It has been a great pleasure being the clean-up batter for moderator Michael Dowling (University Regensburg) in the Webtalk hosted by Dr. Johannes Winter and the prestigious National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech). The esteemed experts Olga Mordvinova, CEO of incontext.technology; Franz Gruber, founder of Forcam, Kai-Uwe Weiß, Manager at Leser and Wolfgang Faisst, founder of value.works.ai discussed about how digital transformation and artificial intelligence helps SME‘s to find a positive way out of the crisis, about GAIA-X, digital twins and best-practice experiences. It was an honour rounding-up the event together with Prof. Dowling.
Follow the Clean-up Batter comments in this summary
Details from the webtalk in German HERE . Translation below made with DeepL.com
Munich, March 9, 2021
Digital technologies have proven their worth, especially in the Corona pandemic: Thanks to them, companies were and are more adaptable during the crisis and can respond more quickly to customer requirements. But what role do digital technologies now play in finding a way out of the crisis? And what framework conditions need to be created so that SMEs in particular give up their reluctance to digitize? Experts from business and research discussed this at an acatech Webtalk on March 5.
Many globally operating, medium-sized companies in Germany had a problem during the Corona pandemic: Since business trips were not possible, customers could not take delivery of an ordered product on site at the plant. However, digital technologies provided a remedy: the safety valve manufacturer Leser GmbH, for example, as Leser manager Kai-Uwe Weiß reported in his presentation, offers customers the service of a “remote inspection”, in which customers are guided through the plant via a virtual reality application and can thus carry out the acceptance.
Earlier, Wolfgang Faisst, a member of the Learning Systems Platform and founder of value.works.ai, had already recommended a “Digital Business Framework” to medium-sized companies in his introductory impulse in order to emerge better from the Corona crisis. For this, technological and organizational requirements would have to be optimally harmonized with digital ambitions (e.g. reconfiguration of business processes or digital refinement of products). Wolfgang Faisst referred to the offerings of the Learning Systems Platform, which provides target images, implementation examples and roadmaps for AI introduction and application.
The panel discussion following the presentations, moderated by acatech member Michael Dowling (University of Regensburg), emphasized that the success of Industrie 4.0 must be measured in terms of entrepreneurial results and the customer benefits generated. Olga Mordvinova, member of the Learning Systems Platform and CEO of incontext.technology GmbH, emphasized that Germany has an excellent position both on the technology provider side and in the area of domain knowledge. However, in order for the potential of digitization to be better exploited – especially in SMEs – a secure and sovereign digital infrastructure is needed in Germany and Europe, said Franz Gruber, founder and advisory board member of Forcam GmbH. Only then would companies abandon their reluctance, which is due in part to their dependence on large platform companies. Jochen Werne, member of the Learning Systems Platform and board member of Prosegur Germany, agreed: Fundamental for the near future and the time after Corona is a clear European vision and implementation strategy for digital transformation.
Find the full acatech webtalk here