As a former founder and angel investor, Harald Mahrer knows what startups need. In his current role as an Austrian state secretary, he has the opportunity to do something about that.
His plan is to build a “Global Incubator Network” that would consist of a virtual web of partnerships stretching across borders to support startups and early investors.
“It has to be fast and sexy in that it has to be attractive to the market,“ he said. “Our role is not to interfere in the market, but to act as a facilitator.”
Mahrer envisions a “one-stop shop” to help entrepreneurs set up their businesses, contact other agencies, and provide information on venture funding, incubators, accelerators and other partnerships. He believes it has enormous potential because it would be the first such network set up between governments working together with a binding framework of support specifically tailored for startups.
Although Mahrer has only been Austria’s State Secretary for the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy for just over a year, he’s been pushing for a fundamental shift in policymaking.
“The process should not follow the thinking of the government, but the demand of the ecosystem,” he said.
Mahrer was visiting Hong Kong this week to learn more about the city’s ecosystem through a series of meetings with the movers and shakers of its startup scene. Dubbed “Mr. Startup” in his home country, Mahrer’s ambition is to get the Hong Kong government to be one of the first of many new partners to join the incubator network.
“Our spinoffs would like to enter the Asian market, therefore they need a launchpad,” he said. “In Hong Kong, you have a huge entrepreneurial spirit. It’s in the DNA of the Hong Kong people. And you have all this knowledge of doing business with China and all the other Asian countries.”
Much like Hong Kong in terms of population size, reliable legal system and openness of its economy, Austria also has a sizable entrepreneurial class that have managed to carve out lucrative niches outside of the domestic market. In fact, 60% of the country’s GDP comes from global trade.
Austria’s quick recovery from the debt crisis in 2008 earned it the moniker of “the better Germany,” although its growth has faltered recently. This year, its export-oriented economy is expected to grow just under 1%, below the eurozone average.
Unemployment is still low at less than 6% and the capital Vienna is regularly ranked as the world’s best place to live, but challenges loom on the horizon. An ageing society is one of the country’s more pressing concerns, but Mahrer also highlighted several other wider issues, like pollution and energy resources.
“We believe the challenges that we all have to face globally can’t be solved solely on a national basis,” he said. “We need innovation crowdsourced on a global basis.”
