Where does the German sense of crisis in innovation come from?

Germany is a nation with a strong sense of urgency. It understands the importance of R&D investment for the economic development of a country. They are good at introspection, self-criticism, humble and cautious. In the era of Internet +, no innovation will be defeated by competitors, replaced by new industries, and may even be eliminated by the entire era. In the German corporate club's visit to Germany and Italy, former Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho shared a story with Nokia. Aho took up his position as the youngest prime minister in Finnish history in 1991. He also served as chairman of the Finnish National Research and Development Fund and vice president of Nokia.

In 2011, Nokia began to lay off employees, and 18,000 people were cut in two years, most of them are European employees. It sounds like a catastrophe, but what happened afterwards? People will say that it has no effect.

In the biggest change in Nokia's history, they encouraged those employees who might have left early and gave them a lot of help to get them back. In the end, 60% of the 18,000 people found jobs before leaving Nokia; there are 1,000 new companies from around the world, and 400 new companies are in Finland.

"For those who have to leave Nokia, they suddenly realize that they can create their own company and have the ability to do well. Of course, these new companies need time to grow and gain a foothold. But anyway, Nokia's The layoffs are smoother than everyone expected. Now Nokia is doing a good job, not only has profitability but also timely expansion. So Ah Ho concluded that in order to encourage innovation in Europe, it is necessary to let talents flow freely.

The Nordic people’s sense of urgency is exactly the same as that of the Germans. Germany is also a nation with a strong sense of urgency. It is deeply optimistic about the importance of R&D investment for the economic development of a country. They are good at self-examination and very humble.

For Chinese entrepreneurs who visit Europe, how to activate innovation enthusiasm and increase knowledge output is one of the most important issues when they invest in Europe.

In the German-Chinese company's German-Chinese tour, many German companies expressed a sense of urgency. German car companies and parts suppliers "group" have invested heavily in the technology of autonomous driving, but the real full-automatic driving will probably be realized after 10 to 15 years.

In Munich, Germany, with the China Enterprise Club delegation and the BMW Group executives, Ma Weihua, chairman of the Chinese corporate club, the biggest feeling of the former China Merchants Bank (18.31, 0.06, 0.33%) is BMW's insight into future needs. And the efforts made to this end. Last year, BMW's sales were 84.01 billion euros, of which R&D investment was as high as 6.041 billion euros, and R&D investment exceeded sales by 7%.

Europeans are afraid of entrepreneurial failure
On the 14th, while the Chinese Enterprise Club was conducting a business visit in Berlin, Bosch launched the Academia Sinica in Germany. The start of the institute even invited a distinguished guest: German Chancellor Merkel. Some media concluded that Merkel advertised the R&D center of a leading company, indicating that under the background of Germany's introduction of Industry 4.0, the innovation power of the company and the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of the Germans still need to be improved. The Prime Minister supported a company to invest heavily in the innovation track and the information it conveyed was very clear.

Although they have been at the forefront of R&D in many areas of industry, the Germans believe that they are far from mobilizing all their potential. According to Bosch's observations: In the past few years, Germans have less entrepreneurial enthusiasm than the United States, as well as some Asian countries. Bosch concluded that this is mainly because German young people are afraid of failure.

"Many people believe that Europe already has its own 'Silicon Valley'. In fact, there is no such opportunity here, and the people lack the enthusiasm for entrepreneurship. I am not only talking about the lack of venture capital, but also a lack of courage. Only 25% of Germans have the idea of ​​starting their own company, but 40% of Americans can imagine starting their own business,” said Volkmar Denner, chairman of the Bosch Management Committee.

"What is even more worrying is that 80% of Germans are reluctant to try because they are afraid of starting a business. Only 30% of Americans have such concerns," Volkmar Denner said. This concern is particularly evident in some young college graduates who need entrepreneurial spirit. “If Europe really wants to have its own 'Silicon Valley', we must learn to take risks.”

Aho agrees with Volkmar Denner's analysis of young people's entrepreneurial enthusiasm. He believes that European culture is also one of the reasons for this situation. "Europeans are habitually conservative and hope to retain the existing advantages. This attitude is contrary to the American 'adventurous spirit' and is not conducive to Europe. Innovation."

Even in a slightly conservative Europe, the changes of the times urged society and industry to innovate. Aho estimates that at least 35% of existing work will disappear in the next 10 to 15 years. E-commerce will devour a lot of work, but at the same time new jobs will emerge. Europe has lagged behind the United States in many technological developments. To meet these challenges, it is necessary to increase the sense of urgency.

The leapfrog development of Chinese enterprises in the digital age
35 km southwest of Berlin, an hour's drive to the SAP Potsdam Innovation Center in Germany. The Innovation Center is built on a lake. Opening the door is an open balcony, colorful forests in autumn, and beautiful lake views of the Harvey River and the Virgin Lake.

The German software group, founded in 1972, is now a global giant with headquarters in Ordorf, about 400 km southwest of Berlin. But in order to get closer to the 150,000 students in Berlin and Potsdam, they have built another 45% of their employees to be “85s” young people's innovation home. Young, free thinking and innovation are the corporate philosophy that SAP has been working hard to build.

In this innovation center, SAP has a team of five people to develop an app. This hopes to reduce the number of immigrants applying for refugee status to Germany from 6 to 9 months to 4 months. The biggest difference is that they can invest in a new life faster.

It is such a network platform that simply solves complex social problems. For example, Jens Kruger, co-chair of the SAP Innovation Center Network, told Chinese entrepreneurs, "More and more invisible forces are changing our world, ubiquitous networks, terminals, undercurrents of big data, cloud computing. , are the challenges brought by digitalization, what we need to do is how to respond."

"Large technology companies like SAP, which used to be international customers, needed a team of engineers from thousands of people, but now their market is being eaten, and SAP itself realizes that the 'cumbersome ERP era' has passed." China Deng Feng, a member of the corporate club and one of the founders of the Northern Lights, lamented me. He has more than 20 years of experience in technology and management in the venture capital, computer, communications and data networking industries. He believes that many emerging Internet companies in China have obvious advantages. They are more flexible and have developed some small software that is easy to use. Many tools can be used. Free to use, even eliminating the cumbersome factors of training. Although these emerging technology companies still have various shortcomings, the "squid effect" caused by companies like Intel, Microsoft, and SAP in Germany has a sense of urgency that will not die. Otherwise, SAP, which is based on ERP's process management, will not have to launch a new platform like HANA.

Wang Wenjing, chairman and CEO of UFIDA Network Technology Co., Ltd., who is also a member of the Chinese corporate club, has the same feeling. He is very curious about the role of the company's software in the German Industry 4.0. In his understanding, Chinese companies are almost "jumping" in the application of new technologies because they start late, and they know more about Chinese and Asian customers. . These are the challenges faced by traditional big technology companies.

"The German industry 4.0 is backed by the SAP system. Chinese companies are Internet-based and digital. China also has a national strategy of manufacturing 2025. Through this trip, we hope to learn about the successful practice of German Industry 4.0. The two sides explore the possibility of cooperation." Wang Wenjing Say.

No innovation will be eliminated by the times
The 99-year-old German BMW car is more advanced, they plan ahead and refuse to respond to new challenges. BMW believes that innovation is necessary, otherwise it will be surpassed by its peers and even eliminated by the new technology era.

In the Chinese company's clubs' visit to Germany and Italy, BMW's efforts to share innovations in Munich and Chinese entrepreneurs. For example, they have a team of 200 engineers in Chicago who are responsible for developing BMW's next-generation applications. They consciously arranged that the software development team stayed away from BMW's "hardware" headquarters, allowing the team to develop work in a highly innovative environment like the United States. Now that BMW is in China, Singapore also has its own innovation center, the purpose is to “do not let the culture of solidification influence the team innovation” to challenge the innovation.

Dr. Ian Robertson, a member of the BMW Group's board of directors, said that we always want to think ahead of others, considering what the future looks like, rather than waiting for it to happen. For example, digitalization has become an important factor affecting the market. From buying a car, long-term car rental, to the current “share car”, this is a digital change to the industry and must be addressed. BMW estimated the trend of “ride-taking” a few years ago and developed the Drive Now business, which is promoted in the US and the UK, and now has 500,000 customers. This service has been extended to more countries and cities.

In reality, the “taxi industry”, which was destroyed by the Internet era, has made many taxi drivers very resistant, and regulators also tend to protect the traditional rental industry. But Robertson believes that this new thing will exist as long as the customer likes it. Therefore, in product development, BMW must take into account the new trends in these industries, to be able to adapt to this new situation, and to give users the best experience.

Just like Robertson, the gold professional manager of the auto industry, he is both in London. Both of his 20-year-old sons are in London. Both sons don't have a car, but they can also travel with the car rental software. This is the charm of the Internet age.

At the same time, it is necessary to innovate, otherwise it will be surpassed by peers. Dr. Christoph Grote, senior vice president of research, new technology and innovation at BMW Group, said that BMW's biggest competitor is now the traditional car brand, at least for now.

Therefore, the final result of Industry 4.0 is to reduce costs and enhance competitiveness through high-quality production, intelligent error correction, and “zero 瑕疵”.

Now for BMW, the digitalization process from production and logistics to sales is still improving. BMW believes that digitalization will bring many advantages to the production process, achieving low cost and high efficiency, and even reducing energy consumption. These are places where costs can be reduced.

“Intelligent production status should be operated, thought, and even discerned by machines. This helps people to liberate from repeated basic labor and ultimately better help people work. We have begun to make various attempts.” BMW Brilliance Co., Ltd. President and CEO Oalf Kastner said.

“For example, we use smart watches to assist in quality inspection in some factories. It is the workers on the assembly line who can immediately know which unique settings each car needs, no matter which aspect. This attempt is only the beginning, but you can foresee The future development is to enable assembly workers to have better equipment and be prepared to respond to customers' various needs.

The end result is tailor-made in the so-called "personalization" of mass production. (The author of this article: Sina Finance Europe stationmaster. Work for more than ten years, from social news to financial news, from Shanghai to London, from the first financial daily to Sina Finance.)

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