5-HT Innovators Club - Enabling External Innovation in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries

On Wednesday, 4 May, the time had finally come and the first three-day 5-HT Innovators Club was about to start. Innovators from our corporate partners met in the chic location of the BASF Creation Center to get to know each other and to exchange experiences and opportunities. Among them: Investors, startups and even a law firm. This exclusive community event of our corporate partners combines keynotes and workshop elements and offers plenty of space for the exchange of best practices. Start-ups will also present innovative solutions and use cases.

After a warm welcome to the guests by Marco R. Majer and Dr Frank Funke, our partners learned more about jugaad and the opportunities to find solutions outside the norm from Alex Horisberger, Senior Design Consultant at BASF.

Afterwards, Stefan Dreher, Senior Vice President Digitalization of R&D at BASF, spoke about the different approaches BASF is taking to challenge digitalisation.

Afterwards, the approximately 60 participants were allowed to take part in a tour of the BASF Creation Center. The first day ended with a successful evening event.

A successful event - the participants of the Innovators Club

The second day was also full of inspiring conversations among innovators at the 5-HT Innovators Club! Expert presentations and subsequent breakout sessions offered numerous opportunities for cross-sectoral exchange of experiences, best practices and much more. In addition, theory and practice could be combined through workshop components. Thus, participants had the opportunity to gain exciting insights about innovation within the chemical and pharmaceutical industry in the following lectures and to exchange ideas at round tables afterwards:

-          „Sustainability & digital ecosystems“ Pedro Ahlers, SAP

-          “Startup Perspective 1” Florian Hildebrand, Qualifyze

-          “Venture Capital Perspective” Mona Müller, Senovo

-          “Global Innovation Ecosystems” Kim J. Zietlow, GTAI

-          “Digital R&D at BASF” Brian Standen, BASF

-          “Startup Perspective 2” Michelle Heppler, Pathmate

-          “Startup Investments: Finance hacks” Frank Tepper-Sawicki, Dentons

-          “Becoming a Digital Enterprise” Feras Alsamawi, aws

Marco R. Majer gibt einen Überblick über die Expertenvorträge Socialising during the Innovators ClubFeras Alsamawi, Pedro Ahlers, Michelle Heppler, Mona Müller, Marco R. Majer (left to right)

Finally, the participants were able to gain interesting insights into the history and current development of BASF during a plant tour of the huge BASF site and a tour of the BASF Visitor Center.

For all participants, the event meant a gain in new ideas and exchange opportunities with creative minds.

Brian Chol Soo Standen, Global Head of Digital Innovation at BASF praised the event: "It was a privilege to connect with so many great innovators yesterday and today. Thank you, 5-HT Digital Hub - Chemistry & Health!" Vivian Müller, Junior Manager Corporate Development at GELITA also has only positive words for the Innovators Club: "Thank you 5-HT Digital Hub - Chemistry & Health for this great event and the opportunity for personal networking!"

We are pleased about the consistently very positive feedback from the participants and their willingness, already expressed at the end of the event, to want to be part of the next "Innovators Club" again. On behalf of the entire 5-HT team, we would like to thank all participants for the exciting exchange of ideas.