Merisier presents a new and fair direction for idea-creation as an online shop for stylish and sustainable gifts. Fair trade and sustainability play a central role in the selection of their products, because they believe that they can change the world with many small decisions.

Robert Rudnick is one of three co-founders of Coffee Circle, a provider of high quality and socially-conscious coffee across Germany. Uniting the principles of social responsibility and fair trade with a passion for high-quality coffee, Coffee Circle sells coffee sourced from Ethiopian farms, as well as brewing equipment and other accessories, and donates a portion… Read more »

The winning team of the next betapitch not only gets to move into betahaus | Berlin and become a part of the betahaus community, but will also get a package of services and products to help them develop their business further. The package is solely put together by people from inside the betahaus community. In… Read more »

Julio Santos is a software engineer, and is the lead developer and co-founder of the Facebook application, Gruvi.

On the jury this year will be Swedish entrepreneur and business leader Joakim Barneus. In 2001, Mr. Barneus co-founded the European branch of Monster, and served as European COO until 2002. He is also the founder of the student staffing company, Komet, which employs over 5,000 students, and helped develop the business-oriented personality test Validero.

By now, you and your startup team may already be underway with your one-pagers, soon to be sent to our betapitch jury, and you may be wondering just how you can improve your chances of making it into the top-10 and, eventually, the winning spot. Our jury will soon be swamped with one-pagers from all sorts… Read more »

Samsarah Lilja is the head of Lilja Design, and specialises in corporate graphic and web design.

The next betapitch | Berlin is on its way, preparations are in full effect, and the whole betahaus crew can hardly wait to get your onepagers into their hands. We also want to get that fire into you, get you ready for your pitch, and help you prepare as best as you can. So from… Read more »

Shopping for furniture, clothing, and other things we need in our daily lives, can be costly, time-consuming, and, above all, creates waste and supports wasteful industrial practices. Enter Le Van Bo; architect, designer, and initiator of the Hartz IV Möbel project. Named after the national welfare system, Hartz IV Möbel is a DIY movement, centred… Read more »

It’s almost time – the next betapitch will soon take place right here, in the ‘haus! All that’s left is your application…

With mobile device ownership ever on the rise, an increasing number of companies are now turning to the mobile sector to extend their brands or services through applications. Research2Guidance, a mobile apps research and consultancy company, has specialised in this growing and constantly-evolving market since 2009, and provides companies with guidance for their individual mobile… Read more »

Sascha Konietzke is the founder of Thriventures, and the director of its main product, Storage Room. Storage Room is a cloud-based CMS (content-management system) for mobile and web applications, with which app developers can distribute, store and manage content. They no longer need to worry about creating a backend from scratch – something that would… Read more »

Why are universities so slow to adapt to today’s means and methods of learning? How can we initiate radical change from within a system that actively discourages it? Are universities – or even schools – necessary in this day and age? These were some of the many questions raised on the evening of Tuesday February… Read more »

Lorenz Graubner is the founder of Federball.de – a recently-founded company specialising in high-quality shuttlecocks for badminton players in Europe. A longtime badminton player, Lorenz founded Federball.de after noticing a lack of quality shuttlecocks available to professional players in Europe. The website, Federball.de, also serves as an online information platform for badminton players and enthusiasts,… Read more »

The many individuals we meet on a daily basis often have far more of an impact on our lives than many of us can readily recognise…

It is clear that universities now face a deep challenge of reinventing themselves to suit the needs and methods of learning in the digital age.

You may have noticed a strange looking device in the back corner of Open Design City these days…

In recent years, Kresten Buch has become a name strongly associated with the emerging mobile-based startup scene in Kenya…

How can we facilitate access to sustainable sources of energy for individual consumers? How can we curb the rampant waste of food and consumer goods in the developed world? How can we ensure equal and open access to digital and mobile networks throughout the world, as these take on an increasingly central role in people’s… Read more »

Peter Kirn is a musician, sound-designer, composer, educator, and writer, specializing in DIY electronic music and interactive visual arts..