Post by MotionLab.Berlin

👋 June. Honestly, where did you go. It started with the kind of structural groundwork that keeps ecosystems healthy—hosting Circular Berlin, welcoming the EasyPark Group / Parkling team, hosting a delegation from JETRO - Japan External Trade Organization, and running ecosystem tours with CIEE Berlin. The unsexy behind-the-scenes work that builds the foundation. Then, the international switch flipped. ✈️ Marianna Egressy and Orsolya Orban packed up our Deep Tech in Motion delegation and hit the road to Paris and Amsterdam. Five days, two completely different ecosystems, and plenty of rain. Our startups—Ucaneo, Orbisens®, Nanolope GmbH, Level Nine, Pilotfish, and CortX Labs—pitched over champagne, debated whether the Eiffel Tower was history’s most successful hardware startup, and learned that a product doesn't scale without a Minimum Viable Ecosystem. A week later, René Giese, Jennifer Kürner, and Marianna Egressy headed back to Paris for VivaTech. Between getting sandwiched by President Macron, checking out the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab at Dassault Systèmes, and pitching ringberlin alongside State Secretary Severin Fischer at STATION F, one thing became crystal clear: Europe is tired of talking about digital platforms. The future is physical, industrial, and deeply rooted in European sovereignty. Back home on the workshop floor, the momentum didn't stop. 🤖 Amelie Lemmen officially kicked off Batch 5 of our Hardtech Innovation Accelerator. 17 founders, 9 months, and technologies so complex we’d need a whiteboard and 20 minutes just to explain them (think living brain cells powering AI computing and thermochemical industrial heat storage). Oh, and 53% of the cohort are female founders. We're genuinely proud of that one. To make sure they build on solid ground, we also officially announced HEUKING as our exclusive legal partner. Because you can't out-engineer a bad contract, and having elite legal minds on the workshop floor means our founders sleep a little easier. And finally to round off this incredible month, we co-hosted a lovely community evening alongside Companisto. Our Batch 5 teams watched five established startups pitch their hardest challenges instead of their TAM, proving that if you ask for money you get advice, but if you ask for advice, you get investment. 🤝 July, your turn.