by CHARLES HAWLEY
Berlin may soon become the place to be for tech entrepreneurs.
Berlin is home to an ever increasing number of innovative new technology start-up companies — to the point that even Silicon Valley venture capitalists are taking notice. With a new focus on the country, many companies are beginning to innovate rather than simply clone successful American ideas.
Under-employed hipsters, exiled artists and wannabe punks — Berlin’s image has never been that of a capital of entrepreneurial innovation.
That, though, may soon change. While tourists still flock to the city to dance in Berlin’s renowned nightclubs, computer programmers are also coming to the city in droves — to work in the rapidly increasing number of high-tech startups that are now calling the German capital home.
“Berlin is a great place for startups,” Matt Cohler, co-founder of professional networking site LinkedIn and a former Facebook executive, told SPIEGEL ONLINE.
Now a partner at the venture capital firm Benchmark Capital, Cohler says the city is one of the best in Europe when it comes to the environment necessary to nurture a thriving start-up scene. “People from all over Europe, from the east and the west, converge on the city, and many of them have strong technical backgrounds,” he said. “Plus, the city has a nice atmosphere and it’s cheap.”
It is a sentiment echoed by many of those who have recently set up shop in Berlin. A smiling Ijad Madisch greets visitors to his attic headquarters in the heart of Berlin. The office’s slanted ceilings, skylights and exposed beams give the place a cozy feeling of exclusivity. And then there is the vat of steaming chicken masala in the kitchen, catered and ready to satiate dozens of hungry 20-something developers when they are ready for lunch.
Madisch is the 30-year-old founder of ResearchGate, a new social networking site designed specifically to help researchers share the fruits of their labor and help each other with tips and shortcuts. He is full of praise for a city that many are now touting as a kind of European Silicon Allee.
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