Cross over and our network to San Francisco are the hallmarks of The Bay Areas. We started the new year with a BAM that covered everything from student exchanges to blue tech. We are delighted that around 60 members and guests with very different interests attended, made new contacts and engaged in intensive discussions.

This time the host was the TBA member State capital Kiel. Cityt President Bettina Aust gave an overview and explained the background to Kiel's diverse commitment to town twinning. Support and funding for civil society projects is available from the International Affairs by the team around Frauke Wiprich. Cathrin Truckenbrodt and Wolfgang Schmidt are the contact persons in the economic department.

"We very much appreciate this support and the good personal cooperation with the city administration. This is not a matter of course and makes many projects in the direction of San Francisco possible in the first place," said TBA board member Axel Schulz.

Tim Ole Jöhnk from the Northern Germany Innovation Office, freshly flown in from the USA, encouraged transatlantic connections despite current political developments: "Our partners are still there and still have the same interests, especially in Democrat-majority California."

Three examples of both established and new connections followed immediately:

🎒Marko Rosen from the Max Planck School talked about how the school partnership with GISSV came about: "Initially, their focus was more on dual training, but we stuck with it and have now established a very good student exchange with reciprocal visits."

🏕️Die The scouts of the Ansgar tribe began their preparations in 2021 by looking for partners in the USA. They received an answer from California and so in 2023 Girl and Boy Scouts were guests in Kiel, in the summer of 2024 the Kielers traveled to the Bay Area for three weeks.

🌊 Nele Dageförde made numerous contacts in the field of blue tech during the TransMarTec trip to the Bay Area and LA at the end of 2024. This has already led to a joint project with Reefgen from San Francisco for the automated planting of seagrass and a return visit by the Californians to Kiel.

"As The Bay Areas, we are happy to support precisely this diverse exchange through our various contacts in the Bay Area," emphasized Anna Dornberger in her brief summary of our networking trip. "The people behind the institutions make the real connections, which is why personal meetings and exchanges are so important and valuable."