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Silicon Valley Tour: “Think big, think better, think Berlin”

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Wie die meisten sicherlich schon wissen, ist Bundeswirtschaftsminister Philipp Rösler derzeit mit mehr als 100 Gründern und Unternehmern in den USA unterwegs – siehe dazu “Silicon Valley Tour: Unterwegs mit Philipp Rösler” An der bekannten Stanford University hielt Rösler eine längere Rede, die unter unter dem Motto Think Big: Starting-up “Made in Germany“ in the Digital Economy stand.

The digital community has a lot of birthdays to celebrate this year: 20 years of the internet as we know it. Almost ten years of Facebook and Skype, which have been bringing together people from all over the world. These and other innovations have changed the way we communicate, work, and indeed live. Stanford has been at the heart of this revolution: this is where the best and the brightest come together from all over the world. This is where outstanding researchers and scientists put their ideas and visions into practice, where they come up with groundbreaking inventions. Some like to call Stanford the cradle of Silicon Valley. But Stanford is much more than that – it is the cradle of the digital economy. This is where ideas are translated into reality. This is the birthplace of the digital revolution. And what’s even more important:within a short space of time, what began as small start-ups operating in garages turned into global players.

Fred Terman, one of the fathers of Silicon Valley, captured the spirit of the Bay Area when he said: “There wasn’t much here and the rest of the world looked awfully big. Now a lot of the rest of the world is here.” It was technology and internet companies from Silicon Valley that got the ball rolling. They have been at the epicenter of a digital revolution which started right here in California. They are driven by the motto: “Think Big!“.

We’re here because we want ourselves to be inspired by the unique spirit of the Valley. The west coast of California sets the pace for the international start-up scene. And as the German minister of economics I think I can safely say that you are the role model for start-ups everywhere in the world. Germany has a thriving economy; one of the strongest in the world. My guess is that the first thing that comes to your minds is probably our automotive sector: Fahrvergnügen and Vorsprung durch Technik. And from what I’ve seen, it appears that German cars are pretty popular here in Silicon Valley, as well.

But guess what? Our IT sector in Germany is even bigger than our automotive industry. And our IT sector is becoming more and more integrated with our other strong sectors: mechanical engineering, logistics, and, of course, our automotive industry. That’s because we want both: a strong manufacturing base and a strong IT sector. We have long understood that the digital sector poses no threat to traditional industry or vice versa. On the contrary! IT is going to make our manufacturing sector more agile, speed up production, create growth, and give us a competitive edge: “Vorsprung durch IT”.

I am absolutely certain that the future is all about bringing the digital economy into manufacturing. And I’m not only talking about Germany here. I’m talking about the future of the global economy. I want Germany to be ready to embrace this future. We have one of the strongest economies in the world: think of mechanical engineering, the chemical industries, cars, logistics.

What we need now is an even stronger IT scene in our country. That’s why we are creating a new, better ecosystem for start-up companies:
* We are setting up programs tailored to the needs of high-tech entrepreneurs who want to start a business from university.
* We have joined forces with some major German companies and have created a high-tech start-up fund.

And we have launched a special incubator right here in the Valley: the German Silicon Valley Accelerator. It helps German start-ups to access the American market and find investors from the U.S. By the end of the decade, we want to:
* to triple the amount of venture capital available to start-ups.
* to double the number of annual start-ups in the digital economy
* and we want to get Germany into the top three of international start-up locations. At the moment, we are in 6th place.

And we do have the potential to make all this happen. Our start-up scene is already attracting a great deal of interest internationally. The most impressive example is Berlin: it acts as a magnet for more and more young IT entrepreneurs who make the city their favored base. And that’s hardly surprising. Berlin has much to offer: a buzzing cultural sector, affordable rents, excellent infrastructure – and all this in the very heart of Europe! All this explains why we already have a strong IT start-up culture. And why the scene is becoming increasingly international. We are glad about this development. But we want to go further. We want more of all this. Our motto is: “think big, think better, think Berlin”.

Almost exactely 50 years ago, President John F. Kennedy said those famous words: “Ich bin ein Berliner.” Today, fifty years later we now fully understand what he really meant by that. His vision is our mission. That’s why I take the best German start-up companies to Silicon Valley. And you can’t even imagine just how many wanted to come. We received an all-time record number of applications. And, believe me, some of these entrepreneurs would have been prepared to swim the Atlantic and walk all across America, just to be here with you today.

Here with us today are 100 start-up entrepreneurs. The cream of the crop. Just talk to them and you’ll get an idea of how cool our German start-ups are and indeed how cool Germany is! Today’s Germany is a country of boundless opportunity. Everyone is welcome. Everyone who wants to make it in Germany. I’m the living proof of that: I was born in Viet-Nam, during the war, and spent the first months of my life in a Catholic orphanage, until I was adopted and came to Germany. After high school, I went on to study medicine, joined the army, was elected Member of Parliament, then appointed Minister of Health. Now I am Minister of Economics, leader of the Free Democratic Party, and Vice Chancellor.

My country made all this possible for me. This is Germany in 2013: a country of boundless opportunity, a country of success stories! That’s why we have come here today. I invite all of you to come to our country and write your own success stories. You have the opportunity of shaping our future economy and our industry, in a country where there’s no limit to what you can achieve. All you need is some brilliant ideas.

Germany in 2013 is a country where “Die Luft der Freiheit weht”. We are looking forward to seeing you in Germany!

Was über die Reise geschrieben wird

Klassenfahrt ins Gründerwunderland
Philipp Rösler und ein Airbus voller Internet-Gründer sind unterwegs ins Silicon Valley. Die Jungunternehmer versprechen sich von dem viertägigen Kurztrip Kontakte, Ideen und Geld; der Politiker hofft auf Impulse und gute Werbung für die deutsche Startup-Szene.
Gründerraum

Deutschland jagt im Silicon Valley nach frischem Geld
Unter der heißen Sonne Kaliforniens geht offenbar alles schneller. “Eine Woche im Silicon Valley sind wie sechs Wochen in Deutschland”, ist das Leitmotto der deutschen Start-Up-Szene. Rund 100 ihrer Mitglieder zogen mit Bundeswirtschaftsminister Philipp Rösler in den vergangenen Tagen durch das heiße Tal rund eine Autostunde südlich von San Francisco.
Wall Street Journal

Die große Klassenfahrt mit Philipp Rösler
Wirtschaftsminister Rösler und 100 junge Unternehmensgründer haben sich auf Werbetour für die deutsche IT-Branche ins Silicon Valley aufgemacht. Deutschland hat als IT-Standort noch viel aufzuholen.
Die Welt

Philipp Röslers Reise zum Internet
Yahoo zahlt für den Blogger-Dienst Tumblr gut eine Milliarde US-Dollar. Das ist ein stolzer Preis für eine Firma, die gerade einmal 185 Mitarbeiter hat – und deren Mehrwert keineswegs einzigartig ist. Philipp Rösler will in den USA nun für die deutsche Startup-Szene werben, die Technologiegiganten für den Standort Deutschland begeistern.
Deutschlandfunk

BILD.de fliegt mit Rösler ins Start-up-Mekka
Abheben Richtung Zukunft! Bundeswirtschaftsminister Philipp Rösler (40, FDP) bricht auf ins Silicon Valley (Kalifornien) und BILD.de ist mit dabei!
Bild.de

Findet er bei Google unsere Start-up-Zukunft?
Am Montagvormittag (Ortszeit) machte Philip Rösler (40, FDP) Stippvisite bei Google in Mountain View (Kalifornien), dem Zukunftscampus vom Silicon Valley. Im Schlepptau: Über 50 junge deutsche Start-up-Unternehmer.
Bild.de

Röslers (unv)erhoffter Blick durch die Google-Brille
Was Wirtschaftsminister Philipp Rösler (40) bei Google nicht durfte, machte ein Familien-Vater völlig unverhofft für ihn möglich: den Blick durch die Google Brille!
Bild.de

Silicon Valley Blog – Amerika will die Welt verbessern, Deutschland will kein Risiko eingehen
Apple, ebay oder Facebook: Der südliche Teil der San Francisco Bay Area gilt als Mekka für IT-Unternehmen. Auf einer fünftägigen Stippvisite im Silicon Valley will Wirtschaftsminister Rösler herausfinden, warum gerade dort Startups so erfolgreich gegründet werden. Begleitet wird er von Managern junger deutscher IT-Firmen. Was die Delegation erlebt, erfahren Sie hier. Unternehmer Gunnar Berning, Gründer von “twago”, bloggt für impulse aus Kalifornien.
impulse

Fotogalerie: Silicon Valley Tour

Einige Eindrücke der Silicon Valley Tour mit Philipp Rösler und Co. gibt es in unserer Fotogalerie. Brandaktuelle Fotos gibt es zudem jederzeit bei unserem Partner VentureTV. Viel Spaß beim Stöbern in unserer Fotogalerie.

Mitmachen! Alle, die derzeit mit Rösler in den USA unterwegs sind – egal ob offizielle oder inoffizielle Delegation – darf uns gerne seine Fotos (oder auch Hinweise auf gute Tweets etc.) schicken. Wir veröffentlichen diese dann – immer samt Quellenangabe! Einfach per Mail an redaktion (at) deutsche-startups (punkt) de schicken. Danke!