International Scouting project
Identification and evaluation of international technology trends for the innovation state of Bavaria
What technological trends and innovations are there in foreign markets and how relevant are they for Bavarian companies? Where are Bavarian technologies particularly attractive for export to other countries around the world? In which areas are there still strategic gaps in the Bavarian economy that can be closed by technologies from abroad, for example by attracting companies to Bavaria?
This is precisely the kind of question we want to answer with our new International Scouting project in collaboration with various foreign trade partners. Our aim is to use a structured scouting process to search for the most important technological trends and innovations in foreign priority regions for Bavaria as a land of innovation, to evaluate them from the perspective of the Bavarian economy by proven experts and, after analyzing the results, to draw strategic conclusions for the future design of foreign trade promotion measures.
This project is led by the Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) team at Bayern Innovativ. The bundled methodological and specialist knowledge of trend and technology scouting and digital innovation platforms is an indispensable basis for the identification, evaluation, visualization and analysis of international technology trends for the innovation state of Bavaria. Bayern Innovativ's Digital Innovation Platform (DIP), which is managed by the TIM team, makes it possible to lead this project to success in a virtual, agile and collaborative manner together with the cooperation partners across long distances.
Cooperation project with Bayern International, Invest in Bavaria and the Bavarian representative offices abroad
The initiators of the project are the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, Bayern International, Invest in Bavaria and Bayern Innovativ. The starting point was the goal of closer coordination on thematic and regional priorities and better mutual use of know-how through increased cooperation opportunities.
As a joint project of Bayern Innovativ, Bayern International and Invest in Bavaria with the Bavarian representative offices abroad, the technology and trend radar of International Scouting enables a wide range of analysis options. As investor advisors, for example, we receive information on which areas in the target country offer potential for relocating to Bavaria. We can incorporate this into our deliberations on the strategic acquisition of companies for Bavaria as a business location. I would like to emphasize the methodical and structured approach of our colleagues at Bayern Innovativ in identifying, analyzing and evaluating the trends.
Eva Apfel
Former Deputy Head of Investor Services, Invest in Bavaria
Bavarian foreign trade is represented by many foreign representative offices in the most important target regions of the world. This high level of expertise becomes more tangible through International Scouting and shows our Bavarian companies the great potential in these target regions. Internationalization becomes more concrete, innovations are implemented more quickly with local partners. International Scouting is our accelerator for our internationalization strategy in the network.
Dr. Robert Bartl
Member of the Management Board and Head of Consulting Fields, Bayern Innovativ
Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft, Landesentwicklung und Energie,
Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft, Landesentwicklung und Energie,
Bayern International GmbH,
To this end, Japan and Chile were initially invited as pilot representative offices to identify the technology trends in their target markets. The scouting process and evaluation criteria were jointly defined in order to offer added value to all project participants and to analyze the respective markets based on trends and technologies from the perspective of the Bavarian economy.
In order to test the developed concept, the first two pilot projects were successfully carried out with the Bavarian liaison offices in Japan and Chile in the first half of 2022. In summer 2022, the Bavarian representative office for South America and the representative office in Japan were then able to examine the evaluation results of the pilot radars for their two national markets on Bayern Innovativ's Digital Innovation Platform (DIP) with the support of Bayern Innovativ.
Due to the successful completion of the two pilot projects and the great added value that results from International Scouting for the cooperation partners and the Bavarian economy as a whole, the project met with great interest at the meeting of the Bavarian foreign representative offices on July 12, 2022 in Munich. The project was therefore rolled out on a larger scale and implemented with many more Bavarian representative offices abroad and the markets they serve. Mexico, Poland and Egypt were completed in 2023. Uruguay, the UK, Slovakia, Canada and Bulgaria followed in 2024, with countries such as Israel, Romania, Brazil and Vietnam on the agenda for 2025.
The work with the resulting trend radars has led to new ideas for exciting approaches and measures to connect the Bavarian and foreign markets, which are being implemented by the cooperation partners. The evaluation results will be incorporated into the strategic further development of the portfolio of foreign trade promotion measures for the Bavarian economy, including the programs for company and delegation trips, the selection of suitable trade fair participations and the initiation of cross-border innovation projects.
The most important technological trends for the Bavarian economy from more and more countries and regions outside Bavaria are gradually being identified, evaluated and analyzed. Stay tuned!
Your contact
If you have any questions about this project, please contact the project team at Bayern Innovativ.
Project management
Deputy project management
