The HPI Startup Bootcamp - Clean film production was a three-day event organized by the Hasso Plattner Institute Potsdam in collaboration with the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. We brought industry experts, visionaries, and universities at the intersection of media and tech together to address the significant challenges of modern media design.
The 2023 event was focused on the subject of sustainable IT solutions in movie production and is supported by various stakeholders in the media city of Babelsberg.
Interdisciplinary teams worked on real business challenges in the field of sustainable cinema, originating directly from the media city of Babelsberg. The HPI School of Entrepreneurship provided agile methods inspired by Design Thinking and Lean Startup to engage with clean IT innovation from an entrepreneurial perspective. Participants thus have the unique opportunity to work intensively in tech and business teams on new business ideas. Insights into areas such as Idea & Value Proposition, business model development, prototyping, and pitching, along with a diverse mix of professional inputs and hands-on teamwork. Each team also received support from experienced media production experts and team coaches. Ultimately, they had the chance to pitch in front of a jury and win prizes.
The insights and feedback from industry experts made this event a unique experience for all participants. On the first day, Prof. Martin Hagemann, Adrian Doll and Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Lena Gieseke gave an overview of and a deep dive into the film industry and production. Henning Paulke, Principal Partner Development Manager, shared insights about sustainability at AWS. Simon Sturzenegger, Senior Workflow Specialist Rotor Film GmbH, Leonardo Re, Founder and CEO at freispace GmbH, Andreas Porada, Senior Project Manager IT at UFA GmbH, Marit Krücken, Project Manager Production Workflows at UFA GmbH, Ruslan Mstoian, Laila Lala, Founder & Green Consultant at Greenigma accompanied the teams with their in-depth expertise. The teams also benefited from excellent coaching and valuable inputs from coaches. On the last day, all participants were also given a deep insight into pitching by the director of the School of Entrepreneurship, Dr. Frank Pawlitschek.
The expert jury, consisting of Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Lena Gieseke, Sebastian Storm and Dr. Frank Pawlitschek, critically evaluated the teams and selected the best idea and the best pitch winner. After a lively discussion, the jury announced producr. as the winner of the Best Idea award. Team FilmFlow impressed the jury with its insightful and entertaining pitch and was awarded the Best Pitch prize.
At the end of the Bootcamp, with the support of the HPI School of Entrepreneurship, participants can continue working on their business ideas. These follow-up offerings support the implementation of the business model in the real world.
