Welcome to America.
These are my first days in the Bay Area in and around San Francisco. Formative days, that leave a crystal-clear impression on me: this region is driven by one thing - innovation. Everyone here is pursuing one goal: to change the world! And because this has so often proved successful, everyone is working hard to repeat that success: what HP, Cisco, Google, Apple and Facebook have achieved can be repeated at any time in the Bay Area ecosystem. The people here believe in it and are convinced that the future is taking shape here, or at least a large part of it!
Why? – 4 points stand out in particular:
- The “pain points” of consumers are developed here with a consistency that I have never experienced elsewhere.
- People here work extremely hard.
- All technologies of the future are available here – and many come from here.
- And: new developments are created here with an ease and anticipation of the future that are unparalleled.
Creating customer experiences and noting the problems of users – making the lives of people more convenient – this is the focus here. These tasks of today are addressed with new technologies, business models and innovative methods – swiftly, with extreme focus and in a network the likes of which I have also never seen before. The Bay Area benefits from the fact that the innovation leaps of today are based primarily on software – the software industry is at home here – all of the technologies needed to resolve the tasks of today’s world can be found here.
All key industries are represented here and can be developed here: the digital industry has its global hub in the Bay Area – the car industry maintains its major IoT and AI labs here – and medical technology, genetics firms, robotics manufacturers and nanotechnology outfits use the area for their research and development. This region has grasped the necessity of training precisely those specialists that companies require. Further smart workers are recruited for this ecosystem from abroad – who would not want to work here, where they are needed, to invent world 2.0?
The ecosystem can be sensed everywhere: the players know each other and there is an interchange of money, ideas and personnel. Those that lose a race for the best solution or a good worker today know that they may win another project tomorrow and be able to recruit well-trained colleagues from another firm. Belief in the future is strong – go for it!
Classic development processes with small, incremental improvements are unknown here. Me-too products are not to be found, no-one is interested. Instead, innovators spring up in the valley! Small, agile teams deliberately rewrite the laws of specific markets with their products and business models. In just a few days I have got to know more start-ups than ever before – young, hungry, well-trained and versatile.
I have an exciting time ahead of me – I’m looking forward to working with the people here!
The author — Marc Natusch.
I am convinced that the traditional strength and professionalism of the German construction and construction supply industry offer significant opportunities for growth both nationally and internationally, if the chances offered by the mechanisation of buildings, the digitalisation of construction processes and the customer journey are used consistently. On my travels I also want to find out what else we can learn from other countries.
