Adlershof incubator

Helge Neumann (WISTA-MG) talks about the new network INAM and the role Adlershof

In June 2016, the Innovation Network for Advanced Materials (INAM) was set up in Berlin with the collaboration of several Adlershof partners. Helge Neumann, Divisional Head of Business Development at WISTA-MANAGEMENT GMBH (WISTA), the operator of the Adlershof Technology Park, talks about the role Adlershof adopted in the process.

INAM is a new network in and beyond Adlershof. What is INAM?

This is the birthplace of a competence centre for the research and development of advanced materials and the identification of their applications.

Why in Adlershof?

Adlershof is based on three pillars, i.e. research, teaching, and business. This provides fertile ground for ideas. The location is a node of expertise for new technologies. Adlershof embodies many years of experience – over various fields of technology – in bringing together the most diverse players for innovative networks. It has long been a successful union of research and business, and has proven this repeatedly with other cross sectional technologies.

There are networks galore. What’s so special about INAM?

We observe a yawning gap between startups, high tech companies, and research and educational institutions. The last of these want to introduce a reference application in research and theory. Smaller startups wanting to set up in Adlershof, on the other hand, are faced with many questions regarding infrastructure, access to laboratories and instrumentation, patent rights, market entry, or product design. Larger industrial enterprises, in contrast, are keeping an eye out for new business fields and seeking potential partners among the newcomers for the purpose of identifying innovations and trends at the earliest possible time. In return, they not only bring with them the financial support, but also assist small companies with their experience on the market. Here is where we stand as a network.

How do you bring the partners together?

With regular events, workshops, and pitches where the players can meet and get to know each other. These are joined by accelerator and coaching programs. One example of an initial step is the AdMaCom competition open to participants all over the world that places particular emphasis on knowledge exchange. The university, above all the Integrative Research Institute for the Sciences IRIS Adlershof, processes research findings on the properties of advanced materials. The startups take these findings as their basis to develop ideas for their use in new products.

What role does WISTA play for INAM?

We provide the environment, contacts, and infrastructure and bring together potential partners. The companies themselves must take the initiative. In the process, we are a mediator that deliberately maintains neutrality between the partners. Of course, we are also interested in using theINAM network to set up new companies in the Adlershof Technology Park. Over the long term, this association is to finance itself from membership subscriptions and the projects themselves.

By Andreas Heins for Adlershof Special