heise meets… Deutschland digital – better than its reputation?

0
33
1660141419 heise meets… deutschland digital – better than its reputation.jpg
1660141419 heise meets… deutschland digital – better than its reputation.jpg

German companies, start-ups and universities need not shy away from the comparison. With a little more courage, we would be further ahead in digitization.

 

In conversation with Dr. Martin Hofmann, Advisor Strategic Customers at Salesforce and former CIO of the Volkswagen Group, we take a look at the degree of digitization of German companies, public administration and the start-up and university scene in Germany. In the press and in statistics, Germany is often portrayed as the “digitization tail light” in Europe.

 

  • on voonze meets
  • at Apple Podcasts
  • on Google Podcasts
  • at Spotify
  • at Deezer
  • at pocket casts
  • as an RSS feed

“Public perception is lagging behind. Unfortunately, that’s the case in some areas, but we also have flagship projects,” Hofmann clarifies. “There are some projects that contribute to the bad reputation, for example from the regulatory environment, here we are in a culture of consensus and try to implement everything 100 percent risk-free and with due consideration for everyone and everything.” This includes the digital health card project.

 

We have a lot of catching up to do in the field of digital education. “Even with projects that are in high demand from young people, it is difficult to integrate them into school lessons. We have to learn how to ‘just do it’ again – just like inventors and engineers did historically in Germany. We are more concerned with the risks and exceptional cases and less with the opportunities that result from the project,” criticizes Hofmann.

According to Hofmann, we have a well-established start-up scene in Germany; German industry and investors are active. Good examples of young companies are Celonis (commerce software), a spin-off from the Technical University of Munich, or Personio (HR software), valued at billions, which is also causing a sensation internationally. Or the translation software DeepL.

SEE ALSO  Access My Citizen Folder easily with the digital certificate and your ID. It doesn't take you even two minutes

It is important that we create good framework conditions, foundations have to go faster and start-ups have to be better supported, also by experienced managers who accompany and coach them and open doors in sales.

Technologies without artificial intelligence are no longer conceivable today, says Hofmann. There are well-known venture funds in Germany, such as Lake Star Ventures, with a focus on deep tech in Germany and Europe, which aim to lead European tech start-ups to the top of the world. There are many start-ups in the field of artificial intelligence, in Germany via the Merantix AI campus in Berlin. There are over 100 AI specialists from all over the world who have been brought to Berlin.

In the field of quantum computing, too, Germany is in a good position compared to other European countries. Terra Quantum, a Swiss-German company, completed one of the largest financing deals in the global quantum technology segment in 2021 with around 75 million US dollars.

In the university sector there are also noteworthy initiatives and an impressive start-up scene, stresses Hofmann. One example is Professor Schönenberger’s UnternehmerTUM in Munich: Incubation from the Technical University of Munich to create new digital champions. In the meantime, company values ​​in the billions are held in young companies in Germany to help them found companies based on research – everything in the field of digitization.

“We don’t have any digital superstars like Google, Meta or Amazon. Perhaps we should also look more closely at our traditional companies, which are also changing into ‘digital stars’. One example of this is Siemens: a company that combines fundamental engineering skills with digital know-how and is therefore on an equal footing with companies from the USA,” explains Hofmann. Or Adidas, which was unable to sell any products via the stores during the pandemic and would have benefited immediately from their e-commerce trade and excellent customer relationship management. “When we think of digitization, we shouldn’t think too much in terms of sectors. Digitization is happening everywhere. Only the communication is bad at the moment,” notes Hofmann.

SEE ALSO  New Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 5G are official: mid-range phones now more powerful

“All sectors and companies that will still be on the market in 10 years will ensure our prosperity,” Hofmann remarks. The digital know-how and the competence are available. “Provided I have the experts. If Adidas hadn’t reacted quickly and gone digital, the company would be different today.” Money is not the problem right now. Investors and partners who bring more to the table than just financial resources are sought. We are looking for partners who bring in contacts and help to become successful.

There is currently a need for action in the area of ​​public administration. Here the processes would have to be massively simplified. Citizens must feel the advantages, then the view of digitalization will also change. To do this, even more media pressure must be exerted on politicians. “People value success,” is Hofmann’s creed.

The voonze Academy offers its own courses and further training on the subject of machine learning and artificial intelligence:

  • The new learning platform for IT professionals: Machine Learning courses

The podcasts from voonze:

  • Hear from us – our podcasts