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Kristin Eckert
🌎 Cross-Border Innovation | Between Latam & the World | Climate Tech 💚
Kristin Eckert is the Managing Director for Latin America at Start2 Group, a position she took on in 2023.23 In this role, she oversees the company's operations and initiatives in the Latin American region, with a particular focus on Argentina.
Professional Background
Kristin's career at Start2 Group involves:
- Managing the company's flagship programs in Latin America3
- Overseeing operations in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which serves as Start2 Group's first Latin American hub1
- Facilitating connections between startups and the innovation ecosystem in the region5
Areas of Focus
Kristin's work encompasses several key areas:
- Startup Support: She is involved in guiding startups through various stages of growth, from early development to global scaling1
- Sustainability and Climate Tech: Kristin shows a strong interest in climate technology and sustainable innovation46
- Ecosystem Building: She actively works on developing and strengthening the startup ecosystem in Latin America5
Recent Activities
Some of Kristin's recent professional activities include:
- Welcoming startups from Germany to Buenos Aires as part of her role in fostering international connections4
- Participating in events like the German-Argentinian Sustainable Innovators' Summit7
- Collaborating with organizations such as CORFO (Chilean Economic Development Agency) on ecosystem development initiatives5
Kristin's role at Start2 Group aligns with the company's mission to drive innovation and support startups across multiple continents, with a specific focus on expanding their presence and impact in the Latin American market.
Highlights
🇮🇳 Connecting with the 3rd largest #startup #ecosystem in the world - from 300 to 130.000 startups over the last decade!
🧡 It was an honor to be part of the Indo-German #Innovation Dialogue hosted by the Embassy of India, Make in India Mittelstand (MIIM) and GIIC yesterday.
Encouraging to witness the enthusiasm to strengthen the innovation bridges between Germany and India from both the German and Indian governments, represented by H.E. Parvathaneni Harish, Ambassador of India to Germany and Ralph Brinkhaus, Member of the German Parliament as well as Chair of the German-Indian Parliamentary Group.
🧩 Where do Germany and India match best? 🌱 #Climatetech, including green hydrogen, solar and wind energy for rollouts at scale 🤖 #Industry4.0, including blockchain, AI, quantum computing 🧪 #Biotech and #spacetech as newly developed areas in India with its National Space Policy launched at the end of 2023
It was an absolute pleasure to share the stage with:
Siddharth Bhasin from GIIC, thank you for the great partnership
Hemanth Sheelvant from Bosch Digital Twin Industries, connecting finally in person after our initial discussions between Singapore and India, great to have you in Germany now
Dr. Şilan Hun from Siemens Mobility, closing the largest locomotive deal in history with 1,200 electric locomotives for the government-owned Indian Railways and sharing about venture clienting on a cross-border level
Thomas Duscha from Swobbee, sharing about his impressive scaling journey to India locking down key public and private partners in a short amount of time
My key points for cross-border corporate-startup collaboration: 🎯 #Focus is key: the most urgent issues can be tackled with climate tech, AI and health tech but require deep expertise, connecting with thought-leaders and mentors can be a first step 🌍 #International openness: the most fitting solutions to a niche problem might not be found in the home market but through global sourcing with partners having deep networks and local expertise in the respective ecosystem 🤝 #Public-private partnerships to kick off meaningful collaboration: e.g. government investments for corporate-startup collaboration on an international level deepen the ties between innovation hubs and help to develop and scale innovative solutions.
As Jan and Upen said it nicely: Germany + India = great match and then scale this to the world - let’s involve #Latam and other key hubs focusing on the #energytransition!
🇨🇱 🇩🇪 Chile and Germany - an amazing example of close #bilateral relations!
✨ Just 1 week after Inspiring #CVC with stakeholders from the German ecosystem in Chile we celebrate the first visit of Chile‘s #President H.E. Gabriel Boric in #Munich
🙌🏽 Great #enthusiasm to collaborate and so much has already been set in motion by ProChile Deutschland, the State of Bavaria Office for South America and many others.
🎯A few takeaways and #success stories:
Dr. Fabian Mehring, Bavarian State Minister of Digital Affairs opened the German-Chilean Innovation Summit by highlighting that: 🌍 Startups need to #thinkglobal - from Chile and Germany to the world. 🔋Chile is a key and reliable #partner for Germany, especially in the energy transition.
André Schwämmlein, CEO of Germany‘s #unicorn Flix is making waves in Chile, shaking up the intercity transport ecosystem: 1️⃣ Flix is already the #1 in Europe and North America (acquired Greyhound) making traveling more #sustainable and #affordable 🚍 1 million passengers so far in Chile to 8 destinations within the country, tripling the bus fleet by the end of the year 🤝 Strong collaboration with the Chilean #government makes the market entry easier 💚 First #electric busses will go from Santiago to Los Andes
#President Boric closed the event: 🤝 Encouraging the public-private #partnerships locally and on a cross-border level. 🦾 Highlighting the importance of #innovation and #technology in #sustainability for a better quality of life.
🚀 So many more examples, from COLIPI (Hamburg) working with NeoSensing in Chile to Global66 as first South American partner of FC Bayern München for an initiative for young Latam footballers and Strong by Form working with Germany’s heavyweights BMW and Deutsche Bahn - huge congrats!
🎉 To many more of these cross-border success stories - and you can be the next one if you are a German startup eager to explore South America - join us in Chile and Argentina from August with German Accelerator! Start2 Group
