Ghent, 16 december 2010, In Silicon Valley top universities , business capital, multinationals and creative entrepreneurs are a stone's throw away, an ideal breeding ground for start-ups as proven in the past. However it isn't a sinecure to get a foot in the ground as a Belgian start-up. Therefore the IBBT and FIT aggreed to support Belgian start-ups in Silicon Valley with the Plug and Play Tech Center. This week 10 out of 24 candidates were selected to cross the ocean to conquer the American market. The Plug & Play jury was very impressed with the quality of the flemish start-ups..

Tuesday 21 december 2010, 15:10 by Cathy Niesz

Minister of innovation, Ingrid Lieten: 'In cooperation with Flanders Investment & Trade the IBBT concluded an aggreement with Plug & Play Tech Center, the goal of this aggreement is to select sixteen or so start-ups that can settle themselves in Silicon Valley, California for a minimal period of 3 months. During those 3 months they are introduced in the Silicon Valley eco-system and are accompanied to grow, accelerate and launch there business in Silicon Valley.' The goal of this initiatif is to help Flemish companies enter the international market as soon as possible. Following the first call 24 companies submitted their candidacy and these 10 start-ups were selected to pack there suitcases for Silicon Valley: XAOP, wondergraph, VCWarehouse, Inuits, FluidDA, Percussa, Engagor, Collibra, Cartagenia, Ikan Development.

Ingrid Lieten : 'Mid February I participated in an economical mission to California and was accompanied by a couple of Flemish ICT-entrepreneurs and participants of the IBBT. Silicon Valley is still the center of the global internet and computer industry. For startups in this domain it is crucial to expand a good network there. These kinds of initiatives fit my policy of supporting Flemish high-tech companies.'

The selected companies were introduced during iMinds, the yearly conference held by the IBBT, that fits into a week long conference this year. The Future Internet Conference Week offers a program of back-to-back conferences, meetings and workshops around the internet of the futur. We closely follow the startups and hope to report more news in the coming months concerning there successes. Around summer a second call will be launched and a new batch of startups gets a chance to travel to Silicon Valley.