Fotocredits: Tom Bauer
(Translated with MistralAI without further editing)
On July 8, 2026, Chemiepark GENDORF became the meeting point for innovation, entrepreneurship, and the future of the chemical industry. Under the motto “Chemistry in Transformation”, Pitch & Bond 2026 brought together start-ups, industrial companies, investors, and innovation stakeholders for an afternoon filled with inspiring insights, cutting-edge technologies, and valuable conversations.
Together with our co-host InfraServ Gendorf, we created a space where ideas can evolve into new partnerships—precisely where innovation later finds its way into industrial application.
The chemical industry is facing profound changes. Climate neutrality, circular economy, new bio-based processes, and resilient value chains present companies with major challenges—while simultaneously opening up enormous opportunities.
Start-ups play a decisive role in this transformation. They develop new technologies, drive innovation forward, and bring fresh perspectives to established industries. However, for these solutions to move from the lab to industrial scale, more than good ideas are needed: it requires exchange between founders, industry, research, and capital providers.
This is exactly where Pitch & Bond comes in. As an event format of the Chemie-Cluster Bayern, it provides a platform where innovations become visible, contacts are made, and collaborations begin.
For Pitch & Bond 2026, Chemiepark GENDORF provided the perfect setting. Even before the official start of the event, participants gained exclusive insights into one of Bavaria’s most important chemical sites during a guided bus tour.
The subsequent presentations took place in the Lehrtechnikum of the Bildungsakademie Inn-Salzach (BIT)—a state-of-the-art training and pilot plant hall that replicates a real production operation on a smaller scale. Across 2,000 square meters with laboratories, process plants, and its own control room, it became clear how innovative ideas can become industrial reality. The extraordinary location impressively underscored this year’s event motto: “Chemistry in Transformation.”
At the heart of the event were the 12 selected start-ups, which presented their technologies and business models in short pitch sessions. The companies covered three key future fields of the chemical industry:
Circular Chemistry | Green Energy & Process Innovation | Industrial Biotechnology
The participating start-ups included:
The pitches demonstrated impressively how innovative technologies can help use resources more efficiently, reduce emissions, and develop new sustainable production processes for the chemical industry.
A special highlight was the keynote by Dr. Robert Richard Richter, Managing Director of WERK1 Munich. Under the title “From Startup Center to DeepTech Home”, he outlined the key factors for building long-term successful innovation ecosystems. The focus was not on WERK1’s own story, but rather on the question of why some innovation hubs are particularly successful in permanently connecting talent, capital, companies, and ideas.
The program was complemented by an impulse speech from Christian Eichner (InfraServ Gendorf) on the topic “Home of Bavarian DeepTech”. He emphasized the framework conditions that DeepTech start-ups need to successfully transition from technology development to industrial scale—and the role chemical parks can play as innovation ecosystems.
Pitch & Bond is not just about the presentations on stage. The conversations in between are just as important. During the flying dinner, networking sessions, and personal exchanges between start-ups, industrial companies, investors, and research institutions, numerous new contacts were made and initial ideas for future collaborations emerged.
It is precisely these encounters that make Pitch & Bond more than just a classic pitch event: they build trust, promote knowledge transfer, and lay the foundation for innovations that can have a long-term impact.
Special thanks go to our CCB organization team — Anja Strunz, Matthias Klein, Dr. Kerstin Schindler, Dr. Tobias Schwarzmüller, Friederike Metze, and Charlène Kerner — who prepared and implemented Pitch & Bond 2026 with great commitment.
We also extend our heartfelt thanks to our co-host InfraServ Gendorf for the excellent collaboration and for allowing us to host Pitch & Bond at Chemiepark GENDORF. Our special gratitude goes to Renate Fleissner, Christian Eichner, Tilo Rosenberger-Süß, Martina Kress, and Christoph von Reden, who supported and enabled the event with great dedication.
A big thank you also goes to Dr. Robert Richard Richter for his inspiring keynote, as well as to all the start-ups, speakers, partners, and guests who made Pitch & Bond 2026 a special experience.
The challenges of transformation can only be mastered together. Events like Pitch & Bond demonstrate how important strong networks between start-ups, industry, science, and investors are to accelerate the industrial application of innovative technologies.
In the future, we will continue to use Pitch & Bond to promote this exchange and create a platform where ideas turn into collaborations and innovations into market-ready solutions.
We thank all participants for an inspiring day full of new impulses and are already looking forward to the next edition of Pitch & Bond.
Let’s keep bonding.
