Germany as a center of innovation - ten years ago, these words would have been associated almost exclusively with the German automotive industry, a few large corporations, or possibly a few lighthouse projects of the local SME sector. Since then, however, the spectrum of innovative companies in Germany has changed enormously: Examples of successful digital companies, visionary tech pioneers and advanced solutions are no longer discovered only sporadically. Innovative companies, breakthrough ideas and scalable business models can be found in many industries, whether in the FinTech, HealthTech or FoodTech sector, in robotics, m- or e-commerce or in software or hardware development.

And the latest figures for 2018 also speak for themselves: Germany recorded the highest startup investments in a European comparison behind the UK. In the first half of 2018 alone, 2.4 billion euros in venture capital flowed into German companies. A whole series of successful growth companies even managed to join the illustrious circle of German Unicorns - companies that achieve a market valuation of more than one billion dollars. Established unicorns such as flagship companies HelloFresh, Delivery Hero and Auto1 were joined in 2018 by Hamburg-based online fashion retailer About You, Munich-based software provider Celonis and long-distance bus provider Flixbus, among others. Meanwhile, Berlin-based online furniture retailer Home24 and Munich-based online interior design retailer Westwing caused a stir with spectacular IPOs. In August 2018, Wirecard, a Munich-based FinTech, was even worth more on the stock market than German banks for the first time.