The Bavaria Israel Partnership Accelerator (BIPA) officially opened for business at WERK1 in Munich on September 8. The program supports innovative digitization projects and is designed to help cultivate sustainable economic ties between Bavaria and Israel.
Bavaria’s Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Franz Josef Pschierer explained the background to the BIPA at the official launch gathering:
“The Bavaria Israel Partnership Accelerator is part of WERK1.Bayern ecosystem for digital entrepreneurship and media, which we opened recently. It aims to further consolidate cooperation between the Bavarian and Israeli economies. Israel enjoys an excellent reputation as a startup venue, and the international community prizes Bavaria for its technical innovations. These two partners have tremendous potential – potential that we want to develop within this joint project. The young entrepreneurs who are trained as part of this initiative will play an active part in shaping Bavarian-Israeli business relationships in the future.”
The team of Bavarian and Israeli participants who staff the accelerator program address a range of entrepreneurial topics in innovation-driven areas such as:
- Industry 4.0
- Internet of things
- Automotive/smart mobility
- Healthcare/medical technology
- IT security
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From 2015 through 2017, the BIPA will be organized and operated by the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship at the Munich University of Applied Sciences and the FOM University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with the Tel Aviv-Yaffo Academic College and StartHub.
Munich’s Department of Labor and Economic Development will join with other partners such as the Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe Institute, startup ecosystem WERK1 and the 4Entrepreneurship think tank (which is backed by several Munich universities) in supporting the first edition workshop in 2015. The accelerator’s media partner is Munich Startup, the official startup portal for Munich. For more information about the agenda and opportunities to get involved, please visit http://bip-accelerator.com and http://www.sce.de.