I think I have to disagree here. From my experience, working as a team is the centerpoint of German work culture. This includes giving each member of a team the oportunity to contribute in discussions and then also taking their suggestions seriously. The hierarchy is there, but rather at the same level or below the level of most other European countries.
In France, on the other hand, hierarchy is very strict, including within a team. Supposedly, this is caused by the French higher education system.
Taken together, the German and the French model often produce horrible failures when a French company tries to expand into Germany. If there is a problem to be solved within a team, the German Engineers/Workers will expect to hear the following at a meeting: "Listen guys, we have to change this and that, how do you think we could do it?". A French manager, however, is trained to walk into the meeting and say "We are now doing it like this.".
Generally, I would recommend to stop associating strict hierarchy with Germany. Things have been changing for at least 40 Years now and in many fields (probably not all however) the amount of hierarchy is "normal". Things like pulling rank are observed rather seldomly in the technical fields. If you want to see how these things used to be a long time ago, you might want to look at Austria.
Also, if you want a reason for why there is no SV-like feel to any of the German technology "hubs", I'd suggest risk-aversion as a reason. If you asked me what the most central collective character trait of todays Germans is, my answer would be risk-aversion. When you tell a German what he can gain, he will ask you what he could lose.
On a side note, be careful when forming an opinion about Europe if your only fluent European language is English. Things might look very different on the other side of the language barrier. When talking about Germany, for instance, even the most carefully written publication from the UK will have inaccuracies in it. The way in which todays Germany and the Germanys past are convoluted in public discourse in the UK will influence anybody living there, even if he actively tries to avoid it. On the other side of the coin, natives or expats that live in a European country and tell you about it also have narratives, usually heavyly influenced by how they want to see themselves and their nationality. You basically can't trust anyone.