The German Innovators in China Podcast: Providing access to innovation trends in China & the EU

In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast, host Johannes P. Lehmann speaks with Dr. Anna-Sophie Jürgens from the Australian National University about how science, technology and innovation are shaped not only in laboratories, startups, boardrooms and policy circles — but also through film, comics, humour, popular culture and the stories societies tell about the future. Anna-Sophie is the fo...

In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast, Johannes and Betty speak with founder-turned-scale-up coach Bonny Morlak about the hidden emotional risks of startup life. Bonny shares lessons from building and selling companies, living between Germany, Australia and the US, and coaching founders through the messy middle after product-market fit. The conversation explores toxic hustle culture, fo...

What does it really take for startups to scale beyond their home market? In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast , hosts Johannes P. Lehmann and Bettina Scheibe speak with Martin Gothe (CEO @ DC Hub) about the critical role of entrepreneurial ecosystems and international landing pads in enabling startup success. We explore: Why cross-border collaboration is becoming a key success factor C...

In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast, host Johannes speaks with Dominic Spooner, Brisbane-based founder of Vaulta, about what’s broken in battery design—and what the next era of energy storage should look like. Dominic shares why he started Vaulta after seeing battery waste and “single-point-of-failure” pack design become an emerging problem as batteries scale across EVs, home storage,...

In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast, Johannes sits down with Jack Al-Kahwati—an entrepreneur working inside the U.S. government’s space innovation ecosystem—to unpack how the “space layer” is emerging much like cloud computing did a decade ago. Jack explains why the real bottleneck is data aggregation, how command-and-control and space situational awareness become foundations for a ne...

In our latest German Innovators Podcast episode, Bettina B. Scheibe and Johannes P. Lehmann sit down with Robert Abbanat, CEO & Founder of GloCoach. Rob went from helping explain Mars Pathfinder to the world to building a global platform that’s redefining how enterprises assess and develop talent. Highlights: • Engineering + storytelling: How translating complex NASA missions into clear visual...

From Goa to Silicon Valley to China’s innovation frontier — Kapil Kane’s journey is anything but ordinary. In the latest episode of the German Innovators Podcast, Bettina and Johannes speak with Kapil Kane, former Apple Product Designer and Intel China Innovation Leader, about: How Zen principles secretly shaped Apple’s product culture Why compartmentalization — not open innovation — was the secre...

From Fleet to Grid: The Smart Charging Playbook The future of electric mobility isn’t just about cleaner cars—it’s about smarter energy systems. In this episode of the German Innovators Podcast , Bettina B. Scheibe and Johannes P. Lehmann sit down with Claudio Geyken, CEO of RiDERgy, to explore the transformative power of fleet electrification, smart charging, and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology....

In the latest episode of the German Innovators in China (GINN) podcast, my Bettina and Johannes have the pleasure of speaking with Daisy Tang, founder of Hola Daisy. Daisy is a Hong Kong native with over 15 years of experience in branding, design, and marketing, having led national campaigns in China for brands like Starbucks, Nespresso, Oatly, and AB InBev .   In their conversation, Daisy share...

In the new podcast episode of German Innovators in China (GINN), Johannes and Bettina sit down with AI and automotive expert Ke Zhu. Key Highlights: Accelerating Autonomous Driving: Discover how cutting-edge generative AI models are revolutionizing the development of self-driving cars by creating realistic driving scenarios for enhanced safety and efficiency. Journey Towards AGI & singularity:...

Join Bettina and Michael Maeder, Partner at the renowned executive search firm August Leadership, as they uncover the secrets to building and scaling high-performing Chinese-German teams. From what startups need to thrive in an intercultural setup to identifying the right mindset in potential partners, this episode is packed with actionable insights and expert advice for anyone navigating the glob...

Bettina sits down with Chris, the Director of the Innovation Centre at AHK Greater China, to explore the world of Chinese unicorns and the hurdles faced by Chinese startups amidst geopolitical tensions, political instability, and rising national protectionism. Tune in for a captivating episode packed with intriguing stories and valuable insights!

In 2018, naked Hub, a leading coworking & technology business founded in China in 2015, was exited to WeWork. At that time, it had hosted over 1 million guests from China and around the world, and provided over 10,000 members across 24 locations with the community and services they needed to make a life, not just a living. Jonas Wolf was one of the key employees helping to lead naked Hub to su...

Driven by the belief that change begins with a single step, Richard Brubaker has spent the last 20 years in Asia working to engage, inspire and equip those around him to take their first step. Bettina and Johannes chat with Rich about his passion, his take on China's motion in sustainability & ESG, and what this means for China's future economic development. About Rich: Rich’s work is centered...

Helping brands and their products stand out with sustainable and circular design, is the mission of Tim Binnion, founder and CEO of (better)labs. He is one of THE key persons regarding the topic of circular economy in the Shanghai ecosystem and shares his passion and knowledge at conferences all across Asia. In this episode, Tim and Bettina discuss the status and outlook of circular economy approa...

Join Bettina and Chance Jiang, web3 developer, passionate entrepreneur and China AI expert, on their discussion of China's AI strategy and its development from early academical research to national core strategy. About Chance: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chancejiang/ Time stamps: 01:09 intro of Chance Jiang 01:55 development of AI in Chinese Academia 04:04 China's specialisation in international c...

In this episode, Bettina talks with Philippe and Felicia from Swissnex in China about the Swiss "super tool box" of highly integrated services and why "hitting the ground running" is one of the best IP protection strategies in the Middle Kingdom. Key tips / take-aways include: Deep tech startups usually have a significant competitive advantage which is hard to copy overnight. If you are a deep tec...

Jelte Ansgar Wingender, CEO of the businesses FoundersLair, Dealflow and Flair, shares his best practices on how to manoeuvre the government-driven entrepreneurial ecosystem in China. He further gives hands-on advice on how to secure your IP if you are building a hardware startup. Key tips include: Enter Chinese startup competitions since it is a great way for you to develop an understanding of th...

Bettina and Wei Zhou, CEO of the Shanghai based accelerator XNode, discuss how startups can scale their China business and become successful in China long-term. Key tips include: Work closely with international corporates and international networks during your market entry phase. Find a Chinese middleman on the ground who can grant you access to local governments, state owned enterprises and Chine...

Felix Reinshagen, CEO and co-founder of NavVis, shares his personal China experience and explains why the market is so important for deep tech startups today. He points out that entering the Middle Kingdom early on can help you to fully understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks of a new technology, especially in deep tech. And he finds that being focused on a few, well-defined...

Jason Alleyne, co-founder and Managing Director of the startup CFO-AI, shares how collaboration and gamification have made a difference for his personal journey in the Chinese market. He finds that family pride, group KPIs and the incentivisation of societal behaviour via gamification play a key role in China and are the secret sauce that makes Chinese businesses so successful. Chapter marks:  (00...

In this episode, Bettina talks with Felix Wendlandt, founder of the beer brand Brander Urstoff, about how to develop tailored business strategies for the Chinese market.  Felix shares his experience on how and why to build a mainly Chinese team, how to master sales challenges in China, and why you might not want to stress the German origin of your brand nowadays if you’re operating in a traditiona...

Should we take Chinese competition seriously? Which industries are challenged most by Chinese competition? Bettina speaks with Peter Legner, CEO at Schenck Shanghai Machinery Corporation (Dürr Group) and CEO China at HOMAG Group, about his experience from 30 years of doing business in China, his latest learnings and his view on new technology trends in the Middle Kingdom. Key take-aways: 1) Stop u...

Bettina speaks with her guest Maren Petry, National Senior Director Innovation at the German Chamber of Commerce in China , about innovation activities of German companies in China and their global impact. They have a closer look at the German Chamber's latest innovation survey "Innovation from China going global" which was just published on June 28th, 2022 in collaboration with the German Chamber...

In the first episode of the new GINN CHINABEATS series, Bettina and her guest Kevin J. Worner have a fresh look at developments in the European and Chinese startup ecosystem, and discuss differences in communication, networking and execution.  Key learnings include: 1) European entrepreneurs should forget about frameworks and push the limits. 2) Social media is the key to modern business communica...