DAY I – SWISSNEX & SWISSCOM
First day visiting the Silicon Valley, amazing experience!
Despite our jettlagged brains and minds, once our stomachs had been properly fulfilled with coffee and bagels, we started our journey by visiting swissnex.
We were looking forward to discover where the HQ were, since Vincenzo had told us that words could not express how amazing they were. And he was right.
Who could have imagined that the docks of SF’s marina had been transformed in a huge, impressive and unbelievable industrially designed place becoming the nest of Swiss innovation in San Francisco and the Silicon Valley.
Christian Simm – founder of swissnex – told us the story of swissnex, their goals as well as the current challenges of the Silicon Valley, which was a great and rewarding experience! Benjamin Bollmann, Head of Science at swissnex, gave us a tour of the offices. Many thanks to them for their commitment and enthousiasm!
The second part of the day was a trip to the heart of the Silicon Valley in order to discover the offices of Swisscom, acting a bit like a satellite aiming to exchange information and innovation between SF and Switzerland. We were given an intensive and interactive course on the main facts that have to be taken into consideration through the innovation process. Another great experience that immersed us in the way business modeling and product developing is thought in the Silicon Valley. Once again, many thanks to Grégory Leproux and Stefan Petzov for their energy and all the precious hints they gave us!
So – to conclude – our two-week journey started amazingly well with great encounters, lots of good advices and amazing chicken wings and potatoes at noon, which brought the smile on every eating face.