Berlin government seeks 'new era of entrepreneurship' in east Germany

The German government wants to improve conditions for new business start-ups in eastern Germany, with the stated aim of seeing one of the next DAX-listed companies emerge from the region, the government's commissioner for the region said on Monday.

Elisabeth Kaiser made the remarks at the opening of a sector dialogue at the Finance Ministry in Berlin. She and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil - both members of the Social Democrats (SPD) - said they wanted to hear from eastern German entrepreneurs about what start-ups and other young companies in the region need.

Klingbeil said Germany needed to become economically independent in areas including energy and defence, and that young, innovative companies could contribute significantly to that goal. "We need something like a new era of entrepreneurship," he said. 

The government was in the process of making its funding programmes more targeted. The reason Germany had no tech giants was not a lack of talent or ideas, he said. "Rather, the ecosystem is simply such that companies cannot grow," Klingbeil said, adding that was precisely what needed to change.

A few weeks ago, the German coalition government presented a new start-up strategy. Young companies are to receive targeted support during their growth phase, with a focus for the first time on the security and defence sector. The strategy also aims to prevent successful start-ups from relocating abroad when expanding internationally.