Content Shift Accelerator: Seeking Start-ups with Creative Ideas Related to Books

Sponsorship programme brings start-ups, experts and investors together | The application process for the coaching is now open for start-up founders from both Germany and abroad to present their business models

As in previous years, the Content Shift accelerator is once again looking for innovative business models from start-ups with solutions for the book and content industry – from new technologies related to texts and reading to marketing tools and products that impart content. The internationally oriented sponsorship programme of the Börsenvereinsgruppe (Group of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association) brings together founders, experts and investors to jointly promote innovation in all aspects related to books. Participating start-ups can substantiate their business models in workshops and coaching sessions and secure high-ranking decision-makers as investors. The programme ends with the selection of the "Content Start-up of the Year", which is awarded funding of 10,000 euro.

The Content Shift accelerator is funded by companies in the book industry, which also appoint one expert as an advisory jury member. This year, the programme is being supported by, among others, the specialist book retailer Lehmanns Media, the publishing houses of Cornelsen, Junfermann and Wiley-VCH, as well as the SAP Next-Gen Innovation Network as a partner from outside the industry.

"Through the accelerator programme of the Content Shift initiative, we connect book and content start-ups directly with the book industry and support them in developing their business models. In this way, they can assist and accompany the book industry with their ideas during an exciting transformation process. We are looking forward to seeing their approaches to, for example, processing data, simplifying collaborations and generating enthusiasm for books, both today and in the future", said Stefanie Perk, Head of Strategy and Innovation at the German Publishers and Booksellers Association.

"Participating in the Content Shift accelerator has helped our company take a giant step forward," says Gesa Schöning, Managing Partner of the 2019 winner QualiFiction. "Due to the close exchange with top players in the industry, we were able to develop our idea further and in a specific way that enabled us to create an offer that was truly relevant for the book industry. In the meantime, the technology and information provider MVB is using our AI to provide the book trade with the new classification standard "Reading Rationales" in an automated way via the Verzeichnis Lieferbarer Bücher (VLB), the German books in print, over the next few months."

Five start-ups will be selected for the accelerator Programme from all applications received. The application phase ends on 01.05.2021. The selected entrepreneurs will receive comprehensive coaching and advice from experts for several months starting from 01.07.2021. The highlight of the programme will be a co-creation workshop for start-ups and jury members at the beginning of September. The accelerator will culminate at the Frankfurt Book Fair, where all participants will pitch their further developed business ideas. At this event, the jury will then select the "Content Start-up of the Year" and award the prize money.

Links

• Hashtag: #cosh21
• programme and the application process
• Press release QualiFiction named Content Start-up of the Year 2019
  
  

Materials to Download

• Logo MVB
  
  

About the Content Shift Accelerator

Alongside the Content Shift start-up club and the Icebreaker Events, the Content Shift accelerator is part of the Börsenvereinsgruppe's Content Shift initiative, which promotes innovation and new business models in the book and media industry.
www.contentshift.de | www.twitter.com/shiftingcontent | www.instagram.com/contentshift

About the Börsenvereinsgruppe

The Börsenvereinsgruppe (Group of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association) represents the interests of Germany's book industry and provides its members with advisory and practical services. The group comprises the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers and Booksellers Association) and its business subsidiaries, which include Frankfurter Buchmesse and MVB mediacampus frankfurt as well as the Holding Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels Beteiligungsgesellschaft. The Börsenvereinsgruppe supports the book industry and media sector by providing professional services that include advocacy, the organisation of cultural projects, tradeshows, 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.com

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