Betahaus in Berlin

Name of the project:
Betahaus in Berlin.

Name of the initiator and excecuting party:
Betahaus was initiated by its six young founders Christoph Fahle, Gregor Scheppan, Madeleine v. Mohl, Stephan Bielefeldt, Max v.d. Ahe and Tonia Welter. Their idea of Betahaus was supported by the ORCO Group – which is a former publicly owned, now private real estate company – through the provision of suitable space to the six founders in order to allow them to develop a space for young entrepreneurs in the creative industries. Betahaus is located in a central part of the city in the district of Kreuzberg.

Even though Betahaus received no public funding, the City of Berlin strongly supported the idea of the six founders by moderating processes and putting in some good words for it. The Senate Department for Economics, especially its initiative Future Projekt, has been serving as a marketing and sparring partner during the development and implementation phases. Today, Betahaus and the City of Berlin are discussing future plans and their possible support.

Goals (e.g. policy, research or other):
Betahaus offers full-time and part-time rates (daily, weekly, mothly) with or without your own key. All rates include a workspace and Wireless LAN access. The rates with key also offer “Fair Use” of the printer/photocopier/scanner, use of the meeting rooms, a Betahaus postal address and a small locker.

Start of the project (if applicable end of the project):
From January until March 2009 a group of 30 creative entrepreneurs created Betalab, a pilot-version of Betahaus. They developed a concept of co-working with quiet spaces and shared spaces and technical equipment. Betahaus has been fully operational since March 2009. The capacity is now up to 150 co-workers.

Today, Betahaus is part of a huge new urban development movement which takes places around the nearby Moritzplatz in Kreuzberg by being well connected to neighbours’ projects like the Prinzessinnnengarten and the Modulor Planet.

Place of excecution:
Berlin in Germany.

Why is your project considered as a best-practice:
The following characteristics of this case study make it an example of good practice in the creative industries:

• an interdisciplinary approach
• open, digitally networked collaborative workplace, which is flexible and serves as a platform for networking, innovation and production
• the existence of international cooperation with other co-working spaces abroad
• recognition by creative workers - they are demanding creative working spaces
• enhancing business capacity

The following success parameters can be identified:

• Excellent and low-cost infrastructure for start-ups in all creative sectors
• Infrastructure for networking and collaboration
• High level of acceptance within the creative community
• Connection between virtual and analogue world

Tips and tricks for those who want to follow your lead?
The approach of Betahaus to create a flexible working space for young entrepreneurs in the creative industries is seen as being easily transferable to other cities. Indeed, the founders of Betahaus have already presented their concept to colleagues and officials in several other European metropolises and have started initiatives in Lisbon, Hamburg, Cologne and Zurich. They are interested in transferring Betahaus to further cities

Best response to the project:
Katrin Tobies, EU Project Manager ICT/Media/Creative Industries, Senate for Economics, Technology and Women's Issues, Berlin Government:

The Betahaus has established itself as an important nursery for Berlin. By providing space to young entrepreneurs from all creative industries sectors (from design, film, and music to PR, architecture, and software developing), Betahaus mixes people from different disciplines and cross-stimulates them in their working and thinking. This has led to many innovative ideas, promising prototypes, out-of-the-box projects, and also to successful new start-ups. Within only two years, Betahaus has achieved the move from a small, experimental testbed in Berlin to an internationally acting and economically relevant player with spin-offs throughout Europe.

Links to websites and/or social media:
www.betahaus.de

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