Forum Mittelstand at WHU: Keynotes and conversations on digital transformation
On April 17th, the mittelstand entrepreneurs' round table focused on 'the digital transformation as a practical task in medium-sized companies'
The "digital transformation" has become a hyped topic in recent years. More and more companies are examining their value creation processes for potentials of "digitalization". Efforts to increase efficiency, automation, networking and the development of digital business models are being discussed. Because of the many challenges and related promises, the topic remains of considerable importance also for small and medium-sized companies. This topic thus provided the ground for the first Forum Mittelstand in 2018 that took place on April 17th at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, organized by myself as interim chair at WHU in cooperation with IHK Koblenz (the chamber of industry and commerce Koblenz).
I am happy that for this occasion, several top-class speakers shared their insights with the audience:
Dr. Armin Lau of Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG talked about Schaeffler's approach to future-oriented innovation management, emphasizing the role of methodology and mindset.
Dr. Bernhard Albert, founder and Managing Director at Foresight Solutions , shared experiences from numerous strategy and innovation Foresight projects with small and medium-sized enterprises. He focused on participatory, networked approaches to Open Innovation as well as cross-industry settings.
Milan Vukas, Key Account Manager at quintly GmbH in Cologne, and founder of the not-for-profit association Wesseling Digital e.V. reported from his road towards including citizens in digitalizing their home town. He illustrated his approach to establish networks of citizens of any age, enterprises and associations through do-it-yourself workshops, coding camps, and programming courses.
Johannes Utsch, co-founder of Eck.ventures GmbH in Koblenz, talked about how SMEs can engage in start-up type innovation of their business models to reach new markets or renovate existing businesses.
Link to the event report.
