“Collaboration is not just a success factor – it’s a necessity for progress, both for startups and for corporates. Thank you, Düsseldorf! Congratulations on the 10th anniversary of Startup Week and on the 1st birthday of the ERGO ScaleHub in partnership with the City of Düsseldorf and TechHub.K67. We grow together.”
– Hanbing Ma, Head of Innovation Innovation & Digitale Transformation at ERGO
How does digital transformation succeed? Best when done together. In a world where technological developments are advancing rapidly, cooperation between established companies and startups is no longer a “nice-to-have” – it’s a key building block for shaping the future. Startup Week Düsseldorf 2025 is an impressive example of how this exchange can work – and ERGO is right in the middle of it.
Transformation Needs Partnership and the Courage to Change
“Nothing is as constant as change.” The Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus already knew this around 2,500 years ago. His words are still just as relevant today.
We are surrounded by ongoing digitalization and megatrends such as Generative Artificial Intelligence, Agentic AI, deep tech like quantum computing or fusion technologies, biotechnology, health technologies, and more. Companies must continuously adapt to this dynamic world if they want to survive. New markets, technologies, and changing customer needs require constant and proactive development. Those who want to position themselves successfully in the digital age and remain competitive must reinvent themselves again and again.
For established enterprises, this can pose significant challenges due to their size, organizational structures, and processes. They are often compared to a ‘tanker,’ built for stability and efficiency. Fortunately, start-ups and scale-ups can provide valuable support and deliver vital impulses for innovation.
Startups and scale-ups represent a culture of constant change. They embody innovation, agility, and the courage to take new, unconventional paths. Alongside a strong affinity for and expertise in technology, they are characterized by a maximally customer-centric mindset and disruptive business models. They are a key driver of digital transformation.
Cooperation with them can be a key strategy for corporates to consistently deliver simple, innovative, customer-centered solutions, relieve employees of routine tasks and workload peaks through new technologies, and increase efficiency, effectiveness, and growth potential through new solutions.
In turn, startups and scale-ups gain access to established networks, market or industry knowledge, and resources through collaborations with (large) corporations. A win-win situation for both sides. But where do they meet? At Startup Week Düsseldorf, of course!
Düsseldorf’s Startup Scene
Düsseldorf is already the second-strongest startup region in North Rhine-Westphalia. What began in 2014 with around 100 startups has grown into a flourishing ecosystem of more than 500 startups, making the state capital one of Germany’s startup hotspots alongside Berlin and Munich. Startup Week Düsseldorf has played a major role in this development and is deservedly celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. We say: Happy Birthday, dear Startup Week Düsseldorf – here’s to the next 10 years!
Alongside formats like Startup Week Düsseldorf, which offer an ideal platform for exchanging ideas and building networks, local companies also support a growing, vibrant startup environment, including us, ERGO Group AG.
ERGO ScaleHub: 1 Year of Co-Creation, 6 Startups, Countless Impulses
ERGO has been a main sponsor of the event for years and an active contributor, including with our own program.
At our Pitch Party @ ERGO on September 9th during Startup Week 2025, startups can present their solutions to ERGO experts from the fields of AI, process mining, metaverse, or voicebots, as well as to partners and an interested audience. Whether pitching on stage or networking afterwards. The Pitch Party provides the perfect setting for fresh ideas and direct conversations. Anyone who would like a chance to secure a pitch slot can find more information here: challenge-link.fr → . We look forward to your applications!
In June 2024, together with the Office of Economic Development Düsseldorf and the TechHub.K67 community space, we launched the „ERGO ScaleHub“ → , an accelerator program for startups and scale-ups in the insurance, finance, and health sectors, based in Düsseldorf.
The goal of the ‘ERGO ScaleHub’ is not only to test innovations, but to bring them to market maturity together with start-ups and scale-ups. This is about genuine co-creation rather than buzzword bingo. We aim for long-term collaborations with real scaling potential within the ERGO Group.
One year on, we can already say: demand is high, the model works, and the program is thriving. We offer our participating startups and scale-ups:
- Tailored mentoring: ERGO experts support them with specialist and network knowledge to help scale their business
- Access to investor networks and openings to national and international markets
- Support with visas, office space, consulting, and pitch formats, plus help building and expanding their own networks
To date, we have welcomed six startups as members of the ERGO ScaleHub, including Miss Moneypenny Technologies with their digital wallet solutions, Indian scale-up CamCom Technologies with AI-powered visual inspections, chunkx with data-driven e-learning, and Eye-Able with their tool for digital accessibility.
At ERGO, we aim to be a digital leader in the insurance industry – both in Germany and in our core and growth markets internationally.
Collaboration with startups and scale-ups is an important building block for us. So far, we have successfully operationalized over 90 national and international startup and scale-up collaborations across the group. These partnerships cover the entire value chain of an insurer, from underwriting to sales to customer service.
We look forward to growing further together with you, dear startups and scale-ups in Düsseldorf, at Startup Week, or at the ERGO ScaleHub. True to the motto: “Let’s scale together.”