You now can find Zelfi in new offices:

Zelfi AG
Erthalstrasse 1 ( TZM )
55118 Mainz
Germany

The reason for moving was that the whole technology center Mainz moved. Zelfi used to be located at rooms within the technology center. These were located in a building who’s best days had gone. After the owner of the building decided not to invest anything anymore things went worse, so moving started to be urgent.

Before the move finally happened there were some disagreements between the tenants and the management of the Technologiezentrum Mainz GmbH. The technology center is operated by the Technologiezentrum Mainz GmbH which is owned by the city of Mainz, the state Land Rhineland-Palatinate and a subsidary of the city of Mainz. What’s the point of such a technology center? From the owners point of view it’s for promotion of economy, for getting new companies into the cities with their employment opportunities - and their taxes. The technology center is a breeding ground for entrepreneurship and the city benefits in the long term. The management of the technology center seemed to have a different point of view. Like they are giving away charity to us and dictate the way we work. Therefore the first offer did not meet the requirements of us tenants at all. After tough negotiations (and a bit of public pressure from the local newspapers) our requirements we finally heard.

So why did Zelfi stay in the technology center despite the fristion? First of all, because the final offer, after the tough negotiations, meets most of our requirements. Second, because there are some advantages of such a technology center. The most important one for me is the flexibility, that a growth company like ours needs. The public market for office space does not offer this flexibility, the contracts are usually long term and adding another room for the growing number of employees might not be possible. The technology center serves as a kind of office community to be able to use “bigger” offers of the public market for office space.

And I really would like to add a third: that by working together with other technology oriented companies there will be synergies and important contacts. But this does not happen (yet?), because to be able to rent out the new office space the requirements of being technology oriented a are quite low.

After all the pros and cons of the technology center: the only important thing is that we can proceed with full speed to work on the Zelfi products and services. And we definetely can this at our new location. We have nice rooms, an air-conditioned server space, and a sufficient infrastructure. The office position closed to the main train station of Mainz is good. Altogether we a re happy about the move and we wish ourselves a lot of fun and success at the new premises.