You have the idea, we have the technology - and the party

Opening of the modern COLab workshops as part of the STARTPARADE on Friday, September 23, 2022, starting at 6 pm. Free admission.

Lusatia is undergoing fundamental change and is completely reinventing itself. To promote precisely this spirit of invention, the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) invites you to the big STARTPARADE on Friday, September 23, 2022, starting at 6 pm. Then the state-of-the-art workshops of the CreativeOpenLab (COLab) will open their doors to the interested public, who can get an idea of how ideas are turned into prototypes on large-scale high-tech equipment and in extensively equipped wood and metal workshops.

With know-how and cutting-edge technology worth more than two million euros, COLab aims to act as a catalyst for ideas and provide an open space for testing, exchanging ideas and developing them further. The five new workshops (wood, metal, sheet metal, CNC, fiber composite and electrical) now expand this space and with it the wealth of innovative possibilities - according to the motto: You have the idea, we have the technology.

As part of the new start-up center STARTBLOCK B2, the COLab together with the latter forms a special feature in the region: It enables founders* to have everything from consulting to implementation in one house. "The new Makerspace at the BTU covers more than 600 square meters and offers all Lusatians open access to state-of-the-art technology to implement their own ideas with the support of specialist staff. This is a unique opportunity for the region's founders. Our goal is to make Cottbus even more attractive for the region's idea generators in the future," says Prof. Dr. Michael Hübner, Vice President for Research and Transfer at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg.

COLab's operational project manager Dr. Jadranka Halilović adds: "From the 360-degree camera for photo and video productions to the CNC workshop with 5-axis milling machine and CNC lathe to the fully equipped carpentry shop, we support ideas from customized prototypes to self-designed furniture. In this way, ideas are turned into products ready for presentation, which partners and investors can also imagine. The young startups can try out and design without high costs. We look forward to the exchange and the impulses through which we can help shape structural change."

The COLab is a sub-project of the "Startup Revier EAST | Entrepreneurs and Academics, Skills and Technology", which is operated by BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg in association with TH Wildau and funded by the EXIST-Potentials program of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection. The COLab itself is one of the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg's structural change projects from the federal government's immediate action program and is also co-financed by the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg.

The workshops will be ceremonially opened at the public STARTPARADE on Friday evening. A tour of the new workshops will provide a glimpse into the future of business startups, and visitors will also learn what equipment is needed to turn today's ideas into tomorrow's products.

About the COLab and Startup Revier EAST

The CreativeOpenLab (COLab) is one of three subprojects of Startup Revier EAST, a joint project of BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg in association with TH Wildau to strengthen the startup spirit in South Brandenburg and Lusatia. It consists of three subprojects: Community Management (CM), CreativeOpenLab (COLab) and Regional Entrepreneurship Education (REE).

While COLab offers a participatory area and creative space as well as very well-equipped workshops, Community Management focuses on networking and making start-up actors in Lusatia visible through various events and communication channels such as pitch events, workshops, newsletters, social media activities, founder interviews and much more.

About the STARTPARADE

The STARTPARADE offers a start-up market, tours through the new COLab workshops, chill live music (for dancing), a start-up speed dating and a puzzle from the Escape Room Cottbus.

STARTPARADE - found.network.celebrate. Friday, September 23, 2022, from 6 p.m. to midnight. Startup Center Startblock B2, Siemens-Halske-Ring 2, 03046 Cottbus (on the central campus of BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg) Free admission.

All information and the current program can be found here: Startup Parade - Startup District EAST

PROGRAM

18:30-19:00 - Dome Tent Keynote speaker Maria-Liisa Bruckert (Founder SQIN)

19:00-20:00 - COLab Workshops Ceremonial opening of the workshops with BONDI LIVE (Electronic Live Music)

20:00-00:00 - Metal Workshop we:two & Ebentritt (Electronic & House Music)

20:00-21:00 - Werkhof Start-up speed dating with Scytech, WFBB, IHK, Neuziel, Zukunft Lausitz, BTU Gründungsservice

further activities Founders' Market (with ePHANT, Simple 3D, SQIN, PaMo Holzdesign, push! store, Takka Jewelry, Öl & Gut), puzzle game by Escaperoom Cottbus, networking games & interactions, food & drinks by el Chico, quasimono, Piraten e.V.)

from 00:00 Afterparty at the Bunten Bahnhof (all participants get free entrance)

Contact

Dr. rer. pol. Jadranka Halilovic
Abteilung Wissens- und Technologietransfer
T +49 (0) 355 69-4396
jadranka.halilovic(at)b-tu.de

Press contact

Susett Tanneberger
Stabsstelle Kommunikation und Marketing
T +49 (0) 355 69-3126
susett.tanneberger(at)b-tu.de
Workshop employee and BTU mechanical engineering student Tina Rischke shows how the CNC lathe works in the CNC workshop. © Lasse Nordhoff (COLab)
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