The HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration and Impossible Founders are launching a partnership to accelerate the translation of research-based innovations into entrepreneurial value creation and to strengthen the exchange between academia, start-ups and industry. Students will have the opportunity to gain early insights into Hamburg’s start-up and deep-tech ecosystem, help develop innovative business models and take on entrepreneurial responsibility.
Deep Tech Meets Business Expertise: HSBA Partners with Impossible Founders
“Through this partnership, we aim to bridge the gap between technological innovation and successful business creation,” said HSBA President Prof. Dr. Tim Goydke. “Technology alone does not make for a successful startup. Our students can combine innovation with an understanding of the market and bring the necessary entrepreneurial spirit to the teams. In this way, scientific breakthroughs can become successful companies with a positive social impact.”
The Hamburg-based deep tech factory, Impossible Founders, creates the infrastructure that brings together research, entrepreneurship, industry and capital. This enables scientific breakthroughs to give rise to companies, technologies and real-world impact. For HSBA students, the partnership offers the opportunity to gain an insight into entrepreneurship within a particularly forward-looking environment and to better understand how technological ideas can be turned into viable business models.
As a business school, HSBA contributes its expertise in management, strategy, innovation, finance, leadership, negotiation and market orientation. At the same time, the partnership fits particularly well with HSBA’s dual model: many students have close links with their partner companies and can apply their innovation and start-up skills in areas where new business fields, internal innovation projects or transformation processes are emerging.
“An ecosystem is only as strong as the contributions its participants make. With HSBA, we are gaining a strong partner with business expertise. More importantly, however, we are putting this collaboration into practice straight away and launching our first joint modules immediately. After all, ultimately it’s not about letters of intent, but about hands-on collaboration,” said Arik Willner, CEO of Impossible Founders.