Electric, digital, sustainable - these are the innovation trends of tomorrow

The German economy is in transition. Whether mobility, the labor market, climate change or digital transformation - far-reaching changes in all these areas clearly show that things cannot go on as they have been up to now. New solutions are needed to solve the great challenges of our time. Real innovations that are sustainable - visionary, but also practical. How can you do that? One way: To combine the experience of established pioneers with the unclouded view and the will of young talent: to promote new thinking, networked cooperation and the courage to try things out.

The Future Pioneers Summit in Berlin by Business Insider Germany and WELT made this possible. Here young high potentials from business, science and politics met with established top-level personalities to exchange ideas about Germany's future and to discuss solutions for different industries.

In four panels, the speakers spoke about the future of mobility, the world of work, digitization and the areas of sustainability and energy. Business Insider and WELT also honored four Future Pioneers: young talents who are already successfully redesigning disruptive business areas and setting new rules for future-oriented entrepreneurship. The sponsors of the summit were Creditplus, Cerabran, Schaeffler and Stepstone.

Becoming electric, digital and sustainable: This is what the panel on future mobility was all about. The automotive industry will face major challenges in the coming years, especially when compared internationally. The speakers found that Germany is on the right track, but still has a lot to do in order to remain strong in the market. Şahin Albayrak, Professor of Computer Science at the Technical University of Berlin, emphasized that research institutions in Germany must work much more closely together to develop solutions.

Osman Dumbuya, CEO at Incari, said: “I don't think we're too late. But we should take the challenge seriously." His company is developing software for autonomous driving. Dumbuya predicted that in the future cars will have various services and applications just like smartphones. And Jörg Burzer, Member of the Board of Management of the Mercedes-Benz Group, added that the automotive industry has already become much more flexible and faster in this regard - also in the implementation of software solutions. At Mercedes, for example, such updates would be installed every two weeks if necessary.

Of course, the energy crisis played an important role in the panel on sustainability and energy – and how we can find better solutions to save energy in the face of climate change. There are now various options for building houses in a sustainable and thermally insulating manner, for example with mineral insulating plaster. Ingeborg Esser, for example, Managing Director of GdW Wohnungswirtschaft, emphasized: "In the future, it can no longer be a solution to build 20 centimeter thick Styrofoam panels into houses."

There was also an interesting discussion at the panel on the future of digitization in Germany. According to angel investor Paul Kaffsack, there is still potential above all in the promotion of start-ups. However, digitization can only succeed if people are ready for it, added Ijad Madisch, founder of the Research Gate science network. The panellists saw particular potential in start-ups from the biotech and climatetech sectors.

How can companies retain employees? At the panel on the future of work, Tobias Zimmermann, evangelist and labor market expert at Stepstone, said in his keynote: "The labor market must and will become as flexible as possible". This not only means that employers have to offer flexible working hours and remote work, but also that there will be significantly more job changes, that re-skilling and upskilling will become a matter of course for employees - and employees will demand individual working models that are tailored to their very personal needs life situation are adjusted.

The panelists also discussed ways in which companies can retain their employees in the long term. An important factor in this is enabling employees to promote their potential, develop further and thus sharpen their own role in the company - without it always being about promotions. According to Jenny von Podewils, co-founder of the Leapsome feedback platform, and Philip Siefer, founder of the Einhorn condom brand, attractive expert careers are therefore a central element of the future job market.

The "FUTURE PIONEERS SUMMIT" is a series of events organized by WELT and BUSINESS INSIDER. For the first time, awards were presented in the categories Future Mobility, Future Work, Future Sustainability

Source: WORLD

Kerstin Wagner, Human Resources at Deutsche Bahn, emphasized that companies should sell their jobs much better. "We see our applicants as customers to whom we want to sell the product - a job in the company - as attractively as possible." This also includes an attractive and authentic corporate culture. Virpi Matikainen, member of the management board at Cisco Germany, believes that good salaries alone do not keep people in their jobs, and that in addition to the technical possibilities for individualized and flexible working, what counts in the end is whether people can develop in their job.

The highlight of the evening was the award given to the Future Pioneers in the areas of sustainability

Sarah Sieringer, Head of Global Manufacturing Excellence at Siemens, was honored in the Future Digitalization category. "The big trick is not to wait for everyone else to change," said the award winner. Each individual has to say to himself: "Okay, then I'll take the first step."

For the Sustainability category

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