On a startup tour at the OMR Festival 2024
The OMR Festival, an international summit of the digital economy, is once again a superlative event in 2024. 70,000 visitors are expected to attend on 7 and 8 May in Hamburg and over 800 speakers will take to the stage, from Robert Habeck to Kim Kardashian and Rick Rubin. Large companies dominate the exhibition halls, but startups also have their place everywhere. We tell you where to find them.
Visit from the mayor at Startup City Hamburg
Under the heading ‘Hamburg's Impact Champions’, Veronika Reichboth, Director of the Startup-Unit at Hamburg Invest, presented a number of sustainable startups from the Hanseatic city. Hamburg's First Mayor Dr Peter Tschentscher even took the tour as an opportunity to pay a visit to the Startup City Hamburg stand. The programme included three compact company presentations. traceless has already received numerous awards for its plastic alternative made from plant waste. House of Change offers product information that complies with the EU Green Claims Directive. Vanozza produces plant-based cheese alternatives, and participants were able to taste the new feta during the tour.
Impact as a key theme at the OMR Festival
The walk ended at ‘Hamburger Hügel’, an exhibition area with a local focus. Among others, recyclehero ensures impact there. The collection service for old clothes, electrical appliances and other recyclables is currently expanding throughout Germany. Wildplastic is also on course for success. This startup recycles plastic waste into packaging and bin liners, which it has supplied to the OMR Festival. Mailing bags are also part of the range. The retail company Otto is one of their customers.
Another special exhibition area is entirely dedicated to the topic of impact, which is a recurring theme throughout this year's programme. In the Impact Area, 14 non-profit organisations and startups present themselves, including UrbView. This young Hamburg-based company uses artificial intelligence to help make cities safer places right from the planning stage. Black Female Business has also been given a free stand. The network is aimed at Black women who, as entrepreneurs, are looking to exchange knowledge and experience.
A stage dedicated to female founders
Women in business, especially female founders, are also the focus of the 5050 format. A programme highlight on the 5050 Stage is a pitch for which over 150 startups applied. Six finally made it onto the stage, three of which had a close connection to Hamburg. SUMM AI from Munich uses AI to translate into plain language and offers this service on the city portal hamburg.de. This is made possible by a pilot project with GovTecHH. Penemue from Freiburg also uses AI to track down hate comments on the internet and has already received funding from the Media Lift programme of next.Media Hamburg. toern is based in the Hanseatic city and offers a solution to avoid unnecessary returns in online retail.
There is no special zone for startups at the OMR Festival this year, but they can be found in many places, including the Premium Expo area. The fact that a market research startup such as appinio, which has now grown into a scaleup, has long been one of the established exhibitors is an encouraging sign, not least for budding founders.
