Mittweida opens the door to Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is not just a place; it represents a principle, a mindset. The American approach to innovation and start-ups, with its customer focus, differs fundamentally from the German or European start-up mentality. The customer has evolved from being a mere target group to a stakeholder, whose feedback is essential for the further development of a product.

Professor Peter Schmieder, founder and director of BITZ Oberschneiding, says: “Countless innovations never see the light of day. With our Silicon Valley Programme, we combine the best of both worlds: German inventiveness and the Silicon Valley mindset.”

BITZ has strong partners in the USA, including Santa Clara University in California, and since 2014 has helped numerous innovations and start-up teams reach an ‘investment-ready’ stage so that they can successfully establish their products on the market. The Mittweida region, for its part, offers an established ecosystem for innovation through Mittweida University of Applied Sciences and its partners, Volksbank Mittweida and Teleskopeffekt.

Professor Volker Tolkmitt, Rector of Mittweida University of Applied Sciences: “Our close regional cooperation between academia and industry has demonstrated in recent years that we are capable of turning knowledge into impact. Now we are taking a major step forward and expanding this ecosystem to include scaling – that is, the transition and transformation of start-ups into the growth phase.”

Promising ideas and start-ups emerging from the academic world often fail to get beyond a certain stage in Germany: research projects come to an end, funding schemes run out, and teams disband before the idea can be developed further in a decisive way or the start-up can establish itself.

“This means potential for the region’s future development is being lost,” says Professor Leonhard Zintl, CEO of Volksbank Mittweida. “Through this international partnership, we are now creating the conditions in which start-ups can scale up. I am convinced that the collaboration within the framework of the Silicon Valley School will shape the future of Central Saxony!”

At the heart of the collaboration is BITZ’s Silicon Valley Programme (SVP), a nine-month programme tailored to markets and investors. The SVP is a scientifically grounded transformation process developed by international investors, which prepares start-ups for market entry and subsequent scaling into global markets. Experienced mentors from the BITZ network – and, in future, from Mittweida as well – provide individual support to the start-up teams as they carry out their tasks, from developing their business model and go-to-market strategy right through to achieving investment readiness. This one-to-one mentoring, alongside bootcamp sessions, interactive workshops and pitch sessions – including in Silicon Valley – is a fundamental part of the programme.

Teams eligible for the programme are those that (1) have a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), (2) have identified a market with sufficient volume to make the venture attractive to investors, and (3) demonstrate a scaling mindset with a clear vision.

The measurable output and aim of the programme is to (1) prepare the start-ups for a pre-seed investment (EUR 500,000 to EUR 1,000,000), (2) to connect them with suitable investors, (3) to support them through to the completion of the funding round, and (4) to provide them with a high-quality and resilient network.