The Bridge is a series of articles exploring connections between the European tech capitals of Berlin and London supported through our partnership with London & Partners.
Silicon Allee is proud to announce a year-long events and content collaboration with London & Partners. The partnership will demonstrate the solidarity and collaboration between London and Berlin’s startup communities.
It was a typical workday in late November 2019. The Silicon Allee campus was bustling with face-to-face meetings and Brexit updates dominated the headlines. The UK was still part of the EU. A global pandemic had not yet swept across the world. This was an era now known as “simpler times.”
On that day, Silicon Allee and London & Partners, the promotional arm for London, got together and birthed an idea called The Bridge – a content and events series designed to strengthen and celebrate Berlin and London as Europe’s leading startup hubs.
Fast forward to now: the world has changed quite a bit. Recent events have threatened the already strong connections between London and German tech hotspots. As a result, the important ties between the two hubs must be reinforced – now more than ever. Our initial idea with The Bridge has transformed into a collaboration with more focus and purpose than we could have imagined.
Adapting a partnership during a pandemic
Silicon Allee is no stranger to sprouting seeds through concrete. We prefer a bit of friction. Friction means that there’s a chance we can make significant positive shifts, even if it’s little by little. As most of us in the startup world know first-hand, when it’s smooth sailing, then there’s probably not enough risk involved.
So even though a virus has swept the globe and transformed the way we work and do business, it’s also challenged us in a positive way, and strengthened our original mission with The Bridge. We thought, why not kick this off quarantine style?
We’re excited to see what ideas, business models, startups and pivots come out of this crisis in both London and Germany. Entrepreneurs are resourceful and resilient. Just look at the 2008 recession: some of the biggest brands in the world today were founded immediately after.
Unprecedented circumstances can give rise to remarkable innovation.
Within the Silicon Allee and Berlin tech community, we’re already experiencing a deluge of creativity and innovation in the face of the COVID pandemic. Many companies have displayed impressive resourcefulness, thinking on their feet to better serve those who rely on them and lend their hands in new ways. Between COVID-focused accelerators, company pivots, hackathons, multi-disciplinary collaborations or government support, the Berlin innovation ecosystem is banding together to support business resilience and focus on transformative opportunities.
The Bridge: what to expect this year
Plenty of parallels have been drawn between London and Berlin as startup hubs. The Bridge aims to not only deepen these similarities and highlight success stories but also find new ways to overcome challenges and maximize our strengths. Our desire is to facilitate an exchange of ideas, talent, knowledge and resources.
Over the near year, we’ll be presenting articles and events centered on the following themes:
Building The Bridge Between London and German Cities
Highlighting some of the incredible activity happening in the two regions, drawing parallels and bringing attention to ways in which London can be a launchpad for German companies.
Connecting European Talent Hubs
Exploring what makes London and Berlin so attractive for startups, including world-class university R&D, cultural activities and diversity of talent.
The Convergence Revolution
Diving into fast-growing, tech-driven sectors in Germany and London, including Fintech, Createch and Medtech.
UK and Germany: Innovators to Change the World
Discussing avenues for joint solutions of worldwide challenges and profiling companies who are becoming the next multinational giants.
The Bridge partnership will be more than just articles. We’ll also host events, both digitally and in real life on the Silicon Allee campus to bring ideas together and spark compelling discussions.
Be sure to stay tuned in to The Bridge. We have no doubt that quarantine life is producing some serious leaps forward, and we can’t wait to highlight the post-pandemic world in all the ways we can.
One more thing…You may have noticed, we’ve launched another under-the-radar partnership with a London-based brand. Last year we started syndicating content to Europe’s newest technology publication, Sifted. Our on-the-ground editor and content team in Berlin is constantly sourcing the latest news from Germany and amplifying it with our new friends. Extending our megaphone at this time will only help to build bigger ties between Europe’s two foremost startup capitals. Look for Sifted content on our relaunched news site and our stories on their hot pink cerise homepage! If you have some news that you think would be relevant for either publication, drop us a line.