A Hub for People: Advanced Political Science Class Visits the Locomotive Shed

Starting a startup—wouldn’t that be something? But how do you turn an idea into a business, and how do you go about it? Together with their teacher, Dr. Claudia Röder, the advanced political science class visited the Marburg Lokschuppen. It is recognized beyond the district as Marburg’s startup hub.

The group meets with Gunter Schneider, the owner of the Lokschuppen, at Innocou, the café and culinary hub of the renovated complex, which has been saved from decay. The café is called the Coworking & Startup Hub; it is intended to provide ample space for diversity and creativity and to be a place of enjoyment and culture—as the owner is quoted as saying in the press.

Gunter Schneider sums up the idea behind the entire project in one sentence: “What was once a hub for locomotives is now becoming a hub for people.” This is also the motto of the startup center, which features numerous workspaces: The “hot seats” serve as workspaces for workers passing through; the “dedicated seats” are for short-term use of up to two weeks; and the “cubes.” The latter are small offices for up to 8 people. In addition, there are also “real offices,” Schneider explains. Larger companies use these for longer-term work.

After the guided tour, Gunter Schneider answers questions from the Steinmühlen students. He also talks about his own company, Schneider Maschinenbau in Fronhausen, which has about 500 employees and branches on several continents. The company is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and developers of machinery and system solutions for the eyewear, precision, and ultra-precision optics industries.

 

Working Together and Helping One Another

During the discussion with the students, the host cannot avoid the topic of politics and makes a few critical remarks regarding industrial transformation. Startups could drive this transformation and, for example, develop systems to reduce CO₂ emissions.

To drive this development forward, Lokschuppen supports startups in refining their ideas, guides them as they grow, and connects them with various industries. According to Schneider, startups generally thrive on collaboration and mutual support.

Unfortunately, according to the owner, there are too few young people with their own fresh ideas: “To continue achieving economic growth, Germany simply needs new ideas from new people.” In his view, policymakers should provide a platform for startups: “The startup ecosystem must be supported”—also to become less dependent on other countries. Overall, Germany invests too little in education; education must be further digitized. According to Gunter Schneider, the key skills needed to found a startup are a solid high school education, a college degree, and a passion for the chosen field.

The visit to the locomotive shed ended with a short presentation by the host on the topic of patent law—which the Political Science class found very interesting.