Start-ups, partners and interested parties from the industry and hardware sector came together in September for a special kind of workshop: a tech safari, in which the participants could trace the path from idea to product at individual stations. Under the title »Start-A-Factory Reloaded«, 40 participants experienced the mix of lab infrastructure and work environment, which is specially designed to meet the needs of hardware start-ups. In project-based cooperations and with state-of-the-art equipment, the SAF environment enables development teams to quickly realize new products from the initial idea to the professional prototype – embedded in a network of Fraunhofer IZM specialists and other partners. Now that all the elements have been set up and are ready for use, SAF‘s creators have invited to a »walk-around« event. In addition to workshops on the different stages of microelectronic hardware development, the keynotes were a particular highlight. Mike Richardson, founder and technical advisor, but also container user at SAF, explained to the audience what the nerds of the future will look like: »The special thing about a tech dork is the mix of a nerd and a communicative and social person.«