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The innovations of the future: are we no longer the land of inventors?

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Tech News. Technology Publications, Innovations of the future, New Technology

The MRNA vaccine against Corona was invented in Germany and developed worldwide: What other inventions and innovations are innovative ideas, brilliant minds, disruptive ideas and technologies from Germany behind? Or does the progress of the future not come from certain countries at all, but is rather a collective effort across borders and disciplines?

It is said that as innovators, especially when it comes to practical implementation, the Germans have fallen behind badly. Is that correct?

Oh, it's heterogeneous. The Federal Ministry of Research ( Germany ) contacted me a short time ago because Germany was in first place on an innovation index. That also irritated the Federal Ministry of Research. That is what the Boston Consulting Group has calculated. So, you can find Germany in the first place when it comes to innovation.

 

Are we still a land of inventors?

Yes, we definitely are. In terms of quantity, Germany is one of the largest patent applicants, but in terms of quality, too, Germany is at the top of the list for the very important patents. We are absolute leaders in some areas.

How are we - apart from the vaccine success of 2020 - ahead? iPhone, Tesla, autonomous driving ... that passed Germany by, right?

We are not at the forefront when it comes to the technology that is brought directly to the customer, keyword “iPhone”. But German high-tech can be found in almost every smartphone. It depends on the many small innovations - and on bringing them together in complex systems. German engineering knowledge is held in high esteem abroad. The people in China and Japan see that the Germans can do something that they cannot do themselves.

 

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What for example?

Almost every shower gel contains fragrances from Sypris, the world market leader from Holzminden in the Weser Uplands. Bottle filling systems come from Korbin in Neutraubling in Bavaria. The inventor of the light barrier is based in Waldkirch in the Black Forest. It is actually a small town with a forest, a church and the Sick Company with over 10,000 employees, which is the world market leader in optical measurement technology for production systems.

 

Why are we the hidden champions in this country and not the dazzling innovation figures?

Short technology cycles and rapid changes do not suit the German approach to innovation. In other words, the entire IT industry. Siemens and Bosch were both not bad at cellular technology in the 1990s, but the short innovation cycles didn't suit their processes. The Germans want to do it thoroughly, they want to understand it, and they want a perfect system. And that doesn't make any headway in a market in which the technology can be completely different every two years. Or let's take the smartphone as an example. Everyone takes photos with these devices. The associated lens technology often comes from Zeiss. Zeiss did not expect this new market at all and was practically pushed into it. This in turn shows that Germans sometimes do not even see the potential of their innovative products.

 

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A German also invented autonomous driving - but you tend to associate it with Elon Musk. Or the MP3 format: invented by Fraunhofer, marketed worldwide by companies from many countries. Is that unfortunate?

It's often said that way, but it doesn't get to the heart of the matter: research is cooperation. In the MP3 format, for example, Fraunhofer has adopted many of the basic technologies from Bell Laboratories. They were implemented in a clever solution, which then established itself as the standard. Fraunhofer has benefited incredibly from the rapid international expansion through license income. For me this is a success story and not an example of the technology drain. You often have to open up a technology to all other users in order to help it achieve a breakthrough. And that's where Apple just struck.

 

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Is the “national” overestimated in the innovation process?

It is seldom possible to say that a particular country has produced a new technology. 80 percent of the innovations in industry come from large, globally active corporations. Biotech or nanotech or quantum technology are the exceptions. Otherwise it's the big players, and they have a global research network in which ideas, knowledge and technologies from different sources and from different countries come together. It is precisely the international exchange that drives technological development and has always done so. We also criticize that in the research ministry's funding projects, where the money has to stay in Germany. This is not a good use of funds, because it can often be an advantage to bring in a technology partner from East Asia or the USA,

In absolute terms, Germany spends the fourth most on research and development - can this also be seen in concrete results?

Six percent of our wealth comes from the fact that we are able to export more than we import. Only Japan and South Korea can do this in the same way as the industrialized countries. This export surplus is based on research and innovation in industries such as mechanical engineering, automotive, electrical engineering and chemistry. And also IT, keyword: SAP. The export performance of the German mechanical engineering companies, for example, and their dominance on world markets are almost unbelievable. We are by far the number 1 for machine tools and automation solutions. This is not a matter of course for a country in which one percent of the world's population lives.

 

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Now these days we are seeing how bureaucracy kills certain processes. Is innovation in Germany at least hindered by bureaucracy?

Yes, yes. We have seen this in our company surveys for 25 years. Two factors currently emerge from these surveys: One is the shortage of skilled workers. Second: the bureaucracy, the laws and the regulations. There are many things that do not make innovation impossible, but make it more difficult. Little things about documentation obligations are incredibly annoying and delay processes. The effort is getting higher and higher. Elsewhere, rules that hinder you a lot are left aside. With us, the security aspect is in the foreground. This is another reason why companies in Germany are not as well equipped for fast technology cycles as in other countries.

 

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Do you see these obstacles to innovation in Germany?

In any case. At the moment the idea is spreading that one must create test rooms with little regulation. Real laboratories where you can try things out and learn how well the systems work. So you know that you have to create solutions.

You said that 80 percent of innovations are driven by large companies. What about the smaller ones: start-ups?

We are not well positioned in this area, especially in the life sciences and biotechnology. For some start-ups it is actually wise to go to the USA, where firstly you get much higher funding for development in the pre-market stage and secondly you can get a lot more venture capital. There are currently many specialized funds in the biotech sector. In Germany there is the high-tech start-up fund with a volume of several hundred million euros. However, the strategy is usually not to get the start-ups listed on the stock exchange, but rather to sell them to large companies. As a result, no new group will emerge from a start-up from this point of view. Start-ups are also attracted to the USA because the market is more homogeneous. This allows you to upscale faster, so expand production quickly. This is especially true for the IT area. An unbeatable advantage that may one day be adopted by China. In Europe, due to the different languages ​​and preferences of consumers, a digital strategist would have to design his own market strategy for each individual market and set up his own sales department that takes into account the specifics of the markets. So it makes sense for many IT companies to go to Silicon Valley as well.