brigk: Review of the year 2022

The year 2022 was a very meaningful and eventful year for us. One highlight followed the next. Contact point, meeting place and home – the new premises with their unique charm make the brigk a very special place. The water tower, roof terrace and transformer building as event locations attract a wide variety of people.

After a long physical abstinence and many online formats, we were able to hold a Founders Club in presence this year for the first time in a long time. Guest was serial entrepreneur, investor and book author Josef Brunner. In addition to exciting insights into his company foundations and investments, he told, among other things, his story of getting to know Barack Obama and how he handles his money as a multimillionaire.

In the first quarter, preparations for the move to the Kavalier Dalwigk were in full swing – in addition to the day-to-day business. While the last windows were being inserted, cables laid and lamps installed in the Dalwigk, the first boxes were packed and furniture made ready for transport in the Koboldblock am Stein. 

The startup incubator for three-dimensional mobility brigkAIR held the first Startup Pitch Day in cooperation with the BDLI Bundesverband der Deutschen Luft- und Raumfahrtindustrie e.V.. Eight startups got the chance to pitch their business idea to established companies in the industry.

Meanwhile, preparations for the official opening and the first STROMAUFWÄRTS startup festival were running at full speed behind the scenes. 

In May, the time had finally come: Six years after applying for a digital startup center in Ingolstadt, brigk finally moved into its final home. The grand opening of the Kavalier Dalwigk took place in the new event location, the Trafohaus, in front of numerous representatives from politics, companies and science.  

While the guests at the opening passed through the Kavalier Dalwigk via the back exit, the participants of the founders festival STROMAUFWÄRTS streamed into the building through the main entrance – at least that’s how it felt to us. With an (almost) seamless transition, the STROMAUFWÄRTS founders’ festival started one day after the opening after several postponements due to the pandemic. We look back on two days full of #INFORMATION, #MOTIVATION AND #INSPIRATION. With the Founders Festival, the founding spirit of Region 10 was given a stage. There were exciting lectures, panel discussions and informative knowledge transfer – crowned by a party on Saturday evening on the roof terrace of the Kavalier Dalwigk with probably Ingolstadt’s most beautiful view over the city.

At the beginning of the year, the digital startup incubator became a new cooperation partner of the Founder Award Ingolstadt, which meant, among other things, that this year’s night of applicants took place in the Trafohaus. This year, too, there were interesting and promising business ideas among the 20 applicants. We are already excited to see what awaits us in 2023!

After a long break, we were finally able to hold “Meet & Eats” again, which has developed into a regular format. By having breakfast together, we want to promote the exchange between the startups, their employees and the coworkers. In Addition, there will also be an informative speech.

In addition, the first Founders Club took place at Kavalier Dalwigk. The guest was Juliana Donner. Born in Berlin, she is an entrepreneur, innovator and expert in New Work and Creative Recruiting. About 3 years ago, she founded the Berlin-based startup ON AND OFFER, which was recently named one of the best freelancer portals by PAGE magazine.

A lot has happened with our startups as well. It should not go unmentioned that all startups that were also already active at the interim location in Koboldblock in the city center have moved with us to Kavalier Dalwigk. In addition, new startups have joined us. Perpetuum Progress was awarded this year’s Johann Helfenzrieder Transformation Prize for the promotion of new digital technologies. Voitas Innovations was able to convince the jury with their pitch on the day of the “9th Dialogue of Municipalities”, to name just two highlights. It fills us with pride to see how the teams grow and face the daily challenges as a young company.

Not only the area of our location and the number of startups has increased, but also the brigk team. In March, Chris started with his tasks in the area of Events & Services. In the middle of the year, we welcomed three new faces to brigk at once: Christoph, who supports us in Strategy and Business Development, Derya, who takes over Office and Support in Manching at brigkAIR and Linus, our new working student in Marketing and Communications. Our newest team member, Bastian, is the first point of contact for the startups at brigkAIR.

In summer, it was time again for our annual summer party. Last year’s event was sparse due to the pandemic, but this year – as befits brigk – we really stepped it up. With a bouncy castle on the roof terrace and a play area in the Trafohaus, not only the residents enjoyed the evening, but also their families and friends.

Finally, what belongs together comes together: In July, our brigk Makerspace officially opened its doors in the Kavalier Dalwigk. This is the first time that brigk and brigk Makerspace are united under one roof. A short time later, we were able to welcome numerous visitors to the open high-tech workshop as part of the Ingolstadt’s Open House Day.

About half a year after the digital startup center brigk moved into the Kavalier Dalwigk, there is another reason to celebrate: brigkAIR is moving into its own space at the gates of the aviation development center in Manching. With brigkAIR, international startups are now to put down roots in Region 10. In keeping with the occasion (and also a bit because it was our boss’s birthday), brigk CEO Dr. Franz Glatz, MdB Dr. Reinhard Brandl and Roland Weigert, State Secretary at the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy were flown in by helicopter, while the Manching Airfield Orchestra performed the A-Team.

Under the motto “Be inspired and be inspiration”, we spent our team days in Berlin this year. In addition to lots of input provided by the capital city as a true hotspot in the German startup ecosystem, we also had a lot of fun here and grew a lot closer together as a team. (And that’s not just because there were ten of us sharing an apartment with only one bathroom. 😂)

We look back on a year peppered with highlights. We are grateful and proud of new partnerships, including the student associations NEWEXIST and Neuland e.V. of the Ingolstadt University of Technology.

At this point we want to say THANK YOU – to all supporters, helping hands, co-initiators, guests, visitors and friends of brigk. Without you, all these interesting experiences and successes would not have been possible.

We are already planning some exciting projects for the coming year. We are motivated – and we hope you are too!

We wish you all the best for 2023!       

Your brigk team