The Bosch Group has become one of the backers of the “High-Tech Startup Fund.” The High-Tech Startup Fund makes venture capital available for young technology companies with a promising future. It provides the necessary start-up capital for newly founded companies in the technology sector, and makes sure that their managers get the supervision and support they need. Bosch’s contribution to the fund is a one-off payment totaling 2.5 million euros. “We want to give young entrepreneurs the backing they need to translate good ideas into marketable products,” said Dr. Siegfried Dais, the deputy chairman of the Bosch board of management with responsibility for product planning and technology as well as research and development.
The High-Tech Startup is backed by industry, the KfW (reconstruction loan corporation) bank group, and the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Michael Glos, the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, thanked Bosch for its “confidence in Germany as a high-tech location.” “I am sure that investing in this fund will pay off, both strategically and in the long term,” Glos said.
Bosch has traditionally regarded the support of young academic talent as its social obligation: “Bosch wants to play its part in promoting young talent at an early age and in kindling interest in technology, the sciences, and business,” Dais said. This is why Bosch, as a sponsoring company, will be organizing the Baden-Württemberg heat of the “Jugend forscht” competition for young research talent in March 2007, the 22nd successive time it has done so. In addition, Bosch is a founding member of “Wissensfabrik – Unternehmen für Deutschland.” Under the auspices of this initiative, some 25 educational projects have already been started with kindergartens and schools. In the medium term, the company hopes to establish as many as 50 educational partnerships across Germany. Bosch is also active in acatech (the German Academy of Engineering and Technology).
