The German Hub is an office community between eight German organizations in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District. In this series, we want to introduce the organizations and their valuable services to our transatlantic community
Text by Simone Friese
Providing a Direct Link to Silicon Valley: “Representative Office” and “Innovation Scout” in San Francisco
The southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg (or BW in short) is Germany‘s third-largest state when it comes to population, size, and GDP. Due to its historically low unemployment rate and robust economy, the region is also among one of the wealthiest in Europe. Several globally renowned enterprises are headquartered in BW, for example, Daimler AG, Porsche, Robert Bosch, Carl Zeiss, and SAP.
With its economy’s engineering and tech focus, BW can profit immensely from Silicon Valley’s ecosystem and best practices. That is why in 2018 the representative office of the State of Baden-Württemberg as part of the GACC West was opened in San Francisco, providing a direct link to the Silicon Valley innovation hub.
How Baden-Württemberg companies can profit from Representation and Innovation Scouting
As part of the German Hub, in the heart of the city’s Financial District, GACC West CEO, Sven Thorsten Potthoff represents the state and acts as the first point of contact for Baden-Württemberg companies in Silicon Valley, for companies in BW seeking to expand into the U.S. and for American companies with an interest in investing into BW. Sven’s mission is to bridge California’s West Coast to the Baden-Württemberg economy.
Sven is supported by Innovation Scouts, whose goal is to convey the pulse of innovation, new business models as well as market and technological trends back to Baden-Württemberg. With direct access to the Silicon Valley ecosystem, the Innovation Scouts empower Baden-Württemberg companies and organizations to digitally transform and develop sustainable innovation strategies through workshops on methods, agile and digital working, and remote leadership.
The role of the German Hub
The representative and Innovation Scouts provide regular updates from Silicon Valley and report on disruptive technologies and the latest innovative approaches. The key element in achieving that mission is to be part of the Silicon Valley ecosystem and nurture a community, consisting of mentors, startups, universities, companies, industry associations, economic developers, and other multipliers. The innovation transfer to Baden Württemberg is only possible with the support of our network. The players of our German Hub office community have added great value to our ecosystem.
Innovation Camp BW –The program to digitally transform Baden-Württemberg SMEs
Another key element of Baden-Württemberg’s presence in Silicon Valley is the flagship program, Innovation Camp BW Silicon Valley. Led by the Innovation Scouts, the multi-week #InnoCampBW program offers Baden-Württemberg companies and organizations a unique insight into the innovation ecosystem. With significant support from Baden-Württemberg International, we will host our next program in the late fall of 2021.
“We have learned about best practices and gained many methods with which we can work on the further development of our digital strategy.” – Ann-Kathrin Hardenbergund Martin Auer, The Mak’ed Team”
More than 45 Baden-Württemberg companies and organizations have been able to benefit from the multi-week innovation program in Silicon Valley since May 2018 and take a deep dive into the ecosystem. A mix of workshops with renowned experts, company visits to established high-tech companies and emerging startups, targeted exchanges with Silicon Valley experts and potential business partners make the stay a worthwhile investment.
“To define an innovation challenge, you’re aiming to tackle and set goals before joining the program has helped me to apply the input of the sessions immediately to my own situation,”
says Christian Hanisch, Director Solutions Digital Transformation at Syntegon and recent alumni of the virtual program, hosted from May-July 2021.
If you would like to learn more about the program, its benefits, and how to sign up, please contact our Corporate Innovation Expert and Innovation Scout, Clara Drummer.
