Aalen University in Silicon Valley Students Visit the Epicenter of the Start-Up Scene

From Aalen to the USA – students at Aalen University plunged into a week long Start Up Culture in Silicon Valley.

Tu, 22. October 2019

Going through the Customer and Applications Center at one of the world’s largest Design Service Providers, working at a real business case of a globally established electronics giant, or riding a bicycle through the Google Campus – during their visit to Silicon Valley, students from Aalen University got a peek into the daily work life of global corporations, and got to learn the Start-Up culture.

AALEN / SAN JOSE For a week, students from Aalen University’s Master Programs „Business Development“ and „Technology Management“ immersed themselves in the campus life of Santa Clara University, visited world-renowned firms, and worked in a real case study. The „Silicon Valley Week“ Program, one of the highest ranked private, elite universities in the USA, combined lectures around the topic of Innovation and Start-Up founding. Aalen University took part for the third time in 2019.

„For the students, the visit to Silicon Valley is always a great experience. Here, they can witness the feeling of Start-Up culture first hand,“ said Prof. Dr. Harry Bauer, study coordinator of the Master Program „Business Development“ and initiator of the excursion.

Lectures on the themes of innovation, marketing, branding, and storytelling were given, among others, by former Apple Co-worker Bill Cleary, who previously worked together with Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Thomas Dittler, a successful angel investor, who has lived and worked in Silicon Valley and in Germany for over 25 years, gave insight into the mindset of investors. Andrew Gillies, CTO of DashRobotics, told about the successes and failures of building his firm. The impulses from the lectures could be directly put into practice at the industry workshops. The students worked here for three afternoons on a business case at Zollner Electronics Inc. In Milpitas, and subsequently presented their results to the COO of the firm. Additionally, the group visited the firms Jabil Blue Sky, Continental, and Intel.

On-site, the students could make contacts that are worth their weight in gold when starting a career. At the end, all participants received a certificate from the Santa Clara University – Leavey School of Business.


Photo Credit: © Aalen University / Nola Gessner