Large Companies Replicating Silicon Valley's Cross-FertilizationAnthony Maher, a former member of the board of Siemens Information and Communication Networks, and who was also in charge of Siemens' venture investments, believes that the technical universities in Munich and Bavaria are excellent . He explains that they generate many students with a great depth and substance of technical knowledge, and who have a strong wish to finally let all of their knowledge flow when they finish studying , having spent more time at university than students in the U.S., for example. However, in line with the general opinion on Munich's performance, Maher believes that these resources traditionally have not been leveraged to their full extent. For Siemens, [14] working to instill a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation in the region has been a strategic aspiration, aimed at being able to capitalize upon the unexploited intellectual potential within its own four walls, but also outside of its corporate boundaries within the greater Munich region. Mr. Maher refers to the region's intellectual potential as "raw resources in the ground that just need to be picked up and polished" by giving them the space and to expand themselves . Whereas many traditional companies tend to "confine" the creative capacities of their employees , Siemens believes they need to be freed within a suitable environment. In attempting to create this kind of environment in Munich, however, Siemens found that the charisma and the spirit of Silicon Valley were missing and that entrepreneurial culture in the region was just at its beginning.
While Siemens' efforts to import entrepreneurship have shown considerable results, the company has been struggling to deal with Germany's lack of a service culture and restrictive federal immigration laws. When compared with service-focused regions such as Ireland, Germany tends to be far more focused on engineering than developing user-friendly features or services for businesses and end- user consumers. These "entrepreneurship killers" are considered a serious disadvantage to the competitiveness of the Munich high-tech region. |