HINTERLAND OF THINGS
As a foundry for talents and startups, we are the home of talented people who navigate the digital world as natives. We train these talents with startup knowhow, new business methods, and tech tools into successful entrepreneurs so that they can launch their own businesses, act in leading positions in more mature startups, or further digital transformation in established companies. What unites them all – their entrepreneurial approach to life, an opportunistic perspective on technological developments and innovation potentials of the future.
Hinterland Formats
The annual conference Hinterland of Things
Startup Knowhow solves challenges of the German Mittelstand
The bridge between startups, Mittelstand, and global leaders
We Build Bridges Between Vision and Entrepreneurship
GERMAN MITTELSTAND
Our region is heart and home of the German Mittelstand. With more than 120.000 companies, the regions counts world-famous brands, international global leaders, and Hidden Champions among their rooted economies. We take deciders and shapers on a journey into the digital future of their companies and our shared ecoystem.
Tech Entrepreneuers
Successful, internationally active founders are both role model and figurehead for the working environment of the future, both technologically and culturally. Founders with B2B business models especially need trusted partners, customers, or investors who bridge their world with the world of the established economy. The OWL region with its countless companies is an El Dorado for such opportunities.
INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS
Leading investors have the OWL region on their radar as a place where innovative B2B business models emerge and consequently create exciting investment opportunities. At the same time, the region is the home of a traditional business that is open to new possibilities of cooperation. We connect investors, next-generation founders, and future-oriented entrepreneurs.
GLOBAL TECH PARTNERS
Globally leading tech companies are the drivers of innovative technologies and pioneers of the New Work culture. This makes them important partners in a ecoystem that brings together “new and old business” to help shape an impactful and long-lasting transformation. We connect these “global tech players” and “hyper scalers” with the founders and established companies in the region so that can inspire each other, find synergies, and create partnerships.
THE CONFERENCE
We Bring Together Three Different Worlds in the German Hinterland
The Hinterland of Things Conference is our annual lighthouse event. For a day, we get three different worlds who otherwise meet each other rarely in a day-to-day setting into one room: the leading figures of the startup and tech, international investors, and people with deciding power from the German Mittelstand and traditional companies. All of them meet in a unique, familial atmosphere that fosters a trust and exchange among equals.
The Hinterland of Things Conference was hosted by the Founders Foundation gGmbH for the first time in 2018. Since, the conference is considered one of the leading startup events in Europe. Every year, the Founders Foundation opens the doors for 1.500 hand-picked participants, among them more than 100 representatives of venture capital firms, 600 from traditional companies, and 400 founders.
These drivers of innovation in Germany – aspiring and already successful founders, Hidden Champions and global leaders, investors and opinion makers meet in Bielefeld for discussion, networking, sharing impules, setting, priorities, and forging alliances, all for a shaping the digital future together.
Why a Tech Conference in the “Backwater”?
- Not only a meeting of startups and VCs but also German Mittelstand companies
- A program curated with a deep understanding for trends and future topics
- Non-sponsored speakers and guests, because we put content first
- Unbiased specialized journalists and experts as panel hosts for real discussions
- Strong partners from German and international tech companies
- A familial atmosphere for informal talks, partnerships, and deal-making
- Next-generation founders who think and act like entrepreneurs and want to help shape the future
- We at the Founders Foundation are a non-profit organization. Our Motto since 2016 – “Empowering Entrepreneurs”
HINTERLAND HACK
Solving the Mittelstand's Challenges With Startup EXPERTISE
World-famous small and medium-sized companies and Hiden Champions of our very own Hinterland Alliance are confronted with the challenges of digital transformation. These must be solved because if we in Germany want to create a digital future must do so holistically and take everyone with us. This means empowering the traditional economy who is not traversing the digital world as intuitively as startups and international tech companies are. These companies face enormous challenges in how they want to advance or disrupt their business models, discover new ones, or solve problems.
We are convinde that almost all of these problems can be solved with entrepreneurial prowess, using teams with complementary strengths and methods like lean startup, mvp building, design thinking, business canvas, and fast iterations.
For that purpose, we host the “Hinterland Hack” once a year: Six companies formulate a challenge that their respective business operations have to find a solution to. Via the Hinterland of Things platform we recruit 60 international tech talents who develop innovative, tech-based approaches to possible solutions up to the first mvp in complementary teams within 48 hours. They are supported by experienced mentors from our network, corporate representatives, and the Founders Foundation team. After 48 hours, the results are presented on “Solution Day”and pitched on-stage in front of an audience and an expert jury.
Hinterland Alliance
Creating Innovation Bridges Between Mittelstand, Startups, and International Technology Corporations
You can accomplish more together. Together, you can learn from each other. Is there a time when is this more true than when we are shaping the future together? For this reason we have build a truly unique alliance in 2019: The Hinterland Alliance unites world-famous and respected brands and companies from the OWL region in a unique network that builds international bridges to drivers of innovation and pioneers of technology.
Well-known traditional brands and companies from the heart of the German Mittelstand are constant members of the Alliance Dr. Oetker, Miele, Claas, Böllhoff, Goldbeck, Wago, Phoenix Contact, Schüco as well as the partners that are heavily invested in the regional industry: PWC and It’s OWL.
However, those who want to get ahead must risk breaking out of their comfort zone. For us that means inviting pioneers in the digital economy into our network so that we can learn from each other. Which is why we count international tech giants such as Slack, Facebook, Google, Amazon, and the Startup Nation Israel from Israel among the partners of our Hinterland Alliance.
Together, we regularly host Executive Circles. During these meets, the tools that are already firmly rooted in the startup and tech sector are made available to the region’s Mittelstand. An exchange of ideas that is rooted in trust and equality enables synergies and challenges that can be faced together.
HINTERLAND OF THINGS IN THE MEDIA
Stay Tuned
Pre-register for the next Hinterland of Things Conference on June 14, 2023!
HOW TO BE PART?
You want to be an active part of the startup ecosystem in Ostwestfalen-Lippe?
As a prospective or existing founder?
Do you want to shape innovation and the future from within an established company or scientific institution?
Then you’ve come to the right place!
Whether networking in the lunch club, exciting events such as the Hinterland of Things Conference or an offsite for your company – here you will find the right offer to immerse yourself in our network and get actively involved.
The Lunch Club
Networking while enjoying exquisite food from SCHIMMAKS
Coming soon ...
You Have Questions?
Talk to us!
We are happy to answer your questions about our programs, our mission and the events we are hosting.
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