The Bremen space delegation has made it to California where they will seek to obtain insights into the rapidly growing commercial space sector.
The delegation, led by Senator Martin Günthner, arrived late on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco. After settling themselves in, on Sunday they toured some of the sights guided by local expert Michael Stortz, with whom they explored Golden Gate Bridge, Twin Peaks and other sights of interest in the city.
After taking in the spectacular views San Francisco has to offer, the delegates were welcomed by the Senator, to St Francis Yacht Club, for an evening dinner and exciting programme that lay in store.
The German Consul General, Stefan Schulter spoke about the political situation in the USA/California and how German companies can build on already close political relations with some of the world’s major players in the commercial space sector. Later Rene van den Hövel, Managing Director of the German American Chamber of Commerce (AHK) shared the business situation in the US for German companies and explained what opportunities are available in the country for startups.
Silicon Valley has gained the reputation as the best ecosystem for start-ups in the IT and high-tech industry. As such Dr Mario Herger, CEO Enterprise Garage Consulting talked about the Silicon Valley mindset and start-up culture that has made it so well-known. Today, as a leader in commercial space it is incubating the “new space” sector within the USA.
Rainer Horn, Managing Partner of Spacetec Capital shared the results from a study he carried out on “New Space – New Business Models at the Interface of the Space Industry and Digital Economy”, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy. The full report (in German) can be downloaded here, together with an executive summary (in English).
Over the next days the delegation will visit a number of space companies, start-ups, investors and educational and research institutions, such as the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ames Research Center, which lay the foundation for research in the field of aerospace engineering.