Plug & Play call Fall 2011

Regardless how much groundbreaking research is carried out in Europe, market leaders such as Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Twitter continue to emerge from the United States. The dynamics of an ‘ecosystem’ such as Silicon Valley, in which top universities, venture capital, large companies and entrepreneurs have networked and created an efficient loop of value-adding innovations, is therefore invaluable.

Any Belgian ICT start-up looking to break into the world market would do best to adopt an international strategy from the word go. But without local roots and support it is no easy task to establish a foothold in the highly competitive and quickly developing world-market.

IBBT has therefore decided to form a partnership with the Californian incubator Plug & Play Tech Center, supported by Flanders Investment & Trade. At Plug & Play promising technological start-ups can not only find a home in the heart of Silicon Valley, but also find the introductions, local market knowledge and support they need to get started up quickly.

The objective of this stay is a first-hand acquaintance with the Silicon Valley ecosystem and building a network of commercial and financial relations in the United States. Based on this experience, companies can decide on how to further develop their internationalization strategy. In order to reach as many interested parties as possible, we can count on a network of partner organizations active in the sector, such as plugMedia and the BetaGroup.