VDA Future Tech Day started in Berlin: Win-win for automotive start-ups and medium-sized automotive companies

The VDA Future Tech Day opens today in the Kreuzberg Festival Hall in Berlin. The goal: to create a platform for future strategies of automotive start-ups and medium-sized automotive companies and to promote their networking and collaboration. The Future Tech Day is organized by the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) in close partnership with the family business network Alphazirkel.

"The Future Tech Day offers a platform for new and well-known players with great opportunities for both sides: start-ups from the tech industry and established companies in the automotive industry. Together they find opportunities to cooperate on digital and technical challenges. There is endless potential here to drive forward the transformation of the automotive industry and to jointly develop innovative solutions for the digital and climate-neutral mobility of the future," explains VDA President Hildegard Müller.

"Many automotive suppliers impress with their network, sales networks, production capacities and capital. They can support start-ups to grow, set up sales channels and meet high demand. In addition, they usually bring decades of tech expertise with them, from which start-ups benefit enormously. Start-ups, in turn, often bring new solutions to established companies. They help them to master ever new digital and technical challenges, to compete also in the future and to continue to set standards worldwide. I am convinced that both sides will learn and benefit from each other. At the Future Tech Day we bring everyone together and ensure a win-win," says Müller.

With the Future Tech Day, the VDA would also like to support medium-sized companies and start-ups in developing a general understanding of different communication as well as of different approaches and working methods.

A VDA survey in cooperation with the German Economic Institute (IW) shows: More than half (55%) of the automobile companies surveyed can enrich their corporate culture through start-up cooperation. Another result of the survey from May: 6 out of 10 medium-sized automotive companies have already cooperated with start-ups.

"These figures show that established medium-sized companies are already very interested in working with start-ups," the VDA President said. "But they also show that there is still potential for improvement. We want to leverage this potential at Future Tech Day."

The VDA Future Tech Day takes place with the kind support of these sponsors: Berlin Partner, KPMG, Krone, Lotus Tech Innovation Centre, Oliver Wyman and Siemens.