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Press Release
Frankfurt am Main, 01.03.2024

Content Shift Sponsorship Programme: Call for Startups with Business Ideas for the Book Industry

Sponsorship programme brings startups, experts and investors together | applications from startup founders from both Germany and abroad welcome | applications accepted until 01.05.2024 | funding of 10,000 euro for winning startup

Copyright: Christof Jakob

Today marks the start of the ninth round of the Content Shift accelerator programme. Applications for this funding programme are now open to startups from all over the world who are driving the world of books forward with their innovations – whether analogue or digital. These include, for example, tools for optimised content creation, new AI-based applications that save time in client management, as well as analogue products. The aim of the Börsenverein Group's Content Shift Accelerator is to facilitate the entry of startup founders into the book industry.

Programme brings startups, experts and investors together

The participating startups can further develop their business models in workshops and coaching sessions with high-ranking decision-makers from various business fields. The jury will provide the startups with advice, support and top contacts over the course of three intensive workshop days in September. The programme ends during the Frankfurt Book Fair when the jury selects the "Content Startup of the Year 2024", who will receive funding in the amount of 10,000 euros.

This year the jury is composed of: Martina Fiddrich and Olaf Carstens (Cornelsen Publishing House), Carla Scheunemann and Jonas Konrad (Community Editions/Bastei Lübbe), Alexander Woge (KNK Customer Engagement), Stefanie Penck (TeNeues Publishing House), Nina Hugendubel and Per Dalheimer (Hugendubel Bookstores), Leif Göritz and Detlef Büttner (Lehmanns Media/ Thalia Bookstores), Philipp Lindinger (Herder Publishing House), Ronald Schild (MVB) as well as Lennart Schneider (independent strategy consultant) as a partner of the programme from outside the industry. The programme is supported by Harald Henzler (International University SDI Munich) and Okke Schlüter (Stuttgart Media University) in an advisory capacity.

Samantha Merlivat, who was voted the winning startup in 2023 with the reading promotion app GoLexic, says: "During the Content Shift accelerator programme, I gained a lot of new insights into the book industry. I was able to bounce ideas around with the very people I want to work with in the future. There was a lot of mutual support between the startups and new friendships were forged. The jury members and coaches were also very helpful. I really appreciated everyone's dedication and commitment."

How the programme works

The application phase is now open and runs until 01.05.2024. First, the jury will select the ten best applications. Then after an initial pitch event, five of these startups will move on to the coaching phase. The jury then decides who will become "Content Startup of the Year 2024" after a public pitch round of the top five at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October.

Throughout the process, the participating startups will benefit from increased publicity through intensive press and public relations work by the Börsenverein Group.

Further details about the programme, how it works and the application process can be found at: www.contentshift.de/apply

Additional Information

Materials to Download

About Content Shift

Content Shift is an initiative of the Börsenverein Group that focuses on new business models for the German-language book market. In addition to the accelerator, it also includes regular pitch events ("icebreakers") and a newsletter. The initiative was launched to support founders, to network startups with the book industry and to share information about new business models.
www.contentshift.de/en

About the Börsenverein Group

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, 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 metadata 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, London, Mexico City, New York, and São Paulo continuously work on innovative Infrastructure solutions for the book trade of the future.
www.mvb-online.com

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