Great hosting Kiel’s President Hans Werner Tovar and his delegation from Kiel at the NGIO. We visited Stanford University and discussed entrepreneurship and translational research with students and faculty, met with Plug and Play, and spoke with city leaders from San Francisco about Mission Bay, San Francisco’s new hub for the life sciences!
For us as Northern Germany Innovation Office (NGIO), the city partnership between Kiel and San Francisco is an important addition to our economic work. The cooperation between the cities of Kiel and San Francisco, as well as the associations The Bay Areas and the San Francisco Kiel Sister City Committee covers cultural, sports and civic issues.
We as NGIO and WTSH then contribute through our contacts in the academic and business communities. This multi-layered commitment is noticed and appreciated by our partners here locally. The joint visit of the delegation under President Hans-Werner Tovar and the NGIO to Stanford University and Plug and Play is an expression of this cohesion. Among other things, both meetings dealt with the topic of social entrepreneurship. In discussions with students at Stanford University and also at Plug and Play, we have repeatedly found that responsible innovation requires a civil society exchange. We can push this through our joint work. I am very much looking forward to future projects and collaborations and invite all Kielers to get involved in this discourse.