27-05-2025
How ESMT Berlin Students Are Revitalizing Germany's Poorest City With Business Innovation
Yifei Chen, a Class of 2025 Master of Innovation and Entrepreneurship student at ESMT Berlin, poses inside St. Joseph's church in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, with neighborhood locals. Her Corporate Innovation Project involved revitalizing the shuttered church into a vibrant community center. Courtesy photo
It was the silence that most struck Yifei Chen on her first visit to Schalke, the poorest district in Gelsenkirchen which is, in turn, one of the poorest cities in Germany.
It's a neighborhood defined by contrasts. While Schalke is home to one of Germany's largest and most popular football clubs – the Schalke 04 – signs for the club were old and faded. While Gelsenkirchen was once considered the most important coal mining town in Europe, it now has the highest unemployment rate in Germany.
'The city felt quiet and even a bit abandoned, like the energy that once existed had slowly disappeared,' said Chen, a student at . 'That moment made us realize this wasn't just about giving a space a new function, it was about finding a meaningful way to bring life and pride back into the area.'
Chen's visit to Schalke wasn't for sight seeing. It was for her , a core part of her business degree from ESMT. She and her teammates were tasked with bringing life back into a community many had written off.
Every student in EMST's Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship is required to complete a CIP, a three-month project where small teams work on innovation challenges with real corporate or civic partners. Students complete their own fieldwork and research. They are expected to deeply engage with partners and stakeholders to deliver an actionable solution.
Baris Efe, head of Vali Berlin, ESMT's entrepreneurship hub
'It's not just a case study; it's a real project with real implications for organizations and people,' says Baris Efe, head of, ESMT's entrepreneurship hub that runs the CIP program. Vali's mission is to train students to apply entrepreneurial lessons to solve real-world problems, whether that be through a startup or with an existing organization.
Chen and her teammates – Luciano Coppolino and Gaetano Adamo – were assigned the CIP in Gelsenkirchen, working directly with the Stiftung Schalker Markt community foundation to revitalize the shuttered St. Joseph's church. The challenge: Turn this symbol of the past – the historical and emotional heart of the neighborhood – into a catalyst for the future.
'Schalke and Gelsenkirchen represent a part of Germany that has experienced industrial decline but still holds deep social and cultural capital. It's a place that matters to its residents, to the history of German industry, and to the broader question of how we revitalize forgotten places,' Efe says.
'It offered students the opportunity to explore innovation not in the context of start-ups or technology, but in the context of bringing society back together and renewing it as a community. That's what made the project so special, even for us.'
St. Joseph's Church in Schalke, Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Courtesy photo
Chen and her teammates spent months pouring through extensive fieldwork and interviews compiled by the Stiftung Schalker Markt, highlighting the community's hopes and expectations for the site.
The team also visited the district multiple times to engage with the community while developing the sense of place.
'Everything we proposed was built around Schalke's identity, especially its mining heritage and football roots. We didn't want innovation to replace the past, but rather to build on it,' Chen says. 'Our real goal was to celebrate the uniqueness and irreplaceable character of Schalke.'
Their solution was a B2B-oriented model that focused on event-based revenue: hosting corporate gatherings, e-gaming tournaments, and creating co-working space. Inspiration came from similar repurposed heritage sites like and .
'We believed that by introducing activities like e-gaming or co-working, we could bring younger audiences and new businesses into the area, creating a space that felt both relevant and respectful,' says Chen.
This careful balance between modern use and cultural integrity was the point.
And it was precisely what the CIP is designed to teach, Efe says. 'It's not just about solving a problem, it's about understanding people, context, and constraints. In Schalke, the students were not only consultants but also collaborators and co-creators.'
Efe describes walking through Schalke like flipping between two timelines. There's the abandoned buildings, shuttered businesses, and the signs of long-term disinvestment on one timeline. Pride on the other – in the football club, in the pubs, in the conversations at the local bakery. The tension between loss and resilience challenges one to think about economic regeneration alongside identity and belonging.
Yifei Chen, Master of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Class of 2025
'One major challenge was understanding the real level of engagement from residents, especially younger people,' Chen says. 'Many of them don't stay in Gelsenkirchen anymore, so figuring out how to bring them back and how to make the space relevant and active in the long term was difficult.'
They also had to flip the story: Present Schalke not as a place in decline, but as a place of potential. Their plan focused less on polished visuals and more on authentic storytelling.
Chen and her ESMT teammates submitted their plan in December. Since then, the concept has sparked interest among potential funders, and local leaders have started discussing implementation steps. Now, locals can begin raising money to make St. Joseph's the community hub she and her teammates pitched.
'We did our best to provide a concept that was both meaningful and practical. I truly hope the space will be used for more community events and innovative projects, where people can reconnect and celebrate their culture. If it attracts new visitors and brings economic activity into the area, that would be even better,' says Chen.
'Most importantly, I hope locals can feel proud of where they come from again.'
For Chen, the project has changed her view of what business tools can do. While she and her teammates used several tools from their classes – customer research methods, storytelling, and design thinking, for example – business education isn't just about numbers or frameworks. It's about learning how to understand people and build something that makes a difference.
'Collaboration is everything. You can't do meaningful work on your own,' she says. 'Listening, adapting, and being humble are just as important as having a good idea.'
Efe sees Schalke as a model for the future of business education.
'The most urgent problems of our time are social, environmental, and structural,' he says. 'Projects like this show that business students, when challenged and supported, can become architects of renewal, not just analysts of growth.'
A collection of old newspaper articles and church papers helped the students captures St. Joseph's sense of history and place within the neighborhood. Courtesy photo
Of course, real success of CIP projects in general and Schalke's church in particular, isn't measured in a polished deliverable. It's measured in what happens next, in two, five, ten years down the line. Efe hopes to check in on St. Joseph's in the future to find a vibrant, community hub for culture, learning, and entrepreneurship. A space for people to come together and tell a new story about the neighborhood.
And, he hopes to find more bold, socially embedded projects like this one for more CIP teams. ESMT's Vali Center operates under the ethos that innovation can and should serve society, not just markets, he says. It trains students to navigate ambiguity, build trust, and see complexity not as a roadblock, but as a signal that their work is meaningful.
'We want our students to go into the world not just with credentials, but with conviction,' he says.
'Innovation is too important to be left only to corporations and startups. Projects like this show that when you give young, motivated people the chance to engage deeply with real-world problems, incredible things can happen. This isn't just a learning experience, it's a contribution to our economy and society.'
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