Startup scene Germany

New star on Germnay’s startup scene – Hamburg gains impotance

Berlin is the heartland of the German startup-scene: good infrastructure and low housing price. However, one city is catching up – Hamburg. The Hanseatic town is catching up fast and even leading concerning Tech-Startups.

Following a survey Hamburg meet the current trends for choosing a startup location. Founders of young technology-enterprises estimate that the Hanseatic city will gain in importance even further as a study of PwC indicated. Hamburg ranks with 74% best out of 9 compared cities, followed by Berlin and Frankfurt a. M.

At the bottom maneuver, according to the study, Stuttgart, Dresden and Karlsruhe. Not even 50% of the 500 interviewed Start-up-founders believe that these cities will increase their importance in light of the startup-scene. Munich, Cologne and Düsseldorf reach mean values. The study is based on the European Digital City index, which includes all German cities.

Reasons for the assessment are unknown. Hamburg is amongst other a location for media and trading enterprises. More than half of the respondents operates in the sectors of information- and communication technology followed by E-commerce (25%).

How can you plan your move to another country professionally?

This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Relocation

How can you plan your move to another country in order to be professionally successful over there?

Of course, first of all you need some information and Expat-Portals are perfect to gather information as well as experiences of different people. However, it takes long to find information appropriate to your case. You might have to scroll through experiences of expats, moving neither from your home country to another country nor did they move to the country you want to move to. Still, you will find people’s experiences of moving from your home country to other countries, moving from other origins to the country you want to move to or even people making the same move as you: from your home country to the country you want to move to (the ideal case for you).

And afterwards – what to do with this bulk of information and experience you gathered? There won’t be a case that fits you completely. There are always specialities to each of us, furthermore, in those portals you can find experiences only, there is no security that everything will happen to you the same way it happened to them. Rather, there is security that at least something is different. You want to live in a different part of the city, you have children, you have another budget or simply the circumstances in the town changed (because of time, supply & demand or whatsoever). Therefore, you need something more specialized, more tailor-made for your further steps like gohelpy and Xpatvisor. Expat-Portals are great to get a first or even a detailed overall impression of what to expect and what to bear in mind. However, when entering the actual planning of your move and planning your steps to your new home, do not rely on experiences of other but use the possibility to have a tailor-made path to walk along. You have special desires and demands which should be realized. The Xpatvisor does exactly this and hence adds a more personalized and specialized part to Expat-information portals.

 

Brexit is on the horizon already – first impacts are felt

A recent case shows that Brexit has its influence on European as well as British citizens already. Uncertainty is immense and still growing among all citizens. A British had to feel this personally: Because of uncertainty a landlord decided to rent his flat to a person with lower income, however a European citizenship, lasting longer than the next 2 years. He valued the security of having a tenant for probably longer than the next year higher than the security of the higher income of the British citizen.

Uncertainty, especially concerning citizenships, work and residence permits is extremely high, not only on the side of the British citizens but among EU citizens working and living in Great Britain as well. “Will I be allowed to live here? Will I be posted to another country? How long will I be allowed to live here from now? What will happen?” All these questions are going around in many peoples’ heads. And of course not only those directly influenced by the Brexit, but they influence those indirectly affected as well. This group is huge: landlords, hotels, apartment-owners and many more are people being uncertain about the Brexit´s impact on their jobs as well.

Although, nothing is really decided yet on the Brexit conditions the consequences of it are growing and growing as uncertainty rises.

We have to wait and see and hope for the best, for both sides.

Happy 828th Birthday Port of Hamburg!

Hamburg is celebrating the 828th birthday of its port on 5th to 7th May 2017 with the world’s biggest port festival.
A varied maritime programme for the whole family will be presented in the  unique setting of the Port of Hamburg: More than 300 ships from all parts of the world, spectacular displays, lots of stages with live music and French savoir-vivre of this year’s partner country France.

The world’s greatest port festival will be celebrated at various parts in and around the port of Hamburg: around Landungsbrücken, in the Speicherstadt warehouse district, the new HafenCity district, at the Fish Market and Oevelgönne Museum Harbour.

Get to know Hamburg from the seaside and celebrate its port birthday! Discover Hamburg, its party face and its maritime history!

Happy Birthday EU! – 60 years after the Treaties of Rome

60 years ago the foundation for today’s EU was laid when Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Germany signed the Treaties of Rome.

60 years of development, successes, crises and backdrops, but most important of all: 60 years of peace in Europe and 60 years of growing together to one Union.
The EU’s development until today was never easy or without backdrops and problems: France didn’t want Great Britain to join, the Empty Chair Crisis and the non-completion of a European Constitution. However, the EU always found an answer, a solution to the problem and developed further, came back stronger.
The Common European Market was established, inner-EU border-controls abolished and the Euro invented.

And today? Where is Europe heading?
Of course there are problems and crises the EU has to face, maybe more challenging than ever before, or just different?
Migration from Northern Africa, terrorism, and still some outliers of the financial crisis are challenging, however the EU is strong enough to combat these challenges, if it stays together, if we stay together.
Anti-EU movements within some Nation-States, such as political organizations or Brexit as the ultimate are developments within the nations and among the people of Europe. Nevertheless, the reaction to Brexit as well as the recent outcomes of the election in the Netherlands show that the people still believe in the EU, and we should do so! The EU offers a lot: we can travel through the EU as we like, without a passport, for most of the countries we do not even have to change money. Without the EU every of our countries would be alone, would be a minor player (if so at all) at the world scene, between America, China and Russia.

Therefore, we should March For Europe, we should celebrate and we should thank what it brought already and what it offers us.

By Ann-Kristin Gross

Top 10 Fun facts – Hamburg

This entry is part 2 of 8 in the series TOP TEN
  1. John Lennon said: “I was born in Liverpool but raised in Hamburg
  2. When Hamburgers refer to the DOM they do not mean a church or cathedrale but a huge fair, taking place three times a year in Hamburg
  3. Hamburg has approximately 2500 bridges and hence not only more than Venice, Amsterdam and London combined, but it has more bridges than any other city of the world
  4. There are more millionaires living in Hamburg than in any other German city
  5. Hamburg is 7 times bigger than Paris and 14% of Hamburg is green space
  6. In Wedel is the ‘Willkomm-Höft’ situated. The only ship greeting dock of the world. It welcomes every ship entering the harbour of Hamburg with the national anthem and flag of the originating country
  7. The VIP-seats of the FC St.Pauli Stadium offer each an own Astra Pils tap as well as a small ice-rink where fresh Currywurst is served
  8. The Miniature Wonderland Hamburg is the largest railway museum as well as the largest model railway in the world. It inherits more the 12km of railway lines
  9. Only men as well as those women working there are allowed to enter the ‘Herbertstraße’ in Hamburg
  10. “Hummel, Hummel” “Mors, Mors” is a very common salutation in Hamburg. However, it is mere used as a distinctive mark and a battle cry among Hamburgers