Content Shift: Accelerator Fosters Best Content Start-ups

Annual competition pairs start-ups with industry leaders and investors | founders invited to apply as of right now | this year’s programme starts on 01.07.2020

Who will be selected as the 2020 Content Start-up of the Year? The Content Shift accelerator is once again looking for the best business models being used by start-ups active in the book and media industries today. Conten Shift is an international programme carried out by the Börsenvereinsgruppe with the aim of bringing together founders, investors and established industry experts to discuss and advance new ideas. Start-ups are given the opportunity to have their business models validated while also gaining contacts to high-ranking decision makers. In turn, established industry players profit from direct exchanges with innovative young companies and curated access to fresh new ideas. Start-ups from all over the world are invited to send in their applications by 04.05.2020.

Alexander Skipis, managing director of the Börsenverein (German Publishers and Booksellers Association) noted the following: "For the past five years, the Börsenvereinsgruppe has been injecting greater dynamism and a broader range of original ideas into the book industry with the help of the Content Shift umbrella brand. Indeed, our Content Shift accelerator allows us to keep our finger on the pulse of all the latest developments and trends. Each and every one of the start-ups participating in our programme brings with them a high level of agility and multiple fresh new perspectives on the book market. These young entrepreneurs are driven by the tireless pursuit of innovation and have proven themselves to be ideal partners to our industry. By making the crucial connection between analogue and digital worlds, the solutions they generate have already allowed publishers and booksellers to discover the previously uncharted trans-medial potential to be found in their business segments."

Established book industry companies that participate financially in the Content Shift accelerator receive a spot on the jury and enter into direct contact with the startups. Among the companies getting involved in the programme this year are the bookstores Hugendubel and Thalia, the specialist bookseller Lehmanns Media and the educational publisher Cornelsen Verlag. Thanks to the assistance it receives from professional advisors, the Börsenvereinsgruppe is able to guarantee that all participating companies will be able to draw from a pool of promising and highly qualified startups. A number of other European media associations are also supporting the accelerator.

For the five start-up candidates that make it to the final round, this year’s programme will begin on 01.07.2020. In the course of the competition, each start-up will receive comprehensive coaching sessions and advice from industry experts. Every year, the Content Shift jury consists of representatives of both the sponsoring companies and the Börsenvereinsgruppe. The core of the competition is a joint "co-creation workshop" organised for the jury and start-ups in early September. The final pitches and the naming of the "Content Start-up of the Year" will take place this year on 15.10.2020 at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The winning startup will receive 10,000 Euro in funding.

Links

detailed programme and instructions on how to apply: www.contentshift.de

Twitter: @shiftingcontent | Hashtag: #cosh20

Materials to Download

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About the Börsenvereinsgruppe

The Börsenvereinsgruppe (German Publishers and Booksellers Association Group) represents the interests of Germany’s book industry and provides practical and advisory services to book-related companies. The group consists of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers and Booksellers Association) and its business subsidiaries – Frankfurter Buchmesse, MVB, mediacampus Frankfurt and Holding Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels Beteiligungsgesellschaft. The Börsenvereinsgruppe oversees a number of services and educational programmes for the book industry and media sector, including the organisation of representational activities, cultural projects, trade fairs, training programmes and publishing and technology services.
www.boersenvereinsgruppe-jobs.de

About MVB

Technology and information provider MVB makes books visible. Major platforms, based on international metatdata standards, enable publishers and bookstores to promote their products successfully and efficiently in their home markets and abroad. Editorial and advertising formats as well as face-to-face networking give orientation in different book markets. In close cooperation with customers and market players from all areas of the book industry, the teams located in Frankfurt am Main, Mexico City, New York and São Paulo continuously work on innovative Infrastructure solutions for the book trade of the future.
www.mvb-online.de | www.facebook.com/mvbfrankfurt | www.xing.com/companies/mvbgmbh

Thomas Koch | Head of Public Relations Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels
Tel.: +49 69 1306-293
t.koch@boev.de

Markus Fertig | PR Manager MVB
Tel.: +49 69 1306-374 | Fax: +49 69 1306-17374
m.fertig@mvb-online.de