A Journey to Foster Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Representatives from sustainable enterprises, environmental protection and the start-up world, as well as students from various academic fields, all gathered in TON1 to advocate for a new era of entrepreneurship. Since 2015, the Kreatives Unternehmertum (KU) collective has been travelling once a year through various cities in Germany, Switzerland and Austria to spread its message of social entrepreneurship.

The first stop of this year’s Kreatives Unternehmertum Street Show tour was Berlin, addressing the topic of oversaturation and the idea of ​​post-growth. It’s no coincidence that TON1 was chosen as the meeting place for the event “Oversaturation – What comes after a society in which everything is there?!”. And what a more fitting place for such a discourse than the Atelier Gardens campus which is perfectly suited as a development space for social and regenerative entrepreneurship, as emphasised by our campus director, Selim Pekin Güngör.

Shaping Systemic Change

“We live in a time where disruption is the order of the day,” said KU Managing Director Manuel Binninger. This intense need for change was a strong thread running through the entire evening. For example, during her talk, Nina Breu, Managing Director of Economy and Society at Greenpeace Germany, argued for a systemic change in the economy to solve ecological, social and democratic issues associated with capitalism. Sebastian Fittko, founder of the Initiative Regenerative Marktwirtschaft (Initiative for Regenerative Market Economy), also expressed how he strives for a holistic and symbiotic economy, which is not solely focused on the growth of the gross domestic product.

After a roster of thought-provoking talks and discussions, it was time for natural wine from the ecological producer Nature’s Calling and delicacies from the Brandenburg area. With a slice of country-style bread with saffron butter in hand, the 60 or so guests (most of them entrepreneurs) exchanged their personal thoughts and ideas. Because that’s what KU is all about: “We see ourselves as an entrepreneurship university,” says Binninger. They want to help companies implement their activities in harmony with people within a market economy.

So the first of seven events of this year’s KU Street Show ends with cheerful and inspired chatter. Next stop: Hamburg, with the topic “From Me to We: What Co-operations Does the Future Need?”. Here at Atelier Gardens, the story of regenerative entrepreneurship will continue, long after the event.