, for example, are pieces of the puzzle: that we as a hub are the point of contact if someone has an innovative idea, for example, and we can offer the right network, that we know exactly who can best be connected with whom in the event of enquiries. A lot has already been achieved with the way the MediaTech Hub has been set up so far. The next stage is now to be seen as the hub that basically attracts enquiries and ideas all by itself and that a lively, natural exchange is created within the ecosystem. That is my vision.
Finally, we would like to know what challenges you currently see? And how could the MTH Potsdam tackle them?
One of the challenges I see is a certain complexity and the associated sharpening of the MediaTech Hub’s profile. What does ‘MediaTech’ actually mean? How can we position ourselves if nobody really knows what it is? We need to define and communicate what MediaTech is and what the hub stands for. Fortunately, I’ve found a very motivated and committed team here. I’ve also already received a lot of feedback from outside. But I’m only just getting started. I have an idea, but it’s a process.
We also have great programmes: the Accelerator, the Space, the Innovator, the Conference. And I have noticed that these projects are sometimes perceived as brands here. That is of course very, very nice. The challenge for me at this point is to create an offer and find business models that support the great funding from the city, state and universities and that we can also become more powerful as a result and perhaps even grow the MediaTech Hub in the future. This is not something that we will solve tomorrow, but it is possible in the medium to long term.
