Building bridges to Germany

Photo courtesy of the University of Oldenburg

TowsonGlobal meets face-to-face with German business incubators

By Stuart Zang

Clay Hickson, director of TowsonGlobal, TU’s global business incubator, was part of a Baltimore County delegation that visited business incubators in the German cities of Oldenburg, Leipzig and Berlin last week.

The trip grew out of TU’s 20-year relationship with the University of Oldenburg. The seven-person delegation included TU Professor Emeritus Armin Mruck, the American coordinator for the University of Oldenburg’s student exchange program, who Hickson says has been a driving force behind the schools’ relationship.

Subsequently, the relationship between Baltimore County and Oldenberg has also thrived. Oldenburg's mayor visited Baltimore County in July and invited county executive Jim Smith to come to his city in time for the 400th anniversary celebration of the Oldenburg Fair. Along with Hickson and Mruck, Smith’s delegation included two aides, Maryland’s Europe representative and the director of UMBC’s tech incubator. One major purpose of the trip was to promote economic development and cooperation between members of the universities’ business incubators.

“TU and Oldenburg have had student and faculty exchanges for two decades,” says Hickson. “It was natural for TowsonGlobal to foster ties with TGO [Technologie-und Gründerzentrum Oldenburg], Oldenburg’s business incubator.”

One of Hickson’s goals was to identify a speaker for a renewable energy conference that RESI will be hosting in February. “There are companies in Lower Saxony, where Oldenberg is located, with tremendous expertise in renewable energy. That region generates 18 percent of its energy from renewable sources. We can learn a lot from their experiences.”

TGO gave the Baltimore delegation a tour of its facilities. Several member companies made presentations, giving Hickson and his colleagues ideas for developing those companies’ markets in Baltimore and vice-versa.

The American delegation also visited a game-development center in Leipzig and biotech incubators in Berlin. Hickson sees potential for collaboration between TowsonGlobal’s members and German firms. “One of our members, Exis Inc., a developer of game content and media, may be able to create synergies with the Leipzig center,” he says. “It’s also possible that NaturalCheck, a food contamination test-kit producer, will find ways to collaborate with a company from Berlin’s biopark.”

Hickson says the in-person interactions between the German and American delegations have been very fruitful. “Holding face-to-face meetings is crucial when trying to develop successful global business opportunities,” he says.

“You can send e-mails and make phone calls, but even in the 21st century, whom you know personally makes a big difference in business.”

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