Growing through CENTROPE

Growing within and through CENTROPE: prospering on new entrepreneurial opportunities.

Representing a new generation of enterprise that makes the most of the cross-border entrepreneurial opportunities within CENTROPE, Klosterneurburg-based Biogest specialises in the field of renewable energy. With its acknowledgement as one of the most promising young enterprises in the clean-tech field, the company also gives testimony to the high potential of applied biotechnologies in the Central European Region.

An exemplary CENTROPE enterprise

With its regional and cross-border orientation, Biogest has positioned itself on the CENTROPE market with clients from Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary and reaches towards other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. These markets still have an important demand in the field of renewable energy due to their relative lag in the development of sustainable technologies in comparison to Western Europe and the importance of agriculture. However, this delay offers an enormous opportunity of growth in the CEE countries and not even the current economic crisis could diminish their needs in biogas facilities. This fact is well understood by Biogest. Its CFO Christian Riel stipulates: “Biogest, with its products and services, can without doubt be seen as the pioneer for the east and central European market. Our portfolio is booming in the CEE countries and this in spite of the crisis.”

The cross-border field of activity of Biogest mirrors also in the international structure of its employees, which come mostly from CENTROPE member countries. This diversity on the workplace enables Biogest to better communicate with its clients and target new potential clients more effectively. Thanks to its products and services and its multinational team, Biogest makes the most of the opportunities CENTROPE is able to offer.

CENTROPE as an opportunity for a prosperous undertaking

However, the innovative character of Biogest’s activities is highly demanding on funds, and the necessity of vast financial means in order to sustain an intensive growth strategy is obvious. Biogest engages therefore in a search of proper investors that would support them with their capital stock. For such a search, the company has taken advantage of diverse events where it can easily meet new investors. Such an opportunity was the September 2010 Cleantech Invest in Schwechat which was also supported by the CENTROPE Capacity project. This event enabled Biogest to get in touch with investors interested in their field of activity and thus directly come to a common understanding: “The CTI seemed for us a perfect opportunity to meet the top investors from all over Europe, who work in the Cleantech field and to submit our concerns to them. Moreover, the clear thematic and geographic focus of the event – that is the Cleantech field and the CEE area and the CENTROPE region – brought to Schwechat those investors that are interesting for us and at the same time sensible towards our strategy.” says Christian Riel.

Due to this fact, business partnerships develop much more rapidly than during other event formats and Biogest has thanks to Cleantech entered a series of talks with well-known European investors with the perspective of future cooperation. As Christian Riel underlines: “From our point of view, the Schwechat event was one of the best we have ever visited. Already the face-to-face contact during the conference day made it easier to get from the original interest on both sides to concrete and engaging steps and to be able to rely upon them. We were very positively surprised how many important people were present at the event and how easy it was to engage with them.” Thus the Cleantech Invest represented another opportunity for Biogest to widen its portfolio and seize the many entrepreneurial chances that can be seized on the CENTROPE market.

Biogest Energie- und Wassertechnik GmbH