de:hub Pitch Night 2025 in Karlsruhe
On January 13, 2025, the Digital Hub Initiative attracted numerous guests to the Tollhaus in Karlsruhe with de:hub Pitch Night 2025 under the motto “Prompting Tomorrow”. More than 800 participants – including leading figures from politics, business, science and start-up ecosystems – experienced an evening full of inspiring pitches and prominent speakers.Pitch Night and 26th network meeting of the Digital Hub Initiative in Karlsruhe
Federal Minister of Economics Dr. Robert Habeck opened the event and emphasized in his speech the central role of innovative and disruptive ideas for the upcoming transformation of Germany. Together with Baden-Württemberg’s Finance Minister Dr. Danyal Bayaz, Benny Bennet Jürgens (Nect) and Olga Mordvinova (incontext.technology), Habeck also discussed how AI as a key technology can strengthen SMEs and drive sustainable innovation.
As part of the de:hub annual event, ten start-ups presented their innovative ideas to a high-caliber jury and an audience from politics, business and the start-up community.
MotionMiners GmbH came out on top in the “de:hub Award” category, while Code Intelligence received the “AI Award”, which was presented for the first time. Both teams impressed with their technical excellence, practical relevance and the potential to provide far-reaching impetus for the economy and society.
The pitches were accompanied by inspiring input from Dr. Tanja Emmerling (HTGF), Deepa Gautam-Nigge (SAP), Edith Weymayr (L-Bank) and Dr. Thomas Lange (Achleitner Ventures), who contributed their expertise as jury members. There was also plenty of opportunity for networking after the award ceremony – for many participants, discussions and the exchange of ideas lasted well into the night.
The 26th Network Meeting of the Digital Hub Initiative in Karlsruhe
Just one day after the Pitch Night, the 25 hubs and their central network partners gathered again in Karlsruhe, this time for the 26th network meeting of the Digital Hub Initiative. The inspiring atmosphere of the previous evening was seamlessly continued in order to discuss further ideas and plan concrete projects.
The day began with an open networking breakfast, where participants made new contacts and cultivated established partnerships in an informal setting. This was followed by informative updates from BMWK, https://www.gtai.de/de/trade and the Hub Agency. The focus was on the EU startup strategy, questions about internationalization and the planned events in 2025.
Particularly interesting was the format of the partner pitches, in which Bitkom, the Startup Association and DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung e. V. spoke about new opportunities in digitalization, the integration of international talent and the importance of standards for global competitiveness. In an interactive workshop (“I loved, I lacked, I learned”), experiences were then exchanged, challenges identified and initial solutions developed together.
For us as MediaTech Hub Potsdam, another highlight was our pitch for our cooperation project with the Digital Systems Hub Dresden: “De:hub Journey 2025, Dresden – Potsdam”.
For everyone involved, the network meeting was not only an opportunity to gather valuable feedback and gain inspiration, but also an important step in advancing the Digital Hub initiative.
We are already looking forward to the next event, where all hubs will come together again.
Impressions of the network meeting and pitch night
