The new Futuresax boss

By Nora Miethke

Dresden. Susanne Stump is passionate about "countering the brown stamp that Saxony has been given", namely the colorful diversity of innovations from Saxony. In her new position, she can do just that. From October 1, the Riesa native will be the new Managing Director of Futuresaxthe state's innovation platform. Stump wants to present Saxony as a cosmopolitan, future-oriented and highly interesting location for innovation beyond the state's borders". This is how she introduced herself to the Futuresax scene at the innovation conference a few weeks ago. Founding Managing Director Marina Heimann left Futuresax at her own request at the end of 2023.
Founded in 2017, Futuresax GmbH is the central point of contact for all those who want to bring new technologies, products or services "made in saxony" to the market. Thanks to many events, such as the competitions for the Saxon state prizes for founding, transfer and innovation, the network has now grown to over 12,000 contacts. "Innovations are not technology per se, but also new technologies and products that reach the market and manage to take people with them in the transformation process," says Susanne Stump, defining what she understands by innovation.

More start-ups at the start
The Free State can keep up, but it has not yet made it into the top ten of many innovation rankings. In the innovation index of 73 EU regions, it even fell from 16th to 19th place between 2010 and 2020. Last year, 87 start-ups were founded in Saxony, thirty percent more than in the previous year. However, two years ago there were 100 start-ups. "The framework conditions are good and there is historically good cooperation between industry and research. But we need to do a better job of bringing developments to the streets," says Stump. We need a caretaker like Futuresax.
The mother of two, who lives with her family on a listed farm just outside Dresden, has the necessary skills and expertise.
The 44-year-old studied business administration at a vocational academy and then completed her MBA in general management in Berlin and Cambridge. She has always remained loyal to Saxony in her professional career. Susanne Stump's first position was with a private financial services provider, where she learned to check business plans and specialized in private financial project management. After another stint in the real estate industry, she moved to the Schubert planning office, which has been part of the Gicon Group was one of them. There, she headed the department for urban and regional development for more than six years and further expanded her expertise in developing strategic concepts.

She already got to know Futuresax well in her last position as project manager of Saxony5, a network for knowledge and technology transfer between five Saxon universities of applied sciences. She has been working with some of her future 22 colleagues in the transfer network for three years now.
For her first 100 days in office, Susanne Stump plans to "first really get to know the team" as well as the many partners. Expectations need to be assessed, including those of the two shareholders, the Free State of Saxony and the Saxony Economic Development Corporation. She will make her first public appearance as Managing Director at the mentor meeting on October 23. Encouraging women is also a particular concern of hers. According to a recent report by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce significantly more interest in setting up their own company than twenty years ago. "Nevertheless, we often notice at our events, for example, that it is a challenge to have equal representation on panels," says Stump. She wants to change this, put female entrepreneurship more on the agenda and give women more self-confidence.

Role models in Europe
The new Futuresax boss not only wants to be inspired by success stories in Berlin or Munich, but also looks abroad, to the UK or Scandinavia, to see how a change in mindset can succeed - not only for female founders, but in general. In Europe, most start-ups are founded in the UK. The United Kingdom is the world leader in supporting start-ups, "also because entrepreneurship and technology transfer are more of a top priority in politics," says Stump. From October, she will make this her top priority.