Dr. Michelle Ottey, President, CIC Campuses and Labs

BERLIN — May 13 Recognized as one of Europe's Leading Start-Up Hubs by the Financial Times, CIC  is a global leader in building and operating innovation campuses. In this interview, we spoke with Dr. Michelle Ottey, President, CIC Campuses and Labs. A former laboratory scientist, she shares compelling insights into healthy scaling, risk culture, and why true innovation goes far beyond the current AI hype.

A special thank you to the entire CIC team for making this conversation possible so seamlessly, and to Michelle Ottey for her time and inspiring insights!
 

Julius Jung (BAND): Thank you very much for talking to us about CIC. The Financial Times put CIC on its list of Europe's Leading Start-Up Hubs, not just once, but now three times in a row. I was wondering, since Rotterdam, Warsaw and Berlin are current locations for CIC, what are your ideas for CIC’s short term or strategic expansion? Is there anything in the pipeline? 

Michelle Ottey (MO): There's always stuff in the pipeline. First, the Financial Times recognition is lovely. And it's really affirming of what we know we can do. Berlin, Warsaw and Rotterdam are really special campuses. I say this about all of our campuses, but the European campuses really have developed into robust hubs. And so we are constantly looking to optimize and build within the communities that we're a part of. But we are also always looking to grow. 
As you know, we're in the United States. So we are in Boston and Cambridge. We are in St. Louis, Missouri and Providence, Rhode Island. And then I'm actually based in Philadelphia. 
And then we have two campuses in Japan. We're in Tokyo and Fukuoka. We have a new campus opening in less than three weeks. It's a soft opening in Osaka. The campus is called O-Nexus (Osaka Life Science Nexus) by Nippon Life and CIC. It's at Nakanishima Cross. And we will be supporting life science clients mainly, similar to the Philadelphia ecosystem. 
So we're using the knowledge and connections that we have in the Philadelphia and Boston ecosystems to really inform how we're going to work in the Osaka life science community. 
That said, we also have projects that we're looking at in the UK, the EU in various locations, another in Japan, some more in Asia and a couple in the U.S. as well. So we're constantly looking to grow and very strategically, less opportunistically.

BAND: From the existing hubs, which one do you think is the hub that profits the most from a vibrant venture capital and business angel investment scene? Does that reflect on CIC's culture and community? 

MO: I think Boston and Cambridge being the founding flagship locations. Really, the nucleus of what we do is captured beautifully in Boston and Cambridge. And there's a huge venture community that's very invested in Kendall Square. We always say that we are industry agnostic because we will support any company that fits in our community or within the mission and within our vision and goals. But it is Boston, Cambridge where we see that synergy of the connection of venture, talent, founder population, all sort of coming together.
In Europe, I actually think here in Berlin, we're seeing a lot of success. There's so much interesting work happening here, both in CIC and beyond. 
There's Motion Lab across the way and just the universities as anchors and hubs and talent pools. There's a lot going on here. We're seeing a lot of successes growing pretty quickly out of the community. You know, we're in our second year, we're going to have our anniversary in October. And it's just been incredible to see the growth of some of the companies. 

BAND: That is a refreshing perspective. Germany’s startup ecosystem is frequently criticized for lagging behind global tech hubs. However, it is highly encouraging to see clear momentum in scaling German companies once again.

MO: I'm so privileged to be in a global role. So I get to see what's happening across the globe and at our different centers. And it is culturally different in the US versus Europe generally, but also specifically in Germany. You know, the US has a bit of a higher tolerance for messiness and moving really quickly. And there's more of a comfort with something that's less than perfect. Whereas I think, you know, German engineering and innovation tends to be much more methodical and thought out and there's less risk tolerance. 
You see earlier stage getting funded sooner in the US, but more like companies that maybe have a stronger foundation coming through from Germany or the EU. But we're very lucky to live in a time where there's so much interconnectedness that we're all learning from each other, including startup communities.

BAND: This is very interesting. I wanted to ask you about the cultural differences, especially between the US and Germany. The point about risk, risk tolerance, I wonder from a German perspective, especially, is that something we still need to implement here to not just achieve incremental innovation, but also take risks and maybe get some new economic success out of it? 

MO: I am personally a naturally risk averse person, but I see the benefit of having a really high risk tolerance because innovation really is being fueled by failing fast. And I love that because you fail fast and then you pivot and you change direction or make an adjustment and you can innovate quicker, right? I think, if there is an ability to learn from our global colleagues, that is one of the lessons, is having a little bit more of a risk tolerance, being willing to put forth something not quite perfect. 
If you're somebody who likes structure and function, that is challenging. It doesn't match, maybe it doesn't come to you naturally, but you're also not in it by yourself, right? 
As a founder, you might start by yourself, but you're not in the whole journey by yourself. 
So you have to be strategic about the people you surround yourself with. And if risk is not your strength, find somebody who has that strength to support you. 

BAND: When it comes to soft skills, management skills and founder team interactions. What are some lesser thought about, lesser known soft skills that really show what a good startup, what a good company could be? 

MO: Yeah, I could talk about this all day as a, as somebody who came up through the sciences and in an academic background in labs, it was all focused on technical skills, hard skills, the things that you could put on paper. And I have really found through my own career and in observing startups through their journey to a scale up and being acquired, that the companies that are most successful, have a good balance of the hard and soft skills. 
I think if you just want a couple of examples, I would say intellectual honesty, having a really strong moral compass, understanding what your mission is and sticking to it. 
Just being honest with yourself and with your team is really important, because it's about trust and you will be able to build a better team with longevity if you trust the people that you're inviting in. 
And then really strong listening skills. I often think, when I’m sitting across from someone and I’m having a conversation, you can see that they're not necessarily listening. They're crafting their response. And that doesn't feel good. That doesn't build trust. 
If you have good active listening, I think that helps. And that means so much when you're having a conversation with a fellow founder, with an investor, with somebody that's helping you to solve a technical problem. 
The other one that I think is critically important that the best startups and founders will focus on early is how to manage up and across. 
So using your good listening, using your mission and your values to inform the way that you manage the people that you are asking things from and asking for. 
We recently did an event in Philadelphia, it's called IP to Impact. It is focused on founders and that journey, where you take this intellectual property and you want to commercialize it. Basically, one of the speakers was saying that pitch competitions were really challenging for her. It didn't feel good to be asking for money. And you also felt like you had to prove yourself. And you do, you're asking for an investment, right? 
So you want to be able to show the proof of concept, you want to be able to show the value of what you're doing. But there was a question from the audience that I so appreciated. They were an individual who was not a typical founder. In the US, a lot of founders historically have been white men. And this was a woman of color who had multiple identities that were othered throughout her life and was really challenged by pitch competitions where there was an expectation of how you show up. And the speaker had the best advice, which was, yes, you have to be your authentic self, but you have to meet people halfway. 
You have to find a way to find something in common. And so again, I think this is a soft skill. You have to know how to communicate and find those common threads. We could be completely different people, but I'm sure that within five minutes, we could find something we have in common. And I think that's a really important skill to have as a founder.

BAND: How do you think companies and organizations can foster a climate of open communication? How can you manage a company to allow every voice to be heard, especially people who might not immediately have access to the important conversations? 

MO: When you're small, it's a little bit easier because there's only so many of you in the room. When you're scaling, it becomes more challenging. I also recognize that sometimes when there are fewer people in a room, it can be really intimidating because you're one of three voices, you're one of five voices. But as you're scaling, ensure that your leadership is aligned with that goal and ensure that they make themselves available. Some of the practices that we as a company, as CIC, have, we do global all-hands meetings where literally we do one for the U.S. and EU and one for Japan. It's an all-hands where there's a presentation, but then there is an open question and answer, which some people are comfortable bringing up questions in that form, other people are not. 
We also have a policy of making ourselves available. For example, when I travel to the campuses, I always open up my calendar for one-on-ones. I had a lovely walk with our community ops manager yesterday along the river and we talked not just about his work goals, but his life goals and what he might want to do beyond CIC. I think having leadership that is approachable and open to those conversations is important. 
Now, I think it's very clear, I am a person who values people and the company is the people. It's not only the tech and the IP, it's the everyday work, it's the people in the space, it's the energy that you bring to work. I think that's really important. Some companies have been successful without that type of environment, but I think what worked 50 years ago does not work today and it shouldn't. I think the most successful founder companies and startups and companies that are growing out of CIC that we see and are able to be a part of their journey are the ones that do value people and connection. Many of the companies will come to CIC communities for the space and for the equipment, for the infrastructure, but they stay for the community and they value the opportunity to connect with other people.

BAND: You highlighted the challenges faced by underrepresented founders, which is a major focus for us as well. In Germany, we see many strong, female-led startups, yet they still receive a disproportionately small share of venture capital. How can startup ecosystems implement structural change to bridge this funding gap?

MO: It really comes down to access and representation. We need to build pathways where founders who have successfully navigated this journey, whether they are women, people of color, or members of the LGBTQ+ community can share their experience and pull the next generation up.

BAND: That structural change is so important, especially as founders adapt to shifting funding environments. How does that tie back into the core philosophy of building a resilient startup

MO: It ties directly into valuing diversity in its broadest strokes. Including identity, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic diversity. Valuing diversity is a foundational driver for better business outcomes.When you have a room full of diverse minds, you innovate faster. If an entire team has the exact same background, education, and identity, their solutions will naturally look very similar. A diverse group brings entirely different perspectives to problem-solving, which allows a company to go further, faster. Building your company culture around that value from day one is a massive competitive advantage.

BAND: Are there any recent success stories you could share about startups from CIC? 

MO: Yeah. So I did ask Timon Rupp (Managing Director CIC Berlin) because he's here all the time and there are two companies that he thought would be good examples, Bliq and Yaak. 
So Bliq is a driverless car subscription, but they're not just an app. They have a deeper mission where they're really looking at how we move through cities and whether it's buying a car, not buying a car, people's access to transportation, the importance of access, they're really doing it from a very foundational view where they want to change the landscape of accessibility for commuting. 
And so in this world where we as human beings, have had a detrimental effect on the environment and are experiencing the symptoms of severe climate change, projects like this are really important. And they just raised almost $33 million from a couple of investors. They're doing really well. 
And the same with the second company, YAAK. They do spatial intelligence infrastructure. So it's tools, data sets, and models for embodied AI systems, including things like autonomous vehicles, but also robotics. Next week, I think you're going to see some lovely robots here at CIC that are going to help out with our maintenance and kitchen. One of them, it's so funny, I saw the model in an airport lounge. It looks almost like Rosie the Robot from The Jetsons. It will collect dishes from different areas and bring them to the kitchen. 
And they're going to have a second robot that's going to navigate around and clean the floors. So it's that kind of technology, it's that spatial technology. So that's what YAAK’s doing. They too have had some big raises and been able to come up through the community. So fingers crossed, they'll be unicorn status. We'll see them grow really quickly. 
But they're the types of companies that we're seeing have success right now based on market needs and where things are going with robotics and AI. And I think the success that they're both having is really based on the fact that they're not just building an app. 
They're not just doing basic technology. They're really thinking about the big picture and what they can accomplish and why that technology is the best technology to do that. 

BAND: Do you think what distinguishes more ephemeral projects from promising projects with a good concept is the difference in philosophy of looking at more fundamental problems instead of putting AI first and adding to it?

MO: I think the companies that are using AI in a creative way with robust proprietary data sets are the ones that are going to be successful. They're going to last. Because anybody can create an LLM that's going to wrap around your technology. It was maybe innovative a couple of years ago. That's not innovation now. 
I'm thinking about drug development, for example. If you've got years worth of data that has been vetted and is really high quality, that is the unique differentiator. It's not necessarily the AI tool. So it's not about necessarily answering a question. It's answering why your tech and data set is the best way to answer that question.

BAND: That's a very good way to put it. Thank you for having this conversation with us. 

Berlin, May 13, 2026