~ 4 Minuten Lesezeit
If you have never heard of Tübingen or primarily equate its legacy with romantic poets or its current newsworthiness for political rebels, I don’t blame you. However, you might be interested to know: This cozy town nestled in between the hills surrounding the Neckar Valley stands as a beacon of technological innovation in Europe. It boasts a rich history of pioneering scientific research, despite its modest size. Tübingen has always surpassed cities many times larger in inventing socially and economically impactful concepts. Today the small town has transformed itself into a global hub with attractive offers for global corporations.
“How did this happen?” you might rightly ask. The answer lies in the symbiotic relationship between excellence in academics championed by the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and its affiliated medical facilities, renowned research centers—such as the Max Planck Institutes for Developmental Biology and Intelligent Systems—and, for the benefit of interdisciplinary collaboration, consortiums and publicly funded institutions like Cyber Valley. Each has a unique ability to transfer scientific advancements to private sector industries, with the field of Artificial Intelligence being just one example of many. AI/ML (Machine Learning) applications are reaching deep into many industry sectors already. And its peak might still be ahead of us.
These institutions, tightly packed between some steep slopes surrounding the town on most sides, serve as crucibles of intellectual prowess, attracting not only top-tier academics but also corporate giants like Amazon and Bosch seeking to position themselves at the nexus of cutting-edge knowledge for obvious benefits. As challengers of future markets converge in a tightly developed town, a flourishing ecosystem of businesses emerges alongside them, drawn in by proximity (quite literally).
What one might call an ideal entrepreneurial landscape serves, in fact, as the birthplace of promising startups, especially on the rough road leading to the market of medical innovation. Not unlike everywhere else, these ventures initially appear diminutive, engaged in a seemingly endless uphill battle against formidable adversaries of capital and (the infamous German) bureaucracy. This network of ours and I myself could speak volumes about that. But it’s nothing that hasn’t been said a thousand times before in many other places.
Tübingen, with its commitment to nurturing innovative endeavors meanwhile evolves further into a fertile ground, seeded by successful entrepreneurs. Communities like ours are few in number, but significant in access and commitment, and are able to use vast knowledge and a growing network beyond the region’s “cluster” to reach out to newer, still cautious visionaries, who are likely to see the severity of their challenges lessened by affiliation.
Experience has taught us, and corporations as well as municipalities are catching on: With such an ecosystem, and much less without it, innovation can take root and thrive. Revolutionary ideas and methods, for instance in the fields of molecular biology and medical data analysis, disrupting thought-to-be market bulwarks against such “intrusions”, can be attributed to a fiery spirit of scientific entrepreneurship found here in abundance.
All these factors gather a perfect vortex: The call to action resonates not only with the denizens of Tübingen but also with partners and clients local and distant. Albeit a gathering of socially and professionally diverse people on the bare face of it, more and more choose to embark on a journey to transform ideas into reality undeterred by looming restrictions in part because of their different backgrounds, not in spite of it, thereby alleviating many of the fears that accompany groundbreaking ventures.
Let’s not drum up the significance of this town, however deservedly, by thinking of its emergence in a void: In Tübingen’s case, the surrounding region of Neckar-Alb stands as an economic powerhouse in its own right, wielding a significance that transcends its geographical boundaries by a significant margin. Here, close to 700,000 residents, sharing 2,500 square kilometers, are employed by a dense cluster of industrial hidden champions and/or provide the groundwork needed for anyone’s success.
Speaking as a resident of Tübingen, and an avid supporter of the entrepreneurial spirit myself, I would be remissed if I didn’t use this opportunity to adress my fellow locals earnestly for a moment: Despite my glorifying salute to this home of ours, as you might call this article, there is no cause for resting on laurels which mostly previous generations bestowed upon ours. Instead, we should strive to become architects of change wherever it is needed. And it is still needed here. You never have to look far.
Even if we find ourselves lacking in leadership, we ought to take pride in the role of facilitators to a vibrant tapestry of progress. After all, we have a unique opportunity to define the identity of our place of home or residence on a global stage. How many people can honestly state that as a fact? The base is set, the time seems right. We should now be able to accelerate much faster and strive for broader achievements than ever before.
Especially here in Tübingen we cannot stay in the comfort of our guarded space for too long, but need to venture outside to pick up opportunities where they lie: luckily, right outside our doorsteps. This place has barely room to house or nurture them all, even if it tried. So, take your pick, be brave and reach out!
