Masterclass with CEO Dr. Ralf Hasler - Bits&Pretzels 2022

Inspiration ist everywhere - but we add beer to it: The Wiesn in Munich, the largest Oktoberfest in the world, will be starting soon. And parallel to this, Bits & Pretzels, the largest start-up festival in Europe, will take place again from September 25 to 27.
The event - which is now sold out - will be opened on Sunday by the opening speech on site by Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the run-up to the Presence Days, the event will kick off on September 21 and 22 with the Virtual Academy Days, at which Lacon CEO Dr. Ralf Hasler will also give a presentation: "Distilling the essence of Philosophy for empowering you and your business. With the convenience like Blinkist and a passionate tour guide and entrepreneur."

More than 5,000 founders, investors and startup enthusiasts will thus come together again in Munich to exchange ideas, make new contacts and cultivate their network.
However, established companies and public administration can also benefit from startup strategies. "Startups are pioneers in the use of technology. As such, they also play an important role for Germany as a tech location. Much greater use should be made of their innovative strength in all areas of business and government," Bitkom President Achim Berg is convinced. "Public administration should make extensive use of solutions from startups and ensure that startups get a leg up in tenders. And small companies and SMEs, as well as corporations, should definitely draw on the expertise of startups and collaborate with them."

Startups, for example, use innovative technical and organizational solutions much more frequently than "classic" companies. For example, data analysis and artificial intelligence are widespread among startups in Germany. Around one in two (48 percent) use big data and data analysis, and 43 percent already use AI. By comparison, in the economy as a whole, only 37 percent of companies use data analysis, and 11 percent use artificial intelligence. These are results from a survey of around 150 tech startups commissioned by the digital association Bitkom, which were recently published in the "Startup Report 2021".
That's why Dr. Ralf Hasler is also convinced: "Germany urgently needs startups, because Germany's core industries, such as the automotive industry, are slipping into an ever deeper crisis: the causes are many, and some of them are beyond our control - but a lack of innovation in future technologies, a lack of entrepreneurship, excessive bureaucracy and spineless subservience are widespread, and not just in German automotive corporations."

What's more, Germany is in a very poor position when it comes to starting up new businesses: According to a study by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor from 2020, Germany ranks 41st out of 43 in an international comparison. And the tendency to start up new businesses in Germany is not increasing, but decreasing. While more than 15 percent of 18- to 64-year-olds in the USA were considering starting a business in 2020, the figure in Germany was only less than 5 percent.

Lacon CEO Hasler: "It is therefore vital for the survival of the location that we finally move from talk to action and that politics not only provides studies and funding programs. Because new companies and solutions are not created by providing funds, but by offering startups real support, creating a creative space for their ideas, where new concepts can emerge and be tried out." In recent years, the Lacon Group has therefore supported more than 40 high-tech startups in prototyping, industrialization and series production.

But Bits & Pretzels is not just a pure working fair, as the name suggests: the last day of the event is the traditional highlight for many. Because then it's off to Munich's Oktoberfest for the 5,000 participants. The Schottenhamel Festzehlt becomes a networking paradise with beer, pretzels and music.