Hamburg Innovation Foundation

Hamburg Innovation Foundation
Legal form:	Foundation under public law
Purpose:	Increasing the willingness and ability to innovate in small and medium-sized companies
Chair:	Harald Eifert
Consist:	since May 14, 1996; August 1, 2013 (dissolution)
Founder:	Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
Foundation capital:	100 million DM
Seat:	Hamburg
Website:	www.innovationsstiftung.de

The Innovation Foundation Hamburg was an institution for the economic development of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg . On May 14, 1996, the Hamburg Citizenship passed the law on the establishment of the Hamburg Innovation Foundation, which was then founded on the same day.

Depending on the scope of a project, the foundation provided funding of around 50,000 to 1,000,000 euros. From its founding to 2008, various projects were funded with around 21 million euros.

The Innovation Foundation ceased its activities with the establishment of the Hamburg Investment and Development Bank , in which it was absorbed as the IFB Hamburg innovation agency on August 1, 2013.

Foundation goals

The aim of the foundation's work was to increase the willingness and ability of small and medium-sized companies to innovate in order to create additional jobs and training positions. This should be achieved specifically through the following measures: to support application-oriented research and development, to make the existing scientific knowledge more accessible to the economy, to promote young talent in the innovative and technological field, to transfer technology in particular through financial project funding and to promote sustainable business .

In addition to supporting companies, politics in the field of application-oriented research, development and technology for the Hamburg location should also be advised.

In addition, the foundation was active as the sponsor of the R&D program and the logistics program of the Ministry of Economics and Labor and the life science program of the Authority for Science and Research .

Organs of the foundation

The foundation bodies were the board of directors, the board of trustees and the award committee. The board consisted of one person and was appointed by the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg for a period of up to five years. Re-appointment was permitted.

The board of trustees consisted of eight members. A representative of the authority for economy and labor as chairman of the board of trustees, a representative of the authority responsible for science, a representative of the authority responsible for environment, a representative of the Chamber of Commerce , a representative of the Chamber of Crafts , a representative of a medium-sized company from Hamburg, a representative of the Trade unions and a representative of the Hamburg universities. The tasks of the board of trustees included: examining the business plan, the annual financial statements, the balance sheet and the annual report, the discharge of the board, the administration of the foundation's assets, the issuing of guidelines for the allocation of funds, the approval of the management of the board, changes to the statutes and the nomination of the members of the award committee.

The award committee consisted of five people. In addition to the foundation's board of directors, who chaired the award committee, there were four other experts. The members of the award committee, with the exception of the board of directors, were appointed individually by the board of trustees for three years. They could be renamed once. The activity was voluntary, members of the award committee received no fee.

Foundation capital

The innovation foundation fulfilled its tasks from the proceeds of the foundation capital. In 1997 the city of Hamburg provided the foundation with assets of 100 million DM (51.1 million euros). Part of the income flowed into a capital maintenance reserve, which offsets the loss in value caused by price increases. The foundation's investment strategy was very conservative, with the foundation investing mainly in fixed income securities. At the end of 2009, the foundation's capital including this reserve amounted to 63 million euros.

The innovation foundation's capital was invested in roughly equal parts in two special securities funds. One fund was managed by HSBC Global Asset Management GmbH in Düsseldorf. The management of the second fund was assigned to HMT Hanse Merkur Trust AG in Hamburg. The capital investment company and custodian bank for both special securities funds are HSBC INKA Internationale Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH (INKA) and HSBC Trinkaus & Burkardt AG .

Opinions on the winding up of the Hamburg Innovation Foundation

The head of the Chamber of Commerce, Fritz Horst Melsheimer, feared that the Hamburg Innovation Foundation would be liquidated for the Hamburg Investment and Development Bank (IFB) and that the assets would form the new foundation of the development bank. Liquidation is only possible by state law, in which case the foundation's assets fall to the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (InnoStiftungHHG § 10 Paragraph 2). According to the drafts of the Senate, the foundation is to be incorporated into the new funding agency, thus ending the possibilities of co-determination (see Board of Trustees) for business.

After the drafts, the tasks of the foundation are transferred to an innovation agency under the umbrella of the IFB. Half of the foundation's capital is to be used as equity for loans to innovative companies, the other half is to be used for current projects. Criticism came from the economic policy spokesman for the Green Group , Anjes Tjarks : “It would be counterproductive to let the innovation foundation bleed to death. With the dissolution of the foundation, the Senate would say goodbye to sustainable economic development and draw on the substance. "