Sachsen Magazin - Trending Topics (ENG)

SPECIAL 

Trending 

Topics 

INTERNET OF THINGS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BLOCKCHAIN VIRTUAL REALITY 

A look at smart cars, smart 

energy and the rest of the 

(networked) world of things. 

P. 10 

Quantum computers are the new 

supercomputers – they have the 

potential to boost the AI trend. 

P. 38 

How a technology is 

revolutionising the internet 

and an entire industry. 

P. 62 

Virtual worlds are making 

inroads into our daily lives and 

offering unimagined insights. 

P. 78

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to 6 p.m., 

closed on 

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Editorial 

Editorial 

WELCOME 

Dear Readers, 

Just think of all the things we label megatrends nowadays – globalisation, climate 

change, urbanisation. In the same breath we almost always mention digitisation. 

And rightly so. After all, the profound changes accompanying digitisation will 

shape not only us, but also our children and our children’s children. And the 

speed at which digitisation is becoming part of our lives is increasing. Whereas it 

took 75 years for the telephone to reach 100 million users, Instagram managed 

the same in a little over two years. The field of mobility is also changing fast: 

according to forecasts, by 2020 some 250 million cars with an internet connection 

will be on the roads worldwide. That means around one in five vehicles will 

be networked. 

Examples such as these provide an idea of how many different aspects 

are subsumed under the term digital transformation. That is why we have 

named this magazine ‘Trending Topics’ – and why we’re taking a look at the 

12 most important digitisation trends of the coming years. Among them are, 

of course, the Internet of Things, as well as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence 

and virtual reality. 

It became clear from the many conversations we had in recent months 

that certainly not everything is going to plan everywhere and sometimes 

people’s reservations even prevail over progress. Yet a certain basic optimism, 

a curiosity about the things that will come our way, is tangible all 

over. German star architect Ole Scheeren shows it, for instance, as he gives 

us a view of the working world of the future in our centre spread. So does 

IBM manager Martina Koederitz, who talks about the complex challenges 

of digitisation for business. And, not least, the companies in Saxony that 

we got to know in the course of this cooperation project and whose progress we 

were able to follow for a while. The fact that people are working so intensely on 

the digital future in Germany’s easternmost federal state led us to particularly 

highlight certain personalities, companies and products at selected spots in the 

magazine in an ‘Inspirationals’ series. 

In this spirit, we hope you find great inspiration from the pages of this magazine. 

The editorial team 

TRENDING TOPICS

4 

Contents 

Contents 

TRENDING TOPICS 

P. 6 

Digital (R)evolution 

Trends & Facts 

01 

Internet of 

Things 

P. 74 

P. 9 

What happens when 

the fridge has ordered 

the wrong milk? 

One Question, 

One Answer 

P. 10 

The Next Internet 

A look at smart cars, 

smart energy and the 

rest of the (networked) 

world of things. 

02 

Social Media 

(P.12) 

P. 13 

Online First 


– an overview 

P. 14 

Revolutionaries 

in Sneakers 

Start-up Staffbase is 

shaking up employee 

communication. 

P. 18 

Inspirational Leaders 

Digitisation strategies 

and visions for the 

future: six pioneers in 

the spotlight. 

(P. 8) 

03 

Mobility & 

Logistics 

(P.20) 

P. 22 

Computers Take 

Over at the Wheel 

Autonomous mobility 

concepts are fundamentally 

changing our idea 

of transportation. 

P. 24 

Do machines actually 

make fewer errors in 

road traffic? 

One Question, 

One Answer 

04 

Cybersecurity 

(P.25) 

P. 26 

Honey Traps 

for Hackers 

Cyber-attacks 

represent a threat to 

companies and state 

institutions alike. 

05 

E-Commerce 

(P.29) 

P. 30 

Long Live 

the Community 

From student 

start-up to European 

market leader. 

P. 34 

Inspirational 

Companies 

Smart business ideas 

point the way to the 

digital future. 

P. 14 

06 

Artificial 

Intelligence 

(P.36) 

P. 38 

A New 

Quantum Leap 

Will quantum computers 

help artificial intelligence 

make its breakthrough? 

P. 39 

»When I think 

of artificial 

intelligence … 

Eight experts share 

their concerns and 

their hopes. 

P. 41 

»We could do 

without it, but why 

should we?« 

Why we need not fear 

artificial intelligence. 

P. 42 

Future in 100 Words 

Four visionaries 

look ahead to 

the digital future. 

TRENDING TOPICS

5 

Contents & Collaborators 

P. 20 

COLLABORATORS 

ANITA MRUSEK 

Creative Director 

Anita Mrusek works 

as a freelance creative 

director in her studio 

in Berlin’s Neukölln 

district. Focussing on 

corporate publishing 

and editorial design, 

she develops customer 

magazines for publishing 

houses and agencies, 

also handling relaunches. 

She has published 

her own fashion magazines 

and developed 

and designed ‘Trending 

Topics’ as Creative Director. 

07 

Smart 

Systems 

(P.47) 

P. 47 

Higher, Further, Faster 

that’s the Key 

Why an entrepreneur 

from Chemnitz takes a 

close look at the trends 

of Silicon Valley. 

P. 78 

08 

Industry 4.0 

(P.52) 

P. 53 

Humans 

as Conductors and 

Trouble-shooters 

Industry 4.0 is a German 

success story. 

P. 57 

Do robots make 

better colleagues? 

One Question, 

One Answer 

P. 58 

New Future 

for Analogue Products 

Tradition and 

digitisation can indeed 

go hand in hand. 

09 

Blockchain 

(P.61) 

P. 62 

Here to Stay 

How Blockchain is 

already plunging entire 

industries into a state 

of hysteria. 

10 

Smart 

Infrastructure 

(P.65) 

P. 66 

City of the Future 

Striving to get closer to 

the ideal of a smart city. 

Is there a magic formula? 

P. 70 

Inspirational Items 

Eight innovative objects 

that make life in our 

world that little bit easier. 

11 

Big Data 

(P.72) 

P. 73 

How much data 

does a person need? 

One Question, 

One Answer 

P. 74 

A Man with a Mission 

‘Astro Alex’ has an 

unusual experiment with 

him on board the ISS. 

12 

Virtual 

Reality 

(P.76) 

P. 78 

Virtual Worlds 

Reimagined 

How a hidden champion 

from Germany’s Ore Mountains 

is setting standards 

with 360-degree cameras. 

P. 81 

Index 

THOMAS MEYER 

Photographer 

Thomas Meyer lives 

and works in Berlin. He 

works for international 

magazines and clients, 

and was photographer 

for an award winning 

F.A.Z. campaign. Since 

2017 Meyer has been 

working as a photographer 

for the Bauhaus 

Dessau Foundation and 

teaches, amongst others, 

at Ostkreuzschule 

für Fotografie. His 

works are regularly featured 

in exhibitions. 

ANJE JAGER / Illustrator 

A native of the Netherlands, Anje Jager, who lives 

in Berlin, worked for many years as a graphic artist 

and designer before returning to her ‘first love’ 

– drawing and painting. In her illustrations she 

effortlessly combines her love of portrait painting 

with realism and artistic sensitivity. She works 

for international clients including Harper’s Bazaar 

and Monocle. 

GENE GLOVER 

Photographer 

Gene Glover has been 

working for major German 

newspapers and 

magazines for many 

years. In the last 10 

years, the native of New 

York has made a name 

for himself as a portrait 

photographer and photojournalist. 

His portfolio 

embraces cover and lead stories, for instance for 

Wired and The New York Times Magazine. In addition 

to editorial work, Glover also concentrates on 

projects in advertising and the corporate sector. 

Kinvara Balfour / Director & Moderator 

British director and moderator Lady Kinvara Balfour 

primarily addresses the topics of design, technology 

and trends. She created ‘The Visionaries’, 

a series of mini-films recorded solely on an iPhone. 

She has interviewed big names in the fashion 

industry for a cooperation project with Apple and 

advises tech start-ups on how to launch their 

business. She was, moreover, executive producer 

of a documentary on the late designer Alexander 

McQueen. 

TRENDING TOPICS

6 


Digital (R)evolution: 

Digital innovations permeate (almost) all 

areas of daily life. They are changing the way 

we work and communicate. And more than 

that: they are changing our whole lives. 

LEISURE TIME 

55 

per cent 

of German internet users now use social networks 

for their private communication, according to the German 

Federal Statistical Office. Ten years ago social networks 

were almost unheard of in Germany. 

The telephone 

needed 75 years to reach 

100 

million 

users 

Instagram needed just 2.2 years. 

(Source: report ‘Key Issues for Digital Transformation in the G20’; OECD) 

Two thirds 

of Germans still enjoy playing board or 

family games in their free time. Forty per cent 

prefer to play video and computer games. 

(Source: VuMA 2017; Arbeitsgemeinschaft Verbrauchs- und Medienanalyse) 

HEALTH 

The digital healthcare 

market is set to grow to over 

200 

billion 

dollars 

worldwide by 2020, estimates consultancy firm Roland Berger. That 

corresponds to average annual growth of 21 per cent as of 2015. 

45 per cent 

of smartphone users from Germany already use 

health apps, according to a survey by Bitkom Research. 

Almost 

220 

million 

wearables will be shipped in 2022, 

forecast the analysts at International Data 

Corporation. Smartwatches are to 

generate the most sales, with an estimated 

market share of 38.3 per cent. 

TRENDING TOPICS

7 


SCHOOL 

70 per cent 

of head teachers and teachers in Germany are 

convinced that digital media will increase the 

attractiveness of their school. 

(Source: study ‘Monitor Digitale Bildung’; Bertelsmann Foundation) 

However, on average only 

1 in 20 

schools nationwide regularly use digital media in the 

classroom, according to a study by Bitkom Research. 

Young Germans spend around 

45 minutes 

a day on the computer or 

internet doing schoolwork. 

(Source: ‘JIM-Studie 2017’; Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest) 

The market for artificial intelligence 

will be worth more than 

100 

billion 

dollars 

by 2025, estimates the American 

market research firm Constellation Research. 

BANKING 

Over 

4,500 

cryptocurrencies are listed on the platform 

Coinmarketcap.com in 2018. 

Of these, over 1,000 generate a daily trading 

volume of over 10,000 dollars each. 

TECHNOLOGIES 

31 

per cent 

of German consumers can already 

envisage buying a self-driving car, 

says Bitkom Research. 

Just under 

three quarters 

of Germans can imagine having a robot 

assistant as a household help, according to the 

Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO. 

It would be used to provide assistance primarily 

for strenuous and repetitive tasks. 

More than 

3 out of 4 

German citizens already do their 

banking online, tech association Bitkom 

discovered in a consumer survey. 

Two 

thirds 

of a total of 2,250 surveyed bank customers in nine 

countries – including Germany – stated that they no longer 

have any personal contact with their bank. At the same 

time, likewise two thirds of consumers consider a long-term 

relationship with their main bank to be important. 

(Source: whitepaper ‘Today’s Financial Consumer: Open for Business’; CGI) 

TRENDING TOPICS

8 

Internet of Things 


01 

Internet 

of Things 

short cut / Internet of Things (IoT) / Items become 

‘smart’ thanks to the integration of microchips and are thus 

able to communicate with other objects and computers via 

the internet / Systems act and interact without human intervention 

/ Challenge: IoT offers hackers a platform of attack / 

25 billion IoT devices by the year 2020 / Economic benefits 

estimated to be around 2 trillion dollars 

TRENDING TOPICS

9 


ONE 

QUESTION 

What if the 

refrigerator has ordered 

the wrong milk? 

ONE 

ANSWER 

»In fact, this is a scenario that 

might actually come about as a result 

of the Internet of Things. 

In practice, for reasons of data privacy 

the question will arise as to whether 

the webcam attached to the fridge should 

not be taped over as with your own 

laptop in order to do without such 

a service. The alternative: walk to your 

local supermarket!« 

( Christian Montag, Heisenberg Professor for 

Molecular Psychology at Ulm University, is busy researching 

the biological foundations of the human personality. ) 

TRENDING TOPICS

10 


The Next Internet 

The new mobile communications 

standard 5G, expected to launch 

in 2020, will make mobile internet 

faster and more reliable – and 

enable entirely new applications. 

A look at smart cars, smart 

energy and the rest of the 

(networked) world of things. 

text 

Boris Karkowski 

TRENDING TOPICS

11 


A full 7.6 billion people on Earth, meaning potentially 

some 7.6 billion smartphones connected to 

the internet. Yet at present there are only 2.5 billion 

smartphones. That may sound a lot, but it’s peanuts 

compared to what’s coming. After all, when 

the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes reality, several 

hundred billion devices will be networked with 

one another. Not just the usual suspects like fridges 

and cars, but all machines. When these devices are 

networked and exchange information with one another 

in real time, entirely new applications will 

be possible in production, logistics, medicine, the 

energy sector, agriculture and retailing. Remote 

surgical operations, intelligent traffic routing, and 

fully automated production including intelligent 

logistics chains are just some of the ideas people are 

currently working to realise. The character of the 

internet is thus set to fundamentally change – from 

the consumption of information to control based 

on permanent data exchange. 

One major advantage is decentralised decision-making. 

For instance, self-driving cars won’t 

have to be fitted with supercomputers and multiple 

sensors, but will be able to read data from traffic 

lights and cameras and other vehicles, or even process 

direct instructions from central traffic guidance 

systems – and send their own data back to 

them. Yet even more than that is set to change: Professor 

Frank Fitzek at Technische Universität (TU) 

Dresden, one of the leading minds in the field of 

5G, explains: “5G will not only enable communication 

from machine to machine, but also real-time 

communication between human and machine. 

This will give rise to entirely new ways of cooperating. 

Robots and people will no longer work alongside, 

but with one another. For example, someone 

will be able to put on an intelligent glove and teach 

it to play the piano – then, in turn, the glove will 

teach this to a layperson.” 

Complex cooperation 

A number of hurdles need to be overcome before 

this and similar visions can be realised. The most 

important precondition is a faster, more reliable 

mobile internet. This should be a reality in Germany 

as of 2020, mobile communications providers 

claim. 5G will not only be 100 times faster than 

the current LTE standard, but will also respond far 

more rapidly. A latency of just one millisecond will 

enable real-time transmission even over greater distances. 

Humans require roughly 10 times that for 

the connection from the eye to the brain. The network 

must also be reliable, so that autonomous cars 

and delivery drones don’t become disoriented. This 

Fully networked 

Not only humans, but 

inanimate objects are also 

increasingly often being 

connected to one another. 

This offers companies the 

opportunity to establish new 

business models and 

generate more sales – for 

example with networked 

products and services. The 

manufacturing industry is 

set to profit the most, with 

a huge number of devices 

and machines with the 

potential to be networked. 

Experts forecast a similar 

development in the utility 

and logistics sectors. 

requires not only a blanket radio connection, but 

also decentralised systems that can quickly plug the 

gap when a connection node fails. And finally, mobile 

phone connections of the future must use only 

a fraction of the electricity required today – otherwise 

the permanent data streams between devices 

would quickly drain batteries and overstrain the 

energy grids. 

joint Solutions across sectors 

Numerous companies are working on realising 5G. 

Deutsche Telekom in Berlin, for instance, has activated 

its first antennas for operating 5G under reallife 

conditions. An entire 5G cluster is currently 

taking shape in the city centre. Equal effort is already 

being devoted to the interplay of hardware, 

software and communication interface with a view 

to application. Patrick Grosa from Smart Systems 

Hub in Dresden explains the complexity as follows: 

“In the past it was generally only the manufacturers 

of a new product that had to agree on a standard, 

such as the format of a CD. Yet for the Internet 

of Things, manufacturers from all kinds of different 

industries have to coordinate with the providers 

of the telecommunications infrastructure and the 

software programmers, ideally at the global level.” 

The hub therefore facilitates exchange and the 

development of joint solutions across sectors and 

technologies. 

Using energy flexibly 

5G and the Internet of Things also have the potential 

to overhaul our energy supply. The foundations 

for this are currently being laid at the 5G 

Energy Hub, a cooperation between TU Dresden 

and RWTH Aachen University. The goal is decentralised, 

flexible energy use. Instead of rigid energy 

generation and consumption, in future a system of 

generators and consumers – be they private households 

or production companies – is to balance out 

supply and demand using flexible storage facilities. 

Joachim Seifert of TU Dresden explains: “In this 

way we can more effectively smooth out the fluctuations 

in renewable energies on a stormy day, for 

example, because the over-supply can be temporarily 

stored or converted and retrieved on another, 

less windy day.” Professor Fitzek emphasises: “The 

energy transition will not be possible without 5G.” 

Yet Fitzek has great expectations of the “next internet” 

in other areas, too. “People will be able to 

focus fully on innovating, because machines will 

take over the repetitive tasks.” ■ 

TRENDING TOPICS

12 

Social Media 


02 

Social 

Media 

short cut / Social Media / Digital technologies, websites, 

wikis, apps or networks via which users can connect with one 

another over the internet, create content and share it / Usergenerated 

content and many-to-many communication / From 

hashtags (#) to likes: the key characteristic is the interactivity 

in Web 2.0 / These days, procuring information takes place 

more through social media than classic media 

TRENDING TOPICS

13 

Social Media 

ONLINE FIRST 

According to social media agency 

Spredfast, more than 

3 billion 

people around the globe use, design or consume social 

networks. The most important are: Facebook, QQ, YouTube, 

Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn. 

In 2018 Google makes almost 

34 per cent 

of its global mobile advertising 

revenue from smartphones and co.; at Facebook 

the share is just under 25 per cent. 

85 per cent 

of under 35-year-olds use WhatsApp, Facebook and similar 

platforms to arrange when and where to meet and coordinate 

activities. These are the findings of a study by Postbank. 

WhatsApp has 

34 million 

daily users, and the number is rising. 

Those who don’t want to communicate via WhatsApp 

find alternative services that boast secure data 

encryption, for instance Telegram or Threema. 

1 billion 

people worldwide, according to the latest figures 

by Tencent, China’s largest internet company, organise 

their entire lives using its messenger app WeChat. 

The Chinese government has full access to the data. 

In the USA 

YouTube 

reaches more 18 to 49-year-olds than cable 

television in the country, according to Spredfast. 

Around 

73 per cent 

of Germans surveyed are against providers 

storing their data, a study by the German Economic 

Institute (IW) in Cologne concluded. 

Today people across the globe are already networking 

via social media faster than ever before. Events are 

followed, commented on and evaluated at an incredible 

speed. Often, it feels like this happens in less than 

one minute 

39 per cent 

of Germans use the sharing economy: 

They share accommodation, files, music, cars. 

Experts at PwC expect an increase 

in the market volume to over 24 billion euros. 

Experts at the World Economic Forum forecast that by 

2023 

80 per cent of the world’s population will have a digital 

online profile. This will be down to the comprehensive 

spread of new technologies that will enable internet access 

even in the world’s remotest regions. 

30 per cent 

of retail purchases are inspired on 

Facebook today. This was revealed by 

the ‘Social Audience Guide 2018’. 

According to a Bitkom study 

one in five 

German internet users get their news from Facebook & co. – 

and intend to continue doing so in the future. Smartphones 

are becoming ever more important in searches for news. 

TRENDING TOPICS

14 

Social Media 

text 

Sabine Simon 

PHOTOS 

Gene glover 

Revolutionaries 

in sneakers 

1 

IMAGES 

1 

The right idea at the right 

time: since its foundation in 

2014, Staffbase’s turnover has 

increased almost fivefold. 

2 

Like a good laugh: managing 

directors Frank Wolf, Lutz 

Gerlach and Martin Böhringer 

(left to right) stay relaxed even 

for press photos. 

The app by 

start-up Staffbase 

is revolutionising 

staff communications. 

TRENDING TOPICS

15 

Social Media 

2 

TRENDING TOPICS

16 

Social Media 

We pick up our smartphones about 100 times a day, 

to check e-mails, to chat, or to take a look at what 

other people are doing on Instagram. Everything 

takes place digitally, via social media channels, be it 

Facebook or Twitter for example. In the professional 

sphere too, we spend prolonged periods online, on 

networks like LinkedIn or using web-based messenger 

services like Slack. In just a short space of time, 

digitisation has changed virtually everything – most 

significantly how we communicate. This applies both 

personally and in the world of work. 

Basically, though, in-company communications 

are still relatively unwieldy in many companies 

– particularly in times of decentral teams who work 

flexible hours from different locations. It’s true that 

there are now social intranets, but less than half of all 

employees with access to these use them on a daily 

basis. And depending on the industry, employees 

without a PC-based workspace or company e-mail 

address can’t even reach them. In Germany, 70 per 

cent of staff remains digitally invisible. So how do 

you let them know that the parking lot can be used 

again next week after the construction work, or that 

the business performance is exceeding all expectations? 

You could use a mass e-mail here, but that’s 

neither emotional nor is it likely to fulfil one of the 

most important criteria for ensuring that company 

news will actually be read, namely relevance. 

Mobile intranet via app / This was what inspired 

business engineer Frank Wolf to set up a new 

company. During his time at Deutsche Telekom’s 

subsidiary T-Systems Multimedia Solutions, the 

43-year-old gained a lot of experience in the area of 

intranets. “I regularly dealt with companies that had 

problems reaching all their employees. The need was 

there, we simply had to act at the right moment, and 

that moment came with the spread of smartphones.” 

In 2014, he joined forces with business informatics 

specialist Martin Böhringer and business manager 

Lutz Gerlach to found Staffbase. The app from the 

Chemnitz-based start-up relies on the principle that 

a company’s intranet can become a kind of social media 

channel. The idea is as simple as it is ingenious. 

After all, individual smartphones are the communications 

channel with the greatest reach by far. Staffbase’s 

first customers included T-Systems, Siemens 

and Viessmann, and even Adidas uses a personalised 

employee app from the young software company. 

The business model hinges on providing 

‘Software as a Service’. The intranet and employee 

software available on mobile devices constitute a kind 

of modular system that each company can structure 

individually for itself – in just a few clicks. As with a 

content management system, content is prepared and 

3 

4 

IMAGES 

3 

Anyone who needs 

some peace and quiet for a 

discussion can retire to one 

of the smaller meeting rooms. 

4 

For anyone who works at 

Staffbase, a day at the office 

is time spent in a chic loft 

space. There are stress-busting 

snacks like fruit and chocolate. 

5 

Lots of windows, lots of 

light, lots of communication: 

Employees sit close to one 

another. Concrete slabs on the 

ceiling reduce noise levels. 

6 

Some things just have to 

remain analog. The magnetic 

noticeboard displays postcards, 

flyers and words of wisdom. 

managed via a browser application. Staffbase makes 

its platform available to the customer and handles 

all the technical support. Moreover, all the hosting 

is inside Germany. The costs vary depending on the 

number of employees, and are charged based on a 

monthly fee. “We take care of updates and app store 

management,” explains Martin Böhringer. 

Employees then install the app, adapted to 

their company’s look and feel, onto their smartphones 

and complete a one-off registration process, 

after which they log in with a password each time. 

This ensures that internal company matters remain 

internal. As with Facebook, it’s then possible to read, 

comment and like news wherever you are – either 

on a general company channel or on closed channels. 

There are directories of employees and telephone 

numbers, options for ng in and out, a pay-slip download 

function and an option to view the canteen 

menu. Documents, location planners for conference 

rooms, training videos and photos can all be uploaded, 

and push-notifications can provide staff with 

news items in real time. Where a company already 

TRENDING TOPICS

17 

Social Media 

It’s a typical 

start-up. 

“That’s something 

we want 

to preserve 

as long as 

we can,” says 

Martin Böhringer, 

taking a seat 

on an acidyellow 

chair. 

“We sell 

that feeling 

along with 

the app.” 

has a social intranet, Staffbase is able to integrate the 

app easily, and it’s also possible to incorporate other, 

individual plug-ins. 

New corporate culture / The app also fulfils 

another important function: employer branding. 

“These days, it’s more important than ever that 

employees are able to identify with their jobs. This 

is crucial for the integration of new employees and 

for ensuring staff loyalty,” suggests Böhringer. He is 

thinking primarily of young people like millennials 

or Generation Z, and of their greater expectations as 

regards employers and corporate culture. They expect 

to enjoy a strict separation of work and personal life, 

have a need for feedback and appreciation – and on 

top they want to find a meaning in the greater scheme 

of things. They ask, ‘Why do I actually do my job?’ “I 

need to demonstrate this outwardly, particularly at a 

management level. That requires a change of thinking,” 

says Böhringer. With the right tool, you can get 

all employees on-board, he says: from the manager to 

the staff working in the field. At Staffbase, they can 

do this in multiple languages. Content is supported 

in more than 30 languages, while the user interface is 

available in eight – including Chinese. 

“Of course we also use our app ourselves,” 

says Böhringer, as he quickly pings a message to his 

colleagues. To do so, he uses the desktop version of 

the Staffbase app. Sure, Böhringer could also have 

just got up and spoken to his colleagues, as at Staffbase 

nothing is far away – including the CEO who 

can be easily reached by the individual teams made 

up of software developers, customer service staff, or 

marketing and sales specialists. There are flat hierarchies 

in the young, international team, the average 

age of which is just 30 years old. The atmosphere is 

informal and flexible working hours are the norm. 

5 6 

The team works in a chic loft and anyone who wants 

to can shift to the sofa with their laptop. “That’s 

something we want to preserve as long as we can,” 

says the 33-year-old. After all, it’s part of the product, 

he says. “The big corporations want to take a leaf out 

of our book, to feel more like a start-up, and we sell 

that feeling along with the app.” Hence customer visits 

are carried out in T-shirts and sneakers. Staffbase 

is often the pioneer for a new, international communications 

strategy, Böhringer explains, and indeed 

almost for a style of management. “As CEO, I’m not 

able to communicate strategically with a simple mass 

e-mail. Things don’t work like that anymore.” 

The software solution is taking off, and the 

company now has some 250 customers in Germany 

and around the world. The teams at the offices in 

Chemnitz, Dresden and Cologne have little time to 

spare, and Staffbase has doubled in size each year since 

it was founded, Böhringer says. In order to cater to 

the growing client base, the three directors want to expand 

the team of around 90 Germany-based employees 

by an additional 100 colleagues. While primarily 

software developers were required when the company 

was founded, now the focus is on reinforcements in 

marketing, sales and customer service. This creates 

jobs and strengthens the economic region around 

Chemnitz, which has already been the cradle for a 

number of other software start-ups, such as Prudsys, 

Intenta or Baselabs. Dresden also harbours potential, 

mainly thanks to its technical university and the 5G 

Lab located there. 

In the meantime, Staffbase’s strategy is becoming 

more international: alongside the existing 

office with eight employees in New York, another 

is to be added in London. The approach is a global 

one, Böhringer says. “We want to become the market 

leader. Right now we have the best product for this – 

although rivals aren’t resting on their laurels, either.” 

The high level of interest from investors also proves 

the extent to which the idea of ‘mobile first’ is taking 

off in employee communications. In a third financing 

round Staffbase recently managed to raise 8 million 

euros for the further development of its employee 

app. Global venture capitalists e.ventures are now its 

new primary investor alongside Capnamic Ventures 

and Kizoo Technology Capital. It was a shrewd move 

on the part of Staffbase – the new backer is very well 

connected in Silicon Valley. ■ 

FACTS // Locations: Chemnitz, Dresden, Cologne, New 

York / Year of foundation: 2014 / Employees: 90 / 

Executive management: Martin Böhringer (CEO), Frank 

Wolf (CMO), Lutz Gerlach (COO) / Mission: to revolutionise 

company cultures by means of an employee app 

TRENDING TOPICS

18 



Digitisation strategies and visions for the 

future: six pioneers in the spotlight 

text 

Benjamin Kleemann-von Gersum 

& Sabine Simon 

Rainer Gläss has grand visions for retail 

Software for retail companies: this has been Rainer 

Gläss’s area of specialisation for decades. As the founder 

of GK Software – established in 1990 as a two-man 

company with his business partner Stephan Kronmüller in 

Schöneck in Saxony’s Vogtland region – he has developed 

the company into a global player in the area of retail software. 

According to its 2017 financial report, GK Software’s 

sales amount to a good 90.5 million euros. More than 150 

business customers in more than 50 countries use the 

software solutions from southwest Saxony, by means of 

which all the information from cash tills is forwarded directly 

to the accounts, procurement or IT departments. 

“The technology is becoming a crucial factor for retail 

companies,” says Gläss, who sees the trend towards mobile 

devices as one of the most important drivers of innovation 

in retail. “We find ourselves in a phase of transition 

between the traditional world of stationary retail and omnichannel 

processes. It’s in this mélange that all retailers 

have to redefine their positions.” The company founder, 

who is also a member of the federal government’s Digital 

Summit, pinpoints his vision: “We’re ahead of the game!” 

It is, first and foremost, a challenge to himself, but also to 

his high-performing team. And it’s a challenge they can 

tackle in comfort at the headquarters in Schöneck, since 

the management has created an Innovation Centre with a 

café, lounge areas, after-work skiing and a fitness centre. 

Gläss’s ties to his home region are evident from his engagement 

in various areas, including the implementation 

of a digital school concept for the sports secondary 

school in Klingenthal. The next big topic for the industry, 

Gläss believes, is artificial intelligence: “Retailers are 

seeking optimisations in light of ever greater complexity, 

such as enormous quantities of data,” he explains. It was 

therefore a logical step for GK Software to take over in 

2017 the majority share in Prudsys AG, based in Chemnitz, 

one of the leading providers of agile AI technologies for 

omnichannel retail. 

www.gk-software.com 

Katja Hillenbrand makes drinking water smart 

Water, building technology and digitisation – these are central topics for 

the future according to Katja Hillenbrand, Managing Director of Micas AG, 

based in Oelsnitz in the Erzgebirge region. “From the inflowing water conduit 

to a wide variety of applications in the building and ultimately the 

waste water conduit, we use sophisticated sensors and a smart IoT package 

to guide the water through the building,” says the Baden-Württemberg 

native. Founded in the year 2000, Micas has grown continuously to become 

an internationally active, medium-sized market leader in the area of customer-specific 

OEM sensor solutions. Visions for the future? The entrepreneur 

has plenty of them: for example predictive maintenance, intelligent 

water provision, or central water management in the cloud. And it goes 

without saying that Hillenbrand, who is herself a mother of two children, invests 

in the future of her employees and their families: the company has 

had its own kindergarten and childcare service for some years now. 

www.micas.de 

TRENDING TOPICS

19 


Paul Brandenburg ensures access to 

advance healthcare directives 

Brigitte Voit brings research and enterprise together 

Academia is also utilising the enormous potential of digitisation: “It’s the 

driver of material science,” says chemist Brigitte Voit. The co-founder 

of DRESDEN-concept, a model for successful cooperation between university-based 

and non-university researchers, is the scientific director 

of the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (IPF) and professor 

of organic chemistry of polymers at Technische Universität (TU) Dresden. 

“High-tech materials for future technologies can be developed more 

quickly and efficiently if we are able to intelligently evaluate huge quantities 

of material data,” she explains. Data flows are thus becoming ever more 

important even in areas of research which previously focussed primarily on 

practice. At the same time, says Voit, the challenge lies in designing 

materials more adaptively, that is, adapting them more individually to the 

relevant application and user. Voit is working with colleagues and staff to 

further develop Saxony’s position as a science hub. 

www.ipfdd.de 

How can I determine which medical 

procedures I undergo when I’m unable 

to make decisions? And how do doctors 

get access to my advance healthcare 

directive? Former emergency practitioner 

Dr Paul Brandenburg from Leipzig 

has come up with an answer to these 

questions. His e-health start-up Dipat 

logs online advance healthcare directives 

that can be recalled in an emergency 

via smartphone and are identifiable 

from a sticker on the patient’s insurance 

card. “Almost all non-digital advance 

healthcare directives arrive at 

the hospital far too late and are so 

unspecific in their content that they 

are useless,” explains Brandenburg. 

www.dipat.de 

Gerhard Fettweis strives for comprehensive 

mobile network coverage 

What use is the latest smartphone 

when there’s no network coverage? 

This is the question occupying 

Professor Gerhard Fettweis. He came 

to TU Dresden in 1994 from Silicon 

Valley – where he had worked for IBM, 

among others – and has occupied the 

university’s Vodafone Chair ever since. 

“We research methods of improving the 

speed of the mobile communications 

network and of achieving breakthroughs 

in comprehensive coverage,” 

he explains. At the 5G Lab, an interdisciplinary 

team made up of 20 different 

areas of research is working on 

key technologies for the activation of 

5G. The initiative is being supported by 

companies like Bosch and Deutsche 

Telekom. Fettweis is also CEO of the 

recently founded Barkhausen 

Institut, which deals with industrial 

digitisation. 

www.5glab.de 

Gesche Weger is making digitisation sustainable 

A summary of the vision of Packwise CEO Gesche Weger would probably 

go something like this: “Digitisation creates sustainability.” The company, 

which is based in Dresden, links up the process industry and offers an independent 

online platform for the optimum re-use and recycling of industrial 

packaging. The goal? To maximise the number of cycles that transport 

packaging undergoes. In these times of global trade and goods flows that 

are becoming ever faster and more complex, Weger and her team are 

making an important contribution to saving resources: “In the company we 

are creating intelligent and automated cycles in which empty containers 

and barrels are organised based on the shortest transport routes. With the 

help of digitisation, we are giving our customers from the chemistry, 

pharma ceutical and food industries transparent and direct access to recyclable 

industrial packaging.” 

www.packwise.de 

TRENDING TOPICS

20 

Mobility & Logistics 

More than science fiction 

How about flying across the 

city to your next appointment 

in an electric taxi? If start-up 

Volocopter has its way, that 

could become a reality. 

The flying taxi can currently 

only cover 27 kilometres, 

but the team from Bruchsal 

in Germany’s Baden region 

is continuing to tinker with 

its integration into local 

transport systems. Daimler, 

Intel and Internet entrepreneur 

Lukasz Gadowski 

have already invested. 

TRENDING TOPICS

21 



03 

Mobility 

& Logistics 

short cut / Mobility & Logistics / Goal: coordinating 

and realising individual transport and goods flows / One of the 

most important growth industries of the future / Mobility apps 

assemble the fastest, cleanest or cheapest route according to 

preferences / Trends: autonomous driving spanning all modes 

of transport, the search for environmentally friendly, affordable 

and efficient engines 

TRENDING TOPICS

22 


Computers 

Take Over at 

the Wheel 

Autonomous mobility concepts 

are fundamentally changing 

our idea of transportation. 

text 

Klaus Lüber 

It’s a crucial question that affects everybody, and it 

is frequently put to Toralf Trautmann: when will we 

see self-driving vehicles? Trautmann, who is professor 

of automotive mechatronics at Dresden University 

of Applied Sciences, likes to respond with a counter-question: 

what exactly is meant by ‘self-driving’? 

“Of course, people are quick to think of futuristic 

vehicles without steering wheels, but the concept is 

much more multifaceted,” says the expert. “We already 

have autonomous vehicles today, albeit in various 

different forms.” 

Trautmann uses a test track for autonomous 

vehicles, which his university has set up directly 

next to its technical department for vehicle engineering. 

Since 2017 the 50-by-70-metre circuit has 

seen testing of various vehicles, including a BMW 

i3 equipped with sensor and measuring technology. 

Trautmann aims to find out how you can test 

whether such vehicles might be authorised to use 

public roads. “Autonomy means that you as a driver 

hand over responsibility to the machine, but it’s not 

an either/or situation, rather it’s a process that breaks 

down into various degrees of autonomous control.” 

Prone to faults 

In order to pinpoint these different degrees, a system 

of six levels has become established. Level zero 

means the machine does not intervene in any way, 

while at level five the vehicle is self-driven in any situation. 

“Vehicles currently suitable for series production 

have only partially autonomous systems of level 

two, whereby the vehicle can take on individual tasks 

for the driver,” says Trautmann. These include such 

things as lane-keeping functions or traffic jam assistance, 

for which the vehicle takes control without the 

driver’s intervention when stuck in traffic. The expert 

explains that greater autonomy is not yet possible 

since the surround sensors are too prone to faults. 

Robin Streiter, managing director of start-up 

Naventik, takes a similar view. “We have already seen 

some extremely impressive demonstrations of autonomous 

driving, for example when trade show visitors 

boarded a self-driving shuttle bus at the airport to 

take them to the venue,” says Streiter. “But what is 

often forgotten here is that an immense amount of 

time and work goes into these. The industry is still a 

long way off making the systems truly stable in the 

face of any possible influences from the outside.” It’s 

precisely this that Naventik is working on. The company, 

a spin-off from Chemnitz University of Technology, 

was founded in 2017 and has developed software 

that enables vehicles to determine their position 

in the traffic with greater accuracy. “We all think our 

GPS systems can do this already, but that’s not true,” 

explains Streiter. In reality, the signal is too distorted 

for an autonomously acting system. 

New rail technologies 

Although the topic of autonomous driving is discussed 

primarily in the context of automobiles, solutions 

are also being sought for railways, shipping and 

aviation. In Annaberg-Buchholz in Saxony, Chemnitz 

University of Technology runs a research centre 

that focusses on the potential of highly automated 

driving for rail transport. Among other things, the 

‘Smart Rail Connectivity Campus’ includes Europe’s 

1 

TRENDING TOPICS

23 


2 

IMAGES 

1 

A far-reaching project: 

experts at Dresden University 

of Applied Sciences are 

researching autonomous 

driving for inner-city transport. 

This makes use of sensor 

systems for analysing the 

surroundings. 

2 

Digital signal box: in Annaberg- 

Buchholz, a research centre 

operated by Chemnitz University 

of Technology focusses on 

the potential of highly automated 

driving for rail transport. 

Autonomy will 

offer us 

advantages in 

terms of safety, 

but this alone 

won’t solve the 

problem of 

traffic congestion 

in our 

cities. 

first digital signal box, installed in January 2018, and 

a test route on which the use of surround sensors, 

similar to those in the automotive sector, are being 

trialled. 

“On rails, of course, the situation is different 

to that on the road,” explains Sören Claus, who manages 

the project as its technical director. “In closed 

systems such as underground rail networks, highly 

automated driving is already possible in normal operations, 

and in the overland rail network we have 

long since achieved a high level of automation.” 

Never theless, he says, fully autonomous driving is 

still as far off here as it is on the roads. “This is partly 

due to the far greater safety requirements.” In spite of 

this, Claus is convinced that it is worth investing in 

autonomously acting systems on rails. “We could use 

networks more efficiently, monitor them better, and 

significantly reduce maintenance and energy costs.” 

Solutions for 

aviation and shipping 

In the aviation industry too, autonomous driving systems 

are providing momentum for the breakthrough 

of new mobility concepts. Under the key concept of 

urban aerial mobility (UAM), the Airbus corporation 

is working on the development of self-piloting flying 

taxis. German start-up Volocopter already presented 

a mini-helicopter at CeBIT 2018 – with 18 rotors, 

entirely redundant drive trains and intelligent autonomous 

controls. Andreas Knie, mobility researcher at 

the Berlin Social Science Center, is sceptical though: 

“It all sounds very innovative initially, of course, but 

first of all the number of vehicles that can use the 

airspace is comparatively limited, and second of all 

they require many times more transport energy than 

land vehicles. It’s unlikely to become a means of mass 

transportation.” 

So what about shipping? Norwegian start-up 

Massterly recently announced the operation of an 

electrically powered container ship equipped with 

autonomous control technology. The ship is to be 

put into unmanned operation from 2020, overseen 

from multiple control centres on the coast. Countries 

like Finland, Australia and China are also investing in 

the technology, while a research project on the topic 

has already been carried out in the EU. 

Autonomous mobility is, without question, 

an exciting topic for the future, Andreas Knie believes. 

Nonetheless, we should never lose sight of the 

question of how it benefits us, he says. “Autonomy 

will offer us advantages in certain specific areas, but 

this alone won’t solve the problem of traffic congestion 

in our cities, for example.” Toralf Trautmann 

from Dresden University of Applied Sciences takes 

a similar view: “Perhaps it’s not actually beneficial to 

have every vehicle self-driving everywhere,” the researcher 

says. Autonomous driving could be used in 

situations that suit the control technology of the systems 

and then human beings would be brought into 

play where safety requirements are greatest. “ Imagine 

you’re calling a robot taxi. The e-vehicle, which is 

parked at a charging station, drives slowly, safely and 

fully autonomously to your front door. Then you 

get in and drive it yourself.” This way, almost as a 

side-effect, you would have a solution to a continually 

pressing problem, namely the development of 

charging infrastructure for electromobility. Instead 

of having to build more and more charging stations, 

you could leave the charging process up to the autonomous 

vehicle itself. ■ 

TRENDING TOPICS

24 


ONE 

QUESTION 

“Do machines actually 

make fewer mistakes in 

road traffic?” 

ONE 

ANSWER 

»The safest systems combine 

humans and machines. This goes for 

the pilot in a plane, the train driver 

in the digitally networked rail transport 

system and for the time being will 

also remain the case in highly-automated 

driving. Driverless driving will stay 

the exception and take place on specially 

prepared sub-sections of the roads.« 

( Professor Julian Nida-Rümelin, philosopher and 

former state minister for culture, has taught at Ludwig- 

Maximilians-Universität München since 2004. ) 

TRENDING TOPICS

25 

Cybersecurity 


04 

Cybersecurity 

short cut / Cybersecurity, also known as IT security, or 

more comprehensively: information security / Concept for the 

protection of any kind of digital data, information systems, and 

soft- and hardware / Essential for medium-sized companies 

and start-ups, since these are increasingly becoming targets 

of cyber-attacks / Particularly affected at the moment are 

companies in the energy industry 

TRENDING TOPICS

26 

Cybersecurity 

Honey traps 

for hackers 

1 

TRENDING TOPICS

27 

Cybersecurity 

Cyber-attacks represent 

a threat to companies and state 

institutions alike. Data encryption 

is having to be continually 

improved to ensure companies 

don’t lose the game of cat and 

mouse they are forced to play 

with hackers. 

text 

Guido Walter 

The light goes out, the fridge is on strike, and the TV 

displays nothing but a black screen. The ‘blackout’ 

scenario strikes fear into the hearts of Germans almost 

more than any other. That fear may be exaggerated, 

but it’s certainly true that critical infrastructure 

like energy supplies are vulnerable to attack. Hence 

the German Federal Office for Information Security 

(BSI), for example, is warning of hacker attacks 

on German energy suppliers. These companies, the 

BSI says, are the target of a large-scale cyber-attack 

campaign. In certain cases, the attackers have even 

gained access to the companies’ office networks, although 

they did not manage to penetrate production 

or control networks. For Franziska Leitermann from 

Dresden-based IT company Cloud & Heat, that’s no 

reason to breathe easy. “The current example of the 

large-scale hacker attacks on energy suppliers once 

again reveals the dangers that large companies and 

authorities are exposed to.” 

ILLUSTRATION 

1 

Dangerous hacks: the more 

digitised the economy, 

the more intelligent the 

hackers’ approach. Companies 

are being attacked with far 

greater frequency than just 

a few years ago. Authorities are 

also regularly targeted. 

In fact, the figures are alarming. According to a 

study by digital association Bitkom, in the years 

2015 and 2016 companies in Germany suffered losses 

amounting to 55 billion euros a year as a result 

of cyber-attacks. One company in two, for example, 

has at some point been affected by spying, sabotage 

or data theft. The consequences can be far-reaching: 

at 17 per cent of companies, sensitive data such as 

e-mails and financial or customer data have been 

stolen. At 11 per cent, it was patents or research and 

development information. Authorities and companies 

are being attacked with far greater frequency 

than just a few years ago. “Often, companies notice 

far too late that data has been drained out of their 

system,” says Teresa Ritter, spokesperson for security 

policy at Bitkom. “The number of unreported 

cases is therefore considerable.” Companies are also 

reluctant to report any losses because they are afraid 

it will damage their image. “Any losses discovered 

TRENDING TOPICS

28 

Cybersecurity 

should nevertheless be reported to state authorities 

immediately so that they can create an overview,” explains 

Ritter. “This way, other companies will have 

the opportunity to protect themselves.” 

No such thing 

as absolute security 

An IT attack can take on survival-threatening dimensions 

for companies. A hacker attack on A.P. Møller- 

Mærsk, the world’s biggest container shipping company, 

caused losses amounting to an estimated 300 

million dollars in 2017, when attackers used blackmailing 

software to partially paralyse the company. 

Nivea manufacturer Beiersdorf has also been the 

victim of an attack and estimates the loss in sales 

from the hacker attack to be around 35 million euros. 

“There’s no such thing as absolute security,” says 

Oliver Nyderle, head of Digital Integrity Solutions 

at T-Systems Multimedia Solutions. He believes information 

security should be seen as an ongoing process. 

“Security within the company has to be part of 

the culture,” says Nyderle. And that applies not only 

in companies, but also in political institutions with 

a focus on citizens and particularly high demands in 

terms of the confidentiality, availability and integrity 

of the data they process. The ‘Bundes tag hack’ 

of 2015, whereby suspected Russian hackers stole 

data amounting to 16 gigabytes, brought the federal 

public prosecutor onto the scene. “Incidents like 

the Bundestag hack have shown that the IT systems 

of political institutions are a particularly appealing 

target for attacks,” says Nyderle. The Saxon administrative 

network is also finding itself the victim of 

ILLUSTRATION 

2 

Preventative measures: 

Alongside the encryption 

of data, smart security systems 

should also deter hackers. 

‘HoneySens’ simulates typical 

network services along with 

potentially lucrative targets 

of attack – and thus sets 

‘honey traps’. 

2 

repeated spy attacks, as a result of which the authorities 

decided to set a trap: ‘HoneySens’, a name 

coined from the computer security term ‘honeypot’ 

and ‘sensors’, supplements the existing security architecture 

of authority or company networks. “Using 

sensors in the network, the software simulates weak 

points that are attractive to attackers – the so-called 

honeypots,” explains Karl-Otto Feger, Information 

Security Officer for the Free State of Saxony. “When 

there is a suspected attack on the network, these 

hacker traps chart all data flows and forward them 

to a central server for inspection and alerting.” The 

honeypots thus gather valuable information for the 

protection of the IT system from unauthorised external 

penetration. “Thanks to HoneySens, attacks 

are observed in real time, with the origin of the attack 

identified and corresponding countermeasures 

introduced immediately,” says Feder. Some companies 

are already starting to introduce this solution. 

The close cooperation with the state of Saxony in 

terms of the application and further development of 

HoneySens is currently unique in Germany. 

Game of cat and mouse against 

potential hackers 

In times of increasing digitisation of industrial control 

systems, defence measures must keep pace. In 

an ever more connected production environment, 

cybersecurity is becoming even more important, 

but how do we protect the smart factory, the core of 

which is the software that enables Industry 4.0 and 

comprehensive data analysis in the first place? “It’s 

important to protect the smart factory from invisible 

cyber-attacks, both physically and on the software 

side,” says Franziska Leitermann from Cloud & 

Heat. “This may be physically by means of private 

cloud solutions, but also through special protective 

measures with public cloud offerings.” 

One thing is clear: Data encryption is having 

to be continually improved to ensure companies 

don’t lose the game of cat and mouse they are forced 

to play with hackers. That’s something that is unlikely 

to change going forward. “There are interesting 

developments in the area of artificial intelligence 

(AI),” says Leitermann. AI firewalls could carry out 

behavioural analysis on attackers, then learn and improve 

independently. Highly specialised quantum 

computers could also carry out encryptions that are 

so complex that only another quantum computer 

could decipher them. Nevertheless, the human factor 

remains crucial: in future too, there will be a need 

for well-educated and highly trained employees who 

are able to grow along with the increasing demands 

placed on technologies. ■ 

TRENDING TOPICS

29 

E-Commerce 


05 

E- 

Commerce 

short cut / Electronic commerce, abbreviated to: e-commerce 

/ Advertising, sale and purchase of goods and services 

via the internet / Retailers pursue omnichannel strategy 

with shops and marketplaces / Interaction with the customer 

possible via mobile devices around the clock / Shift from stationary 

retail to e-commerce / B2C e-commerce sales forecast 

to be around 77 billion euros by 2020 

TRENDING TOPICS

30 

E-Commerce 

1 

text 

Sabine Simon 

Long Live the Community 

From student start-up to 

European market leader: 

why the social commerce 

company Spreadshirt got 

so many things right. 

TRENDING TOPICS

31 

E-Commerce 

ImageS 

1 

A glimpse at the production 

line: some of the shirts are 

made in Krupka (Czech 

Republic) before being sent 

to customers. 

2 

Lunch with a view: Spreadshirt 

staff can enjoy their lunch on 

the roof terrace. 

3 

Years ago, railway cranes 

were assembled here: the 

head office in Leipzig’s 

Plagwitz district. 

Individuality 

You could describe what 

happens at Spreadshirt as 

social commerce: 

The consumer becomes 

a producer. And it’s an idea 

that is very well received 

by users and a good 80,000 

active salespeople alike. 

Today, you can do your shopping online: thanks to 

smartphones, the chic pair of shoes or the new highend 

camera is just a click away. Around the clock, 

and easy to boot. So it’s hardly surprising that e- 

commerce sales are going through the roof. Every 

eighth euro spent in retail in Germany changes hands 

via the internet. And while eBay or Amazon set the 

standards, several smaller firms are also among the 

top players. Take Spreadshirt, for example. Founded 

in 2002, the Leipzig-based firm is one of the world’s 

leading e-commerce platforms for on-demand printing. 

One good reason: the product itself. After all, 

everybody wears T-shirts. That said, the firm’s success 

can also be attributed to the sales channel: “In 

a world in which technology and e-commerce are 

everything, it’s the concept that counts,” says Philip 

Rooke, CEO of Spreadshirt, and means consumers’ 

altered buying behaviour. 

Anyone who orders at Spreadshirt, expects 

swift availability and individuality. On the platform 

and in thousands of shops third-party sellers working 

on a commission basis offer merchandising or 

designs, mostly for T-shirts and accessories. Moreover, 

customers can design products according to their 

own wishes using individual designs or motifs from 

the community. The rest is done by the online dealer: 

from the printing through to shipping. You could 

describe what happens at Spreadshirt as social commerce: 

the consumer becomes a producer. And it’s 

an idea that is very well received by users and a good 

80,000 active sellers alike. In 2017, the company 

delivered almost five million products to customers, 

generating sales of around 107 million euros. 

JUST A CLICK AWAY 

If you are looking for a comparison, Spreadshirt 

founder Lukasz Gadowski could be considered 

the Steve Jobs of the German start-up scene. The 

40-year-old is a native of Poland and whatever he 

puts his hand to somehow turns up roses: Lieferheld, 

Mister Spex, Brands4Friends or StudiVZ. The tech 

entrepreneur set up Spreadshirt while still a student 

and earned his first million with it. For a study project 

Gadowski was to provide strategic advice to a 

textile printing firm in Kassel, which years earlier had 

printed the special T-shirt he wore to commemorate 

graduating from high school. Gadowski’s task 

was not easy as printing individual items was hardly 

profitable and was also very expensive for customers. 

After he had improved various processes and advised 

the firm to “do something with the internet”, Gadowski 

hit upon the idea for his own business: an 

online service for merchandising providers and customers 

alike. Anyone would be able to turn to him 

to have clothing or accessories printed with whatever 

motifs they wanted. Initially, finding investors proved 

difficult. Nevertheless, Gadowski set about creating 

the first Spreadshirt website in the basement of HHL 

Leipzig Graduate School of Management. He was 

assisted by Matthias Spieß, an engineering graduate, 

and in 2002 the two men registered Spreadshirt officially 

as a company. Because they had absolutely no 

capital, in the first few years they funded themselves 

solely through the sales of T-shirts. Yet Spreadshirt 

was soon growing by an average 15 per cent a month. 

Soon the company expanded to the United States. 

New employees were hired, and before long a larger 

production facility was needed. 

Fast forward ten years. Today, Spreadshirt is a 

global player operating in 18 countries. The founders’ 

involvement is limited to them sitting on the supervisory 

board. The merchandise is now not only 

2 

3 

TRENDING TOPICS

32 

E-Commerce 

Smartphones 

become 

a constant 

companion, and 

stores morph 

into walkthrough 

online 

shops. 

It is all about 

effective 

presentation, 

about shopping 

experiences. 

produced in Leipzig, but also in Legnica (Poland), 

Krupka in the Czech Republic, and Greensburg and 

Las Vegas in the United States. Despite its global base 

Spreadshirt has remained true to its roots. And they 

are firmly in Saxony. Leipzig’s Plagwitz district with 

its small cafes, the bakery on the corner, and a vibrant 

art and fringe scene remains something like the solid 

foundation they need in the fast-moving online era. 

Customers today buy at a terrific speed: on 

the internet the product of choice is just a click away. 

Retailers need to respond with customisable products 

and assortments tailored to consumers’ preferences. 

After all, they no longer merely differentiate between 

physical or online store. The catchword here is multichannel 

shopping. Something retailers in the States 

especially have long since recognised. Smartphones 

become a constant companion, and stores morph 

into walk-through online shops. It is all about presenting 

products effectively, about shopping experiences. 

Ultimately people buy more online. Or perhaps 

in stores which, as Apple has demonstrated, no 

longer need checkouts. Instead, sales are conducted 

using the salesperson’s smartphone, and if a receipt is 

needed it arrives by e-mail. 

4 

5 

CLOTHING AS A FORM 

OF SOCIAL MEDIA 

Meanwhile, over 750 people work for Spreadshirt, 

and around 350 of these in the Leipzig headquarters: 

from customer advisers through to front-end architects, 

lawyers, marketing experts, and the production 

staff. Nonetheless, an effort has been made to uphold 

the sense of being a start-up. There is a relaxed 

ImageS 

4 

Work in progress: the 

Leipzig-based firm can supply 

everything from one-off items 

to bulk orders. 

6 

5 

CEO Philip Rooke: before 

joining Spreadshirt the Brit 

gained immense experience 

in e-commerce at Tesco 

(Great Britain). 

6 

All colours and sizes: 

to ensure orders can be printed 

quickly, T-shirts 

are kept in stock. 

7 

Spreadshirt works largely 

with digital printing, but 

foils also ensure the desired 

motif or favourite slogan is 

reproduced on the item. 

TRENDING TOPICS

33 

E-Commerce 

atmosphere in the old factory building on Gießerstrasse, 

where once railway cranes were assembled. 

The average age of employees is around 30. Most of 

them wear T-shirts, some walk around barefoot or in 

socks. The doors to the open-plan offices are never 

closed, outside in the corridor people stop to chat at 

the coffee machines. Years ago, a feel-good manager 

was hired: Stefanie Frenking, who is also responsible 

for recruiting, brings a little bit of Silicon Valley to 

Leipzig. After all, feel-good managers are something 

we are only familiar with from large tech corporations 

such as Facebook or Google. 

“Our aim is to make people happy. We do 

spend a lot of time in the office,” says Frenking and 

talks about hiking tours, language courses, flexible 

working hours, and yoga. Employees eat their lunch 

on the roof terrace. English is the common language 

for the staff from 27 nations. 

CEO Philip Rooke joined Spreadshirt in 

2009, initially as head of sales and marketing. Then in 

2011 the native Briton was appointed CEO. And he 

knows what he’s talking about. Before signing on with 

Spreadshirt Rooke was part of the management team 

at British supermarket chain Tesco, considered one of 

the pioneers of e-commerce. Rooke summarises what 

Spreadshirt can achieve: “Today it’s no longer enough 

to share, to like, or to tweet something. You need to 

wear the message emblazoned on your T-shirt.” 

There is a high level of traffic in the Spreadshirt 

community with over 200,000 new designs being 

uploaded every week. To date, 2,000,000 square 

metres in total T-shirt surfaces have been printed, 

equivalent to the size of about 280 football pitches. 

And the numbers are rising. The internet enables the 

combination of mass production and one-off items. 

Whether it is T-shirts, posters, pictures, mugs, hoodies 

or rompers: everything conceivable is ordered in 

the shop – providing it is allowed. Spreadshirt does 

promote freedom of opinion but it still has a department 

that checks the uploaded files. Providing they are 

not protected as a brand, and do not contain illegal 

or inflammatory content, they are released and made 

available to the community. Then the cotton T-shirts 

are printed at the five production locations using different 

high-quality printing techniques depending on 

requirements. Eventually, the goods are sent all around 

the world. 

Mobile 

devices have 

a considerable 

influence on 

purchasing patterns; 

almost 

30 per cent of 

online sales 

are currently 

generated by 

purchases 

made with 

smartphones. 

trend is also borne out by current figures from the German 

Retail Association: almost 30 per cent of online 

sales are currently generated by purchases made with 

smartphones. And even those people who buy in stores 

gather information from the internet first. Language 

assistants are also playing an increasingly important 

role. Ultimately, it’s always about making the shopping 

experience simpler and easier. Which is where artificial 

intelligence comes into play. Algorithmic decisions 

are used in a variety of ways in the retail trade: from 

personalised product recommendations via intelligent 

costing through to chat bots and promotion robots. 

However, the technology behind a particular solution 

is usually of secondary importance to customers, as 

they are first and foremost interested in obtaining their 

favourite product quickly and simply. 

Motivated by the desire to further extend 

Spreadshirt’s reach Philip Rooke is also closely following 

the new trends in e-commerce. The main rival here 

is Amazon. In 2017, the online giant and its Marketplace 

already accounted for 46 per cent of online sales 

in Germany. The online retailer sets standards that are 

very difficult for small e-commerce firms to match, 

Rooke maintains, saying: “We must continually work 

hard at improving our customer services and delivery 

times in order to compete with Amazon.” And the 

CEO has another ambitious goal: from its headquarters 

in Leipzig, the company intends to conquer the 

Asian market next. ■ 

7 

CREATING NEW SHOPPING 

EXPERIENCES 

Nobody today can avoid adapting their web content 

for use on mobile devices. This is proven by the following 

statistics: Over 40 per cent of all orders Spreadshirt 

received in 2017 were sent from smartphones. This 

FACTS // Location: Leipzig / Founding year: 2002 / 

Employees: some 750 worldwide, around 350 of these 

at the headquarters in Leipzig / Management: CEO Philip 

Rooke / Mission: e-commerce platform for on-demand 

printing of clothing and accessories 

TRENDING TOPICS

34 

Inspirational Companies 


Smart business ideas point the way to 

the digital future 

ILLUSTRATION 

ANDRÉ GOTTSCHALK 

text 

CHRISTIANE ZIMMER 

PHACON 

Training devices for surgeons 

Artificial skulls from the 3D printer, 

on which surgeons can train to 

carry out difficult operations: the 

company Phacon, based in Leipzig, 

specialises in 3D models for preoperative 

planning. Founders 

Robert Haase and Hendrik Möckel 

now supply more than 100 hospitals 

with their digital training 

models, and in 2017 the company 

celebrated its 10th birthday. The 

models simulate surgical procedures 

under realistic conditions, 

while the training system boasts a 

realistic look and feel and a patented 

detection system: as soon 

as the surgeon makes a mistake, 

an acoustic signal sounds. 

www.phacon.de 

LSA 

Smart early warning systems 

Smart maintenance involves the 

use of ‘intelligent’ early warning 

systems that mean production 

plants can be maintained promptly 

before they are disrupted. 

The automation of complex systems 

and complicated technologies 

is the goal of Wolkensteinbased 

LSA GmbH Leischnig. Its 

managing director Steffen 

Leischnig is dedicated to improving 

the reliability of work and 

production systems. Innovations 

come about through research and 

development work, which the 

company carries out in cooperation 

with the region’s technical 

universities, various research 

institutes, and other companies 

in related industries. 

www.lsa-gmbh.de 

Mindance 

Mental time out in the workplace 

Less stress, improved concentration 

and greater efficiency: this 

is the promise of the digital mental 

training developed by Lukas Stenzel 

and Robin Maier from Leipzig-based 

e-health start-up Mindance. It is 

oriented towards companies that 

wish to incorporate mental coaching 

into their corporate health management 

and staff development. 

The app gives staff access to a 

variety of mental training sessions, 

with short audio exercises 

designed to improve performance 

and help reduce stress. The idea 

gained Mindance access to the 

mentoring programme of the 

SpinLab Acceleratr run by Leipzig’s 

HHL and AOK Plus in 2017. With a 

small team, they are currently 

working on the further development 

of their app, and the mental 

trainer that fits in your pocket is 

expected soon. 

www.mindance.de 

Unger Kabelkonfektion 

High-grade automation 

Who built it? A glance at the plug of 

an electric toothbrush in any home 

bathroom will, in many cases, result 

in the same response: Unger. The 

system supplier from Sehmatal in 

Germany’s Erzgebirge region specialises 

in the production of cables 

and conductors – what’s more, the 

company produces fully automated 

production systems in its own special 

engineering department. Here, 

the family-run company takes care 

of customers’ individual packaging 

for the goods they produce, among 

other things. With 240 employees, 

Unger Kabel-Konfektionstechnik is 

the biggest employer in the area, 

and its owner Ronny Unger recently 

invested 12 million euros in a fully 

automated high-rack warehouse. The 

company’s listed buildings, part of an 

old textile factory, are now home to 

cutting-edge Industry 4.0 technology. 

www.unger-kabelkonfektion.de 

TRENDING TOPICS

35 


wattTron 

A revolution in yoghurt pots 

Around 3.5 million tonnes of 

thermoformed packaging – from 

yoghurt pots to blister packaging 

– are produced every year in Europe 

alone. The energy required 

for this is significant, making the 

invention by start-up Watttron, 

founded in 2016, all the more 

interesting. The Dresden-based 

company produces a heating system 

that saves 30 per cent of the 

material and energy that goes into 

the production of plastic packaging. 

It uses single, individually 

regulated heating circuits to create 

temperature fields on the 

surface of the plastic, whereby 

the forming behaviour of the plastic 

film can be controlled in a 

targeted way. The result is improved 

product quality with a 

simultaneous reduction in film 

thickness. Watttron is a spin-off 

of the Institute of Processing 

Machines and Mobile Machines 

at Technische Universität (TU) 

Dresden and the Fraunhofer Institute 

for Process Engineering and 

Packaging. The system won the 

company the German Packaging 

Award and the IQ Innovation 

Award in 2017. 

www.watttron.de 

SENSAPE 

Next-generation digital signage 

If George Clooney gives a wink 

from the display window or a digital 

shop assistant provides details 

of the product the customer has 

just picked up, then it’s not unlikely 

that Sensape is involved. After all, 

these kinds of infotainment systems 

are what the Leipzig-based 

start-up specialises in. The company 

was founded by Matthias 

Freysoldt and Artur Lohrer in 2015 

– a spin-off of HHL Leipzig supported 

by the Federal Ministry for 

Economic Affairs and Energy. The 

Sensape Visual Retail Solution 

combines a classic digital signage 

approach with artificial intelligence 

and augmented reality. The selflearning 

image- processing software 

is able to react to its environment 

and interact with passers-by. 

www.sensape.com 

SQS 

Digitisation test centre 

In Görlitz, robots undergo aptitude 

tests, autonomous driving is put 

through its paces, and the effectiveness 

of car-sharing models 

is scrutinised so that cars are located 

precisely where the app 

stipulates. On the edge of the Free 

State of Saxony the course is 

being set for digitisation, since it is 

here that SQS, a service provider 

in the area of quality assurance for 

digital business processes, 

operates one of its most important 

test centres. SQS is a key engine 

for the region. With specialist staff 

from all over this border region 

where Poland and the Czech Republic 

meet Germany, the company 

is showing just how integration 

and cooperation between cultures 

work in practice. 

www.sqs.de 

Kiwigrid 

Fresh fruit for smart power 

An intelligent power network 

– that’s the vision of Kiwigrid. 

Since 2011 the Dresden-based 

company has operated a management 

platform for energy consumption. 

With the system, which 

combines software and hardware, 

users can remotely monitor and 

control solar power systems, 

energy storage or electric vehicle 

charging stations. Devices like 

electricity meters, batteries, storage 

devices, wind turbines and other 

machines can communicate and 

link up with one another via the internet. 

Incidentally, founder 

Carsten Bether came up with the 

name Kiwigrid because the wreath 

of fine, radiant lines and dark 

spots in a kiwi fruit reminded him 

of energy grids. After Apple and 

BlackBerry, Kiwigrid is now 

bringing fresh fruit from Saxony 

to the IT world. 

www.kiwigrid.com 

TRENDING TOPICS

36 

Artificial Intelligence 


06 

Artificial 

intelligence 

short cut / Artificial intelligence (AI) / Self-learning 

computer programs that acquire superhuman abilities in specific 

areas / Systems compare huge quantities of data, developing 

algorithms from these in order to be able to make decisions 

independently / Controversy: What can machines do just as 

well or better than human beings? / American and Asian 

tech companies are leading the latest wave of AI progress 

TRENDING TOPICS

37 


TRENDING TOPICS

38 


A New 

Quantum Leap 

The task should actually be ideal for artificial intelligence 

(AI): dear Computer, please drive me through 

the city in my car avoiding all traffic. Particularly 

residents of megacities would love it for that. In the 

year 2017 motorists in Los Angeles, which tops the 

international congestion rankings published by the 

company Inrix, sat in traffic jams for a whopping 

102 hours. 

Now it may seem hard to believe, given all 

the success stories on the abilities of AI, but the traffic 

problem cannot yet truly be solved. 

It is too complex, the number of possibilities 

so immense, that even today’s fastest supercomputer 

would still be unable to calculate the best route in a 

suitable timeframe. It would need hundreds of years 

to run through all the necessary calculations. 

Massive investments / Yet there is hope that 

precisely this could soon change. Carmaker Volkswagen 

recently joined forces with Google to sound 

out ways in which traffic flows could be far more 

quickly optimised in future. The idea is to use a new 

generation of computers, namely quantum computers. 

For a long time these machines, which function 

in a fundamentally different way to classic computers, 

were just theory. “Now we are seeing the entry 

of organisations in this field that are able to build 

systems reliable enough that we can speak of viable 

computers,” says Frank Wilhelm-Mauch, professor 

of quantum and solid state theory at Saarland University. 

“They are currently Google, IBM, Microsoft 

and Intel, but the European Union has also decided 

to invest massive sums in this technology.” 

Will quantum computers help 

artificial intelligence make its 

breakthrough? 

text 

Klaus Lüber 

Unlike a 

conventional 

computer, 

a quantum 

computer 

doesn’t work 

with bits, 

but with 

quantum bits. 

Unlike a conventional computer, a quantum computer 

doesn’t work with bits, but with quantum 

bits, or qubits for short. Whereas bits can only have 

a value of 0 or 1, qubits can, owing to the laws of 

quantum physics, occupy the state of 0, 1, or both 

states simultaneously. Moreover, two quantum bits 

can be intertwined such that an operation on one of 

the two instantaneously influences the other as well. 

These two characteristics are the reason why a quantum 

computer can perform certain tasks far faster 

and with fewer bits. “Just 50 functioning qubits are 

sufficient to create what’s called quantum supremacy,” 

notes Wilhelm-Mauch. “In that case a quantum 

computer, at least for certain tasks, is faster than any 

classic supercomputer.” 

Unanswered questions / Wilhelm-Mauch 

is optimistic as regards the number of functioning 

qubits: “I think we will reach the magic number of 

50 as early as next year.” That said, it is still unclear 

when the first practical applications will benefit 

from the eagerly anticipated increases in speed 

thanks to quantum effects. “Small versions are currently 

being tested on the small quantum computers 

now available. Yet depending on the use case, it may 

be decades before these have reached an industrial 

scale.” Neither has it been decided, Wilhelm-Mauch 

continues, which hardware system will prevail. The 

expert’s favourite? Superconducting circuits cooled 

to minus 270 degrees Celsius. Other researchers are 

working on qubits made of ions or atoms that function 

at room temperature. 

So do we have to be patient and wait until 

quantum-computer-based systems can smoothly 

pilot us through traffic? Possibly, according to AI 

expert Hans Christian Boos, CEO of the Frankfurt 

firm Arago. “We are talking about fluid simulations 

here. We can of course do the quantum calculations, 

but at the moment not even our theoretical 

knowledge of these systems is particularly well developed.” 

For him, the vision of the VW-Google 

project to be able to use quantum computers to calculate 

in real time when each and every car should 

turn left or right for the best route is still relatively 

pie in the sky. 

What is far more crucial for Boos is that 

quantum computers offer a way out for a pressing 

hardware problem of classic computers. “To date we 

have been able to rely on processing power doubling 

every 18 to 24 months in relation to the energy 

used.” Yet this so-called Moore’s law will soon come 

up against physical limits. “The quantum computer 

will help us maintain the rhythm. And that is essential 

for AI applications.” ■ 

TRENDING TOPICS

39 


»When I think 

of artificial 

intelligence … 

Angelika 

bullingerhoffmann 

Peter 

Weibel 

… I think of talking things, not just 

Alexa and Siri, but all objects that are fitted 

with mini sensors and wirelessly 

connected to a server that sends me up-todate 

information. This creates intelligent 

environments. First and foremost, however, 

artificial intelligence will, better than I 

ever could, analyse the natural in telligence 

of my fellow human beings, reveal their 

thoughts and predict their behaviour. And 

when humans start to use artificial intelligence 

to protect themselves from these 

analyses, the next stage of evolution will 

begin, namely hyper-intelligence. Ultimately, 

artificial intelligence is the technical 

answer to mankind’s trans human 

longing.« 

( Professor Peter Weibel has been Chairman of the Center for 

Art and Media [ZKM] in Karlsruhe since 1999. As an artist he is 

known above all for his works in media and computer art. ) 

… I welcome the opportunity to simplify our 

working world, be it in factories or offices. 

Information will be quickly available in the correct 

form, resources will be employed in a suitable 

manner – in this way we can avoid strain at an early 

stage. Yet AI has already caught up with and 

overtaken our human ability to make complex 

decisions; here ethical and legal rules must keep 

pace. We must protect personal rights 

and the possibility of having the last word.« 

( Professor Angelika Bullinger-Hoffmann has held the chair of ergonomics and innovation 

management at Chemnitz University of Technology since April 2012. ) 

Ramin 

Assadollahi 

… I see that artificial intelligence will change 

entire industries and the ways they work – similarly to 

the invention of the steam engine or the introduction of 

electricity. It will benefit all of us and I am convinced that 

AI will bring about a great many positive changes. 

Naturally this transformation also poses challenges for society, 

because re-localising work requires better-quality 

education and an economic equalising with those countries 

to which work was formerly outsourced.« 

( Ramin Assadollahi, PhD, is CEO and founder of ExB Labs, a laboratory for the 

development of innovative speech-processing products based in Munich. ) 

TRENDING TOPICS

40 


Yvonne 

Hofstetter 

Wolfgang 

lehner 

… I look forward to the many great 

applications enabled by mass individualisation 

in the digital and the traditional 

worlds. And at the same time I warn 

against overstating the potential for misuse 

that can obviously result from the combination 

of virtually endless computing capacity, 

extensive data stores and scalable 

statis tical algorithms. Dialogue on transparent 

technology and open society will be 

nec essary to steer developments in the 

field of artificial intelligence in the right 

directions.« 

( Professor Wolfgang Lehner heads the Database Technology Research 

Group at Technische Universität Dresden. ) 

RUTGER 

WIJBURG 

… I think about the fact that there are two camps: the one believes 

that we need to collect as much data as possible and simply input 

it into an AI system for miracles to happen. That’s most users. 

Experienced researchers on the other hand know that AI will only 

be really effective for particular applications with good mathematical 

models and conceptual work. My best experiences with AI were 

when it was integrated in other processes.« 

( Yvonne Hofstetter is a non-fiction author and won the 53rd Theodor Heuss Award. 

She is managing director of Munich-based Teramark Technologies. ) 

THORSTEN 

POSSELT 

… I think of the opportunities for business and society, and of 

acceptance and responsibility. Start-ups, investors, companies, 

and citizens view AI with differing expectations. Curiosity 

and enthusiasm for technology come up against fears over a 

loss of control and jobs. We must investigate how man 

and machine can work together and which competencies 

are needed to shape a worthwhile future with AI.« 

( Professor Thorsten Posselt heads the Fraunhofer Center for International Management 

and Knowledge Economy IMW in Leipzig and is professor of innovation management 

and innovation economy at Leipzig University. ) 

… I initially see the digital transformation 

as a whole, which is giving rise to a 

fundamental change in business and 

society. Artificial intelligence offers opportunities 

for entirely new applications. 

Germany has important key industries 

and can assume a leading role in this development. 

Yet it is also clear that we 

need robust and safe solutions for critical 

applications.« 

( Rutger Wijburg, PhD, is managing director of Infineon Dresden. ) 

PHILIPP 

SLUSALLEK 

… I think first and foremost of the exciting times that lie ahead 

of us. At the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence we 

are currently working on an AI vision intended to safeguard jobs and 

prosperity. And the European initiative CLAIRE, which encompasses 

over 1,000 scientists, will in future bundle AI research, combine 

machine learning with actual understanding of content and in so 

doing make progress in this field.« 

( Professor Philipp Slusallek heads the research department Agents and Simulated 

Reality at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence [DFKI] in Saarbrücken. ) 

TRENDING TOPICS

41 


»We could manage 

without it, but why should we?« 

Why we don’t need to be afraid of artificial 

intelligence – an interview with Professor 

Sebastian Rudolph of the Institute of Artificial 

Intelligence at TU Dresden. 

text 

Sabine Simon 

Professor Rudolph, many people believe that artificial 

intelligence is a matter of machines ruling the world 

one day in the future. Is that really the case? 

Actually, I consider the visions of the future 

conjured up in many of our science-fiction 

films where humanity is subjected to machines 

to be very far-fetched given the current 

status of technology. But I would not rule 

out that at some time in the more distant 

future machines could develop their own 

consciousness and something approaching a 

‘will to power’. However, what I find much 

more realistic at present is the danger that 

people misuse artificial intelligence systems 

for their own ends or that damage is caused 

involuntarily owing to systems being wrongly 

programmed. On the one hand, it is up to 

politicians to create a meaningful framework, 

and on the other hand AI research itself can 

make valuable contributions by developing 

security mechanisms founded on basic ethical 

principles. 

Could you define the term artificial intelligence in 

a few simple sentences? 

The aim of artificial intelligence research is 

to equip computers with skills we would 

normally only expect of intelligent beings. 

We differentiate between ‘weak AI’, when it 

is about the solution of specific problems, and 

‘strong AI’, when the aim is to achieve general 

intelligent behaviour at a human level. Although 

today computers already tackle certain 

complex tasks better than humans – such as 

playing chess – it is still not clear whether and 

how strong AI can be achieved. 

So, we don’t need to be afraid of artificial 

intelligence? 

No more and no less than we do of technical 

progress in general, if you ask me. 

Let’s imagine it is the year 2050. How do you 

suppose the economy, work and life will have been 

altered through AI? 

Generally speaking such long-term predictions 

tend to be way off the mark. However, 

it is realistic to assume that many areas of 

our lives will have become automated, from 

transport or communication with authorities 

through to the planning of complex procedures. 

Naturally this will also cause upheavals 

on the job market, but mankind has already 

experienced similar phases, for example as 

a result of industrialisation. In any case we 

can expect AI to relieve people of many bothersome 

obligations and tasks. 

If we think of companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, 

Tencent or Baidu: have we long since 

been left behind in Germany when it comes 

to digitisation? 

The market in the IT sector moves at an 

incredibly fast pace. It took only 10 years 

for many of the companies you mentioned 

to develop into global players. Germany has 

a healthy world of SMEs active in IT, and 

who knows perhaps it will produce the next 

global player – providing we have a suitable 

digital infrastructure and favourable general 

political conditions. 

What can AI do that humans are not able to do 

for themselves? 

With AI it is all about tasks people could also 

do, such as recognising spam mails or driving 

vehicles. However, the aim of AI technology is 

to do these tasks more reliably and faster than 

humans and free people up for other tasks. In 

these cases, there is no real difference between 

AI and other technical instruments such as 

navigation systems. We could manage without 

them, but why should we? ■ 

The interviewee 

Since April 2013 

Sebastian Rudolph has 

been professor for 

computational logic 

in the Institute of Artificial 

Intelligence at the faculty 

of computer science 

TU Dresden. He is concerned 

primarily with 

AI and focuses specifically 

on research into decidability 

in logic-based knowledge 

representation – in other 

words the representation 

of human knowledge in 

computer systems and 

the calculation of logical 

consequences on the basis 

of this knowledge. 

TRENDING TOPICS

FUTURE 

IN 100 

WORDS 

Work, life, 

economy, 

health: four 

visionaries 

look ahead 

to the digital 

future. 

TRENDING TOPICS

43 


OUR LIFE / »Some say technology is 

changing our lives for the worse; I 

believe it is changing them for the 

better. The arrival on Earth of such 

a radical concept as the world wide 

web (thank you, Sir Tim Berners- 

Lee) and Google in its wake, has 

revolutionised the world. To make 

information free and available to all 

– that is one of the greatest gifts 

mankind has ever given, and can 

ever give itself. The result? Equalised 

opportunity and education 

that is fundamentally inclusive and 

non-discriminatory, and spans 

freely across ages, nations and cultures, 

resulting in a fundamental 

new sense of self-empowerment. 

For all. Now and in future.« 

( Lady Kinvara Balfour is a director, producer, 

writer and speaker. Her work spans the worlds of 

fashion, tech, theatre and film. She is a tech and 

consumer trends expert. ) 

OUR WORKING WORLD / »My life is 

physically and digitally networked 

simultaneously – travelling 

between ten cities on three 

continents and hooked up with 

my offices in three time zones via 

l aptop, smartphone, tablet and 

headphones. I actually live, the 

digital office. In the context of the 

digitised (working) world, space 

is assigned a new meaning: the office 

serves as a place for meetings 

and social encounters and this requires 

new qualities and structures. 

Our design for the C ollabora tive 

Cloud, a media company’s building 

in Berlin, is an example of how future 

workplaces can be conceived, 

namely between the poles of focussed 

working and direct participation 

in communal exchange 

in the tangible space of the cloud.« 

( OLE SCHEERen is an internationally active 

architect and founder of Büro Ole Scheeren, 

whose prize-winning buildings redesign urban 

living spaces. ) 

TRENDING TOPICS

44 


OUR ECONOMY / »With digitisation, 

the challenges for the economy are 

becoming more complex: different 

sectors are shifting closer to one 

another, and at the same time, 2.5 

quintillion bytes of data are being 

created every day. The future belongs 

to the organisations that are 

able to use this data strategically, 

but 80 per cent of all commercially 

relevant data is currently used for 

… nothing at all. That’s why we 

need intelligent solutions for data 

analysis and evaluation, be it for a 

personalised approach to customers, 

predictive planning, or greater 

transparency in the supply chain. 

The future of the economy lies in 

the use of AI solutions – as well as 

in the application of platforms on 

which the data can be exchanged. 

Data economy + platform economy 

= the future!« 

OUR HEALTH / »The healthcare industry 

is the area that will see the 

biggest changes: hospitals will be 

able to save up to 30 per cent of 

their costs with AI or quantum computing. 

With intelligent toothbrushes, 

people will get real-time data 

about their physical condition with 

treatment available through medical 

food. But this is only the beginning. 

With gene editing and the production 

of replacement organs, technologies 

are developing that are able 

to radically prolong our lives. If 

these reach market maturity within 

the next 80 years, my now threeyear-old 

son could live to be more 

than 120 years old. Also, the millions 

that Elon Musk has invested 

in the brain-computer interface 

will make it possible to upload the 

human brain to a computer.« 

( Sven Gábor Jánszky is a futurologist and Chairman 

of Europe’s largest futurology institute ‘2b Ahead 

ThinkTank’, based in Leipzig. ) 

( Martina Koederitz was CEO of IBM in 

Germany from 2011. Since 2018 she has managed 

the industrial and automotive sector of IBM as 

its Global Industry Managing Director. ) 

TRENDING TOPICS

THE DIGITAL CENTRE 

IN GERMANY 

USE TECHNOLOGY SKILLS – 

START DIGITIZATION NOW! 

Dresden’s “Smart Systems Hub” and Leipzig’s 

“Smart Infrastructure Hub” with partners 

in Chemnitz, Freiberg and Mittweida digitize 

industry and infrastructure. 

WWW.SMART-SYSTEMS-HUB.DE 

WWW.SMARTINFRASTRUCTUREHUB.COM

46 

Smart Systems 


07 

Smart 

Systems 

short cut / Smart systems / Intelligent integration of 

individual components and new materials / Ever more functions 

are being incorporated into components that are becoming 

ever smaller and are thus able to meet ever greater demands / 

Challenge: increasing complexity and interdisciplinarity / Opportunities, 

most significantly, in the area of medical technology 

leading to better diagnosis, therapy and monitoring 

TRENDING TOPICS

47 

Smart Systems 

Higher, Further, 

1 

Faster 

the 

that’s 

Key 

text 

Christina lynN dier 

PHOTOS 

Thomas MEyer 

➔

48 

Smart Systems 

BIOGRAPHY 

Tino Petsch, born in 1967, founded 3D-Micromac AG 

in 2002 and has managed it ever since as its CEO and 

primary shareholder. The company is based in Chemnitz 

and specialises in laser micromachining. Its most 

important customers come from the photovoltaic, semiconductor, 

and glass and display industries, as well as 

from the micro-diagnostics and medical technology 

sectors. Petsch places great emphasis on knowledge 

transfer between universities and industries, and in 

2012 he was named Saxony’s Entrepreneur of the Year. 

2 

TRENDING TOPICS

49 

Smart Systems 

3 

Images 

1 

Optimist: Founder Tino Petsch 

has developed 3D-Micromac 

AG from a start-up to a leading 

laser specialist. 

2 

Solutions for the photovoltaic 

industry: Tino Petsch stands 

before a microCELL system 

for the laser processing of 

solar cells. 

3 

Product showroom: customers 

can get an overview of the 

laser systems at the headquarters 

in Chemnitz. 

Why an 

entrepreneur 

from Chemnitz 

takes a close look 

at the trends 

of Silicon Valley. 

Mr Petsch, what does precision mean to you? 

Profession and passion. We develop machines 

for laser micromachining – where measurements 

are in micrometres, that is, thousandths of millimetres. 

In other words: a woman’s hair is on 

average 60 micrometres thick, so one sixtieth of 

the breadth of a hair is the level of precision we 

are typically working with. 

You founded 3D-Micromac AG in 2002 and since 

then the company has developed from a start-up to the 

leading specialist in laser micromachining. What has 

been your most important lesson? 

That change is inevitable. “Higher, further, 

faster” might sound corny, but it’s the name 

of the game in this industry. Only those 

who continue to move forward can offer 

products that are also in demand internationally. 

I try to keep an ear to the ground 

everywhere – be it in the company’s own 

process development, at our site in Silicon 

Valley, among end customers in Asia, or 

at different trade shows worldwide. That’s 

how new ideas mature, how joint projects 

develop with customers. ➔ 

TRENDING TOPICS

50 

Smart Systems 

Images 

4 

Innovative technology: 

the microDICE system serves 

to isolate semiconductor wafers 

in individual chips. 

5 

A look inside: 

the microSTRUCT laser 

systems are used primarily 

in product development and 

applied research. 

You’re also active in the area of additive production 

and many of your customers come from Silicon Valley. 

Correct. It’s an exciting field, even if the technology 

of industrial 3D printing is in itself not 

new. What we’ve done is transfer it from the 

macro to the micro world. We’ve succeeded in 

reducing the layer thickness from 100 to 1 micrometre. 

The so-called micro laser sintering process enables 

the production of minute metallic objects 

– for example for use in medical technology – 

using powdered metal as a basis. 

Our raw materials are therefore basically powder 

and data. 

What are the other digital trends that have come 

from Silicon Valley? 

The entire area around near field communication 

will see a boom. This wireless transfer 

technology permits data exchange between devices 

up to a distance of a few centimetres. 

The transfer requires a smartphone on the one 

side, and on the other a ‘tag’, that is, an RFID 

chip on which data is stored that can be read 

using a mobile phone. This not only opens 

up ever more new possibilities for marketing, 

but also helps to make products traceable 

and counterfeit-proof. 

So product piracy remains a major topic? 

Definitely. The customer of one of our customers 

is a well-known winery in California. One 

day they noticed that they were selling three 

times more wine in China than they even produce 

in America. Further investigations revealed 

that there is a second- and even thirdhand 

market for the original bottles, which are 

filled with cheaper wine and resold. This 

is of course very damaging to the winery’s image. 

Now the winery is working with a tag that is 

»Miniaturisation plays right 

into our hands. The smaller 

the products, the more precise 

the work needs to be.« 

destroyed when the bottle top is unscrewed. 

Buyers of the wine can thus use a smartphone 

to read whether or not the bottle has already 

been opened. What’s more, the tag gives them 

further information, for example about the 

optimum drinking temperature or the dishes it 

goes well with. Because we produce these tags, 

I’m optimistic that quite a few of our devices 

will still be required in future. 

A particular challenge for many industries is also ongoing 

miniaturisation, coupled with growing demands 

on the performance of electrical components. What does 

that mean for you? 

Miniaturisation plays right into our hands. 

The smaller the products, the more precise the 

work needs to be. With chips, for example, 

we are now seeing integration into the third 

dimension. That means there’s not just one chip, 

which takes up a larger surface area, but rather 

multiple chips stacked on top of one another. 

In the semiconductor industry, this so-called 3D 

integration is a promising way of accommodating 

the trend towards more compact, more 

high-performance electrical devices. Laser processes 

are required in order to create and analyse 

the connections and passages between the chips. 

You export 75 per cent of your production and travel 

abroad frequently. How are other countries dealing 

with the changes brought about by digitisation? 

I can certainly see some differences in mentality. 

As before, the Germans remain rather 

conservative, while the Americans are much 

more open to changes and innovations. In the 

USA even smaller companies and start-ups 

get a chance to present new products to industry 

giants, while here key factors like company 

size and capital resources are a major focus. 

On the other hand, the Americans are 

also more erratic in the process, sometimes 

changing the requirements of a machine even 

while it’s being built. The Asians, in contrast, 

are very precise and want to specify everything. 

That can be a good thing too, but 

leaves little scope for creative ideas in the 

subsequent design process. Regardless of 

whether it’s in Europe, the USA or Asia 

though, ultimately what counts is that the 

product works and enables the company to 

earn money. 

How will our world change if more and more devices 

are connected to one another? 

TRENDING TOPICS

51 

Smart Systems 

»A certain amount of basic 

scepticism is a good thing, 

but it shouldn’t be paralysing.« 

4 

It’s hard to imagine what might be possible in 

future. Even today, a huge number of things 

are connected – including we human beings. 

I think the key question is what happens 

if more and more robots take over the work of 

human beings in future? People are still going 

to need a purpose in life. 

Do these developments worry you? 

They don’t worry me exactly. As an engineer 

I always see more opportunities than risks in 

technology. Nevertheless, digitisation raises 

questions for society that need to be discussed 

in the coming years. One thing is clear though: 

people have always been sceptical as new developments 

have taken their course. A certain 

amount of basic scepticism is a good thing, but 

it shouldn’t be paralysing. Incidentally, this also 

applies to local legislation, which often lags 

behind the trends. If we’re too slow in Germany 

– for example with regard to setting a legal 

course for autonomous driving – then we must 

expect to be disadvantaged in the face of international 

competition. 

On the Smart Systems Campus in Chemnitz, 3D- 

Micromac has now taken over three buildings and 

employs around 200 people. Where is the journey 

headed? 

Over the past few years, we have focussed entirely 

on growth in order to achieve critical 

mass in the market. We’ve now succeeded at 

that. We’ve occupied a niche segment and are 

now the biggest among the small providers. In 

future we’ll focus on boosting profitability. We 

have to build up our reserves for times when 

the economic situation is not so good for us. 

5 

How digitally inclined are you personally in your 

free time? 

That’s an easy question – I always have 

my smartphone and tablet to hand. What’s 

more, I spend a lot of time working on the 

computer, because I produce travel and 

nature films as a sideline. ■ 

FACTS // Locations: Chemnitz, San Jose (USA), Wuxi 

(China) / Year of foundation: 2002 / Employees: around 

200 / Management Board: Tino Petsch, Uwe Wagner / 

Mission: Innovative laser processes for industrial production 

TRENDING TOPICS

52 

Industry 4.0 


08 

Industry 

4.0 

short cut / Industry 4.0; also the fourth industrial 

revolution / Term stems from a ‘future project’ by the German 

federal government / Industrial production is dovetailed with 

modern information technology / Objective: optimum cooperation 

between humans, machines and IT / New level of organisation 

and management of the overall value chain / German 

industry aims to invest 40 billion euros annually up to 2020 

TRENDING TOPICS

53 

Industry 4.0 

Humans as 

conductors and 

trouble-shooters 

text 

Guido Walter 

Industry 4.0 is a German 

success story. The worlds 

of science and industry are 

hard at work together in an effort 

to write the next chapter. 

The vision of a future humanfree 

factory, however, won’t 

necessarily become a reality. ➔ 

TRENDING TOPICS

54 

Industry 4.0 

1 

2 

TRENDING TOPICS

55 

Industry 4.0 

IMAGES 

1 

Smart production: in the 

future Infineon, seen here 

in Dresden, aims to manage 

all its international locations 

as if they constituted one 

big virtual factory. 

2 

Interaction between human 

and machine: the company 

is by no means aiming to do 

without employees. 

3 

Test environment: 

in the model factory at the 

HTW in Dresden, semi-automated 

production processes 

are realistically simulated. 

to 5.9 billion euros in 2017. From 2018 onwards, the 

figure will be in excess of 7 billion. 

The numbers and the full order books of 

industrial corporations show the potential for digitisation 

in factories. The sector is currently seeing 

the strongest increase in demand for corresponding 

solutions in the fields of mechanical engineering and 

plant construction. Just how Industry 4.0 can create 

value for companies was demonstrated by Bosch at 

the Hanover Trade Fair using the example of a selflearning 

system. The company produces braking 

control systems at 11 different locations worldwide. 

If, for example, a welding station in India were 

to work half a per cent better, this would automatically 

be visualised at all the other stations in the 

global network, and they could then be adapted accordingly. 

Through the interconnectivity of factories 

and machines, Bosch managed to double productivity 

within five years. 

Many 

companies in 

Germany have 

already succeeded 

in dovetailing 

industrial 

production 

with modern 

information and 

communications 

technology. 

Yet the 

pace is growing 

faster. 

A gentle whirring, clicking and clattering is created 

by the robots and machines, which all appear to 

know precisely what they need to do. The technical 

processes of this small production line seem like 

perfectly practiced choreography. All the human 

has to do is supervise. This, the future of industrial 

manufacturing, can be experienced during a visit 

to a model factory built by scientists from Dresden 

University of Applied Sciences (HTW). In this mini-factory 

with its modern sensor technology, robot 

modules and self-driving transport vehicles interact. 

“The model factory serves as a test environment 

where research institutes and partners from industry 

can trial their components in combination,” says 

Dirk Reichelt, a professor at HTW. He holds workshops 

destined to help visitors better understand the 

model factory. “The most common question participants 

ask is where do I start with digitisation?” 

Many companies in Germany have already 

succeeded in dovetailing industrial production with 

modern information and communications technology. 

Yet the pace is growing faster and anyone wanting 

to be successful on the markets of tomorrow will 

need to make their plant more intelligent. “Industry 

4.0 has reached factories, but the digital transformation 

of industry is far from being achieved,” 

comments Sven Zehl from digital association Bitkom. 

“Many companies are still hesitant to upgrade 

their entire fleet of machines.” Since the majority 

of companies already have an Industry 4.0 strategy 

for the corporation as a whole, however, the question 

of whether to change over has long since been 

resolved for German industry. According to Bitkom, 

sales of solutions for Industry 4.0 rose by 21 per cent 

COBOT COLLEAGUES 

The next stage of digitisation will see ‘cobots’ (collaborative 

robots) playing a greater role. The advanced 

versions created by Esslingen manufacturer 

Festo are also being used in the model factory at 

the HTW in Dresden. “Cobots support people in 

their work and handle the particularly physically 

demanding tasks,” says Reichelt. “We are currently 

working on a demonstrator for a cobot workstation, 

where the cobot can recognise the relevant 

em ployee and their movements at the workstation.” 

Another future trend that is coming to fruition 

for industry is the ‘digital twin’. This involves 

a virtual copy of a machine or production line. 

As a three-dimensional CAD model with all the 

3 

TRENDING TOPICS

56 

Industry 4.0 

Sales with Industry 4.0 rise to 7 billion euros. 

German market for 4.0 solutions 2015-8 (in millions of euros) 

(Source: ‘Industry 4.0 – The Future of Production’; Bitkom) 

4,061 4,858 

+19.6% 

5,870 

+20.8% 

7,187 

+22.4% 

2015 2016 2017 2018 

qualities and functions of the real thing, the digital 

twin guides the system from the first draft through 

production and further development to recycling. 

“The virtual copies of the plants enable early predictions 

about the future behaviour of a system in 

production,” Reichelt explains. “This means that key 

performance parameters can be determined as early 

as the planning stage of the smart factory.” The digital 

twin also plays an important role when it comes 

to pre-emptive maintenance. Here, there is huge potential 

for increasing the availability of machines and 

plants and minimising unscheduled downtime. 

“Digital twins for products or production 

lines are also an area we’re working on, but we’re 

aiming to go one step further,” says Christoph 

Schumacher of Infineon in Dresden. “In the future 

we want to manage all the international manufacturing 

sites of Infineon as if they were one single big 

virtual factory.” 

The current reality is lots of different sites, as 

well as aging industrial facilities, but these too can be 

upgraded for the digital age. A simple retrofit, installed 

as an add-on the existing machine, is often sufficient 

in such a context. For example, by adding an impulse 

counter with an extra mini-computer you can get information 

about quantities produced more quickly 

and easily. “Often, the art to it is finding the right 

sensor and measuring system,” says Reichelt. “In the 

model factory we are able to try out typical scenarios 

in advance and later adapt them to the relevant industrial 

scenarios.” 

Digitisation 

and Industry 

4.0 are indeed 

an opportunity 

to reclaim 

jobs that have 

previously 

been relocated 

abroad. After 

all, the use 

of robots 

and artificial 

intelligence 

makes local 

production 

substantially 

more attractive. 

FACTORIES WITHOUT PEOPLE? 

Humans will also have to adapt. The notion that 

the increasing automation through robots and selfdriving 

vehicles will lead to these replacing human 

workforces is as undisputed as the fact that, at the 

same time, new, often more highly skilled positions 

will be created. “I don’t think the future vision of an 

entirely human-free factory will become a reality in 

the medium term,” says Schumacher. “It’s true, automation 

means our factories now look very unlike 

what they were 10 years ago. And in the next 10 years 

there will be further significant changes, but we’ll still 

need employees in manufacturing in the future, too.” 

What is certain is that the increased use of 

cobots and assistance systems in manufacturing is 

supporting humans and relieving them of some 

of their tasks. In the smart factory of tomorrow, 

machines, materials and tools will communicate with 

one another in real time. 

“In a smart factory like this, the role of 

people will shift ever more towards that of the conductors 

and trouble-shooters,” says Reichelt. “And 

the advancing automation and interconnectivity of 

factories will lead to the development of new, higherquality 

jobs.” 

Digitisation and Industry 4.0 are indeed an 

opportunity to reclaim jobs that have previously 

been relocated abroad. After all, the use of robots and 

artificial intelligence makes local production substantially 

more attractive. In Germany, production 

in a smart factory permits flexible and rapid manufacture 

of individual products with small batch sizes. 

And there’s another aspect that sets Germany apart 

from other countries: the close cooperation between 

leading companies and research institutions with 

expertise in the fields of hardware, software and connectivity 

– namely, the essential drivers for realising 

future Industry 4.0 concepts. ■ 

TRENDING TOPICS

57 

Industry 4.0 

ONE 

QUESTION 

Do robots 

make better 

colleagues? 

ONE 

ANSWER 

»The better colleagues at 

work are humans – not machines. 

A hammer is never going to be a 

workman’s friend. However intelligent 

robots can be, we 

know that there is no consciousness 

inside that metal exterior. Robots 

do not feel fear, they don’t feel 

anything, they don’t know anything.« 

( RAÚl Rojas, mathematician and professor of 

IT at the Freie Universität Berlin. He is director 

of the Dahlem Center for Machine Learning and Robotics. ) 

TRENDING TOPICS

58 

Digital Business 

New 

Future 

for 

Analogue 

Products 

text 

Doreen Reinhard 

All of their brands have 

traditional craftsmanship at 

their core, but their routes to 

the future vary: how companies 

are showing time and 

again that tradition and digitisation 

can indeed go 

hand in hand. 

IMAGES 

1 

Digitisation meets craftsmanship: 

Nomos Glashütte 

uses technology primarily 

when it comes down to 

thousandths of millimetres. 

2 

Everyone knows the watches 

from Glashütte: the small town 

near Dresden is world-famous 

and its watchmakers are among 

the best in the profession. 

The course for the future is set: digitisation is advancing 

and the work of human beings is being performed 

ever more by software. This applies for numerous 

industries, but what about those which earn a living 

through traditional craftsmanship? In Saxony there 

are many companies whose business is based on sometimes 

centuries-old traditions. Elaborate craftwork is 

inherent to their brands, yet they have very different 

ways of organising the interplay of past and future. 

At the porcelain manufactory in Meissen, for 

example, the fundamental steps of the work have 

changed little over more than 300 years of history 

– and, as before, these steps rely on the skills of specialists, 

from the shaping to the painting of a teacup. 

Nevertheless, this craftsmanship has long since been 

integrated with digital processes. In 2015 a control 

system was introduced by means of which orders are 

planned and stocks monitored, among other things. 

The amount of work involved was halved, says the 

manufactory’s spokesperson, Sandra Jäschke, explaining: 

“We no longer have to use a card index for these 

steps.” The company’s archive has also been digitised. 

The manufactory has its own treasure trove of 30,000 

historic moulds, which frequently provide inspiration 

for current collections and can be researched much 

more easily in the database. The Meissen online shop 

has also just been given new features. Customers can 

already find the manufactory’s entire range there, some 

of which is available to order. “With the relaunch of 

the online shop, we are expecting to see an increase 

in sales,” says Jäschke, “although the majority of our 

products will continue to be sold via our boutiques 

and specialist retailers. Not many customers want to 

buy high-end porcelain online.” 

Online trade an important addition / Similar experiences 

have been gained in the watchmaking industry 

too, as the small town of Glashütte in Germany’s 

Erzgebirge region has shown. One of the pioneers in 

this area is Nomos Glashütte. “We need high-quality 

craftsmanship combined with the advantages of digitisation,” 

says the company’s spokesperson Anna Jas- 

TRENDING TOPICS

59 


1 

2 

TRENDING TOPICS

60 


3 4 

IMAGES 

3 

Traditional to the core: Wendt 

& Kühn, a manufacturer of 

wooden figures and music 

boxes, is somewhat reserved 

when it comes to digitisation. 

5 

4 

Fine brushstrokes: 

the trademark of porcelain 

manufactory Meissen is 

applied to each individual 

piece by hand. 

5 

The art of Meissen 

craftsmanship: in the modelling 

process, the individual parts 

are assembled to produce the 

finished figure. 

“We make use 

of digital means 

in the areas 

that don’t affect 

the core of 

our brand, 

namely the 

craftsmanship.” 

per. The online shop, which was launched in 2010, is 

among the first in the industry. “It allows us to serve 

primarily overseas markets where we’re not represented 

with retailers. The development of our online presence 

is increasing the familiarity with our brand, so 

our fixed retailers are benefitting too.” Software helps 

to optimise operations, while digitised processes help 

with the design, for example 3D printing for the production 

of prototypes. CNC machines are used in production. 

“We use these wherever we need to measure 

not just to the hundredth, but to the thousandth of a 

millimetre,” explains Jasper. 

At watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne too, it’s not 

only the past they are relying on. “We believe tradition 

and digitisation can go hand in hand,” says managing 

director Wilhelm Schmid. The Lange range involves a 

higher level of workmanship – and is therefore more 

expensive. The online business is an important market 

that is being closely monitored, as are the preferences 

of customers, Schmid explains. So far, though, they 

seem to have preferred to buy in person, perhaps since 

the price of a watch starts at around 14,000 euros. 

“Our experience shows that as yet there is no widespread 

online business in this segment,” says Schmid. 

As before, direct sales in 19 boutiques and at more 

than 200 points of sale worldwide are more important. 

“We make use of digital means in the areas that 

don’t affect the core of our brand, namely the craftsmanship,” 

says Schmid, “or where we are strongly 

incentivised to do so by customer preferences. If tomorrow 

everyone decides they want to shop online, 

then we’ll be ready.” The company’s production does 

make use of software at least. Lots of information 

can be viewed online, ranging from the tasks for the 

watchmakers to the database of watches. If a particular 

model requires a check in 100 years’ time, there is a 

digital file for each model. 

Craftsmanship as the core of the brand / The same 

applies at Wendt & Kühn, a manufacturer of wooden 

figures and music boxes likewise located in the Erzgebirge 

region; they too are taking a cautious approach 

to digitisation. Here it has been decided primarily 

to strengthen the core of the brand – craftsmanship. 

Certain areas like warehousing are now managed by 

computers and there is a digital company archive with 

historic documents, which are valuable for marketing. 

But production of the famous angel remains a very 

traditional affair: “All that’s involved here is a paintbrush, 

paint and wood. Every figure is a unique piece,” 

says spokesperson Thomas Rost. This idea of one of 

a kind has been carried over to the sales side, so the 

company has decided against a conventional online 

shop and instead introduced a selective portal in 2017. 

This is aimed primarily at the 750 specialist retailers 

who place orders for their stores here. Customers are 

also able to select products on the site, but can only 

place orders online in a roundabout way. “It’s a very 

strict regime, but it guarantees value and fairness to 

retailers – as well as the quality of our brand,” explains 

Rost. The company can well afford to operate such a 

particular model: sales at Wendt & Kühn have risen by 

25 per cent since 2012, while many of the figures new 

to the range are collectors’ items and are quickly sold 

out in stores – just like in the old days. ■ 

TRENDING TOPICS

61 

Blockchain 


09 

Blockchain 

short cut / Blockchain, technically: decentralised database 

/ Basic technology and central innovation of the cryptocurrency 

Bitcoin / Data are distributed across the entire network 

and stored chronologically in transaction blocks / Disruptive 

potential: no central authority required, rather direct electronic 

transfer of values possible / Financial industry is conducting 

intensive research into possible applications 

TRENDING TOPICS

62 

Blockchain 

Here to Stay 

How blockchain – the 

technology behind digital currency 

Bitcoin – could revolutionise the 

internet and is already provoking 

hysteria in entire industries. 

text 

Klaus Lüber 

In 2013, IT expert Andreas Ittner came across a paper 

that had been haunting the internet since 2008. 

In it, an ominous author by the name of Satoshi 

Nakamoto claimed to have found a forgery-proof 

online payment system that works without banks. 

The title of the publication? ‘Bitcoin: A Peer-to- 

Peer Electronic Cash System’. “I had to read it three 

times, but at some point it clicked and then I knew: 

This could be big.” 

Ittner, who is professor of IT/distributed 

information systems at Mittweida University of 

Applied Sciences near Chemnitz, started to get his 

colleagues interested in the text and established an 

interdisciplinary centre of excellence which currently 

includes 15 professors. “We not only examine 

the technology, but also consider economic and 

legal aspects.” And they are justified in doing so, he 

believes: ultimately, the core of it all involves nothing 

less than the reinvention of the internet. 

Blockchain Competence Center Mittweida 

is the name of the newly created institution at 

Ittner’s university, named after a technology presented 

in the paper as ‘blockchain’, which to a large 

extent forms the heart of the digital currency of 

Bitcoin, a name that has been on everyone’s lips 

since its share value rocketed at the end of 2017. 

ILLUSTRATION 

Are they the future? 

Blockchains – special 

databases – can manage 

transaction data without 

a central controlling authority. 

What’s involved is a special database which stores 

all transactions like a digital ledger and organises 

them in a decentralised manner in the process. Its 

name comes from its structure – a chain of encrypted 

data blocks. The crucial thing is that the journal 

is kept active and verified by the network of users. 

It’s no longer reliant on one central authority. 

A NEW LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT 

FOR THE INTERNET 

Although blockchain was developed in connection 

with Bitcoin, the database can be used in various 

ways elsewhere. After all, as a distributed ledger 

technology (DLT) it can manage entirely different 

assets: information about plots of land, health 

data, passport information, contract terms or supply 

chains, for example. “Blockchain will be the 

foundation of digitisation when it comes to assets 

and goods,” says Ittner with certainty, forecasting 

the internet stepping up a level. “We have long been 

dealing with an internet of data. This is now being 

replaced and supplemented by the internet of 

things. The blockchain will take us to the internet 

of assets.” 

And all this – as in the case of Bitcoin – without 

an intermediary authority that creates trust. 

TRENDING TOPICS

63 

Blockchain 

TRENDING TOPICS

64 

Blockchain 

Smart locks 

Start-up Slock.it seeks to 

make our everyday lives 

easier: locks that have a 

Bluetooth function or some 

other interface can be 

opened or closed using a 

blockchain facility: for example, 

apartments or bicycles 

can thus be rented out or 

hired without any personal 

contact being required. You 

can simply chose a bicycle 

by app and pay for it the 

same way. The bike lock is 

then opened by Bluetooth. 

www.slock.it 

The system itself generates the trust – it becomes a 

‘trust machine’, as the Economist calls the technology. 

So much for the vision. But is blockchain yet 

ripe for specific applications? At the moment there 

is a great deal of hype surrounding the technology, 

Ittner admits. “Since the foundation of our competence 

centre, every day we have had enquiries from 

companies who think they must have a blockchain 

solution.” At the moment, though, this is only really 

justified in very few cases, he explains. “People 

are desperate not to miss out on something, so 

first they get themselves a hammer and then search 

frantically for a nail. It’s madness in a way.” 

Andranik Tumasjan, professor of management 

and digital transformation at Johannes 

Gutenberg University Mainz, identifies two development 

strands at present. “On the one hand we 

have the vision of decentralised business models, 

as is innate to the underlying concept of the Bitcoin 

blockchain and which ever more start-ups are 

working towards.” He sees promising approaches in 

the energy sector, for example. These would make 

it possible to use blockchain technology to set up 

micropayment systems. The owners of a solar plant 

could make the power available to charge a package 

drone, for example, or sell it directly to neighbours. 

This could be invoiced via automated, electronic 

contracts, so-called smart contracts. 

DANGEROUS RELIANCE 

ON MAJOR PLAYERS 

These smart contracts are also used by Slock.it, a 

start-up likewise based in Mittweida near Chemnitz. 

“That’s no coincidence,” says the company’s 

founder Christoph Jentzsch. “We benefit a great 

deal from the efforts by the university, not to mention 

local policymakers and businesses who seek 

to make blockchain a major issue in this region.” 

Slock.it develops solutions that enable you to control 

networked devices by means of access authorisation 

via smart contracts in the blockchain – and it does so, 

in keeping with the revolutionary basic idea, without 

a middleman. Anyone, for example, wanting to rent 

out their apartment or their bicycle can do so directly 

via Slock.it. A smart lock controls all the necessary 

actions – and it does so precisely according to the 

terms set out in a smart contract. 

Like IT expert Ittner, Jentzsch also discerns 

an opportunity for a quasi-reinvention of 

the internet – a reinvention that would basically 

be a return to the utopia laid down at the beginning 

and which is at the core of the technology: 

the decentralised network. “We have made ourselves 

dangerously reliant on major players,” says 

Christoph Jentzsch. “If Google were to decide tomorrow 

to shut down its servers that would create 

huge problems for us.” Blockchain, however, offers 

the possibility of “regenerating the web once 

again as a decentralised structure from the bottom 

up”. 

Now not only are there start-ups wanting to 

shake things up, but also established firms, particularly 

in the financial, insurance and logistics industries 

that are exploring the benefits of blockchains. 

However, according to blockchain expert Tumasjan 

at the University of Mainz, the technology is not 

yet being used in the enterprise context to tap into 

radical new business models, but rather to optimise 

existing ones. Hence the Digital Trade Chain Consortium, 

an association currently made up of seven 

European banks and IBM, is working on a platform 

called we.trade, which should make international 

trade easier for medium-sized companies. The idea? 

All the components of a contract, from the billing 

to the customs documentation to delivery, could be 

represented in the blockchain. 

POTENTIAL 

FOR FURTHER AUTOMATION 

Just how the data management of supply chains 

can be further optimised is currently being researched 

also by other institutions, for instance 

the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems, 

or IPMS, in Dresden. 

Already small radio transponders, so-called 

RFID tags, are being used for automated identification 

and shipment tracking of goods. If sensors are 

integrated into the tags, data relating to conditions 

such as temperature, pressure and humidity can be 

obtained. “Here we believe there is great potential for 

further automation,” explains Monika Beck from the 

Fraunhofer IPMS. “It would also be conceivable, for 

example, to have automated quality checks of incoming 

goods based on the RFID sensor data obtained 

from manufacture and transportation. The exact 

terms of the inspections could be set out in smart 

contracts.” 

Whether and when blockchain technology 

will actually lead to a grand revolution, and to a 

new internet of assets, remains to be seen. Blockchain 

will not reach its ‘plateau of productivity’ 

for another 5-10 years, according to the current 

innovation report from American market research 

company Gartner. For researcher Andreas Ittner, 

however, one thing is certain: “I’m 110 per cent 

convinced that blockchain is a technology that’s 

here to stay.” ■ 

TRENDING TOPICS

65 

Smart Infrastructure 


10 

Smart 

Infrastructure 

short cut / Smart infrastructure; also ‘intelligent 

infrastructure’ / Important social and economic infrastructure 

areas are connected to one another through digital, smart 

technologies / Objective: sustainable management of resources, 

improvement in quality of life / Area of research with major 

potential for the future / Current areas of application: energy 

industry, healthcare, smart city 

TRENDING TOPICS

66 


city of the 

Future 

Megacities: a challenge 

for the future 

In 2050 two thirds of the 

world’s population will live 

in cities, according to estimates 

by the United Nations. 

This development is set 

to affect European cities too. 

In order to optimise urban 

development, Paris is treading 

new ground: the French 

capital is evaluating 

the public chats and posts 

of its inhabitants and thus 

finding out what matters 

to them. 

TRENDING TOPICS

67 


text 

Stefanie Hutschenreuter 

All over the 

world, cities are 

striving to get 

closer to the 

ideal of a smart 

city. Is there a 

magic formula? 

A lack of parking spaces, gridlocked streets, extortionate 

rents – by monitoring the public chats and 

posts of their citizens, city authorities are finding 

out what really matters to them. A self-learning algorithm 

clusters current comments from citizens 

anonymously according to themes. It may sound 

like science fiction, but in Tel Aviv and Paris it’s already 

a reality. Both cities are clients of the start-up 

ZenCity, which uses a new kind of software to identify 

the topics of discussion and thus to support local 

authorities in recognising and better understanding 

the concerns of their citizens. The city authorities 

are then able to take countermeasures. 

The model slots into a number of individual 

digital solutions that cities all over the world are 

currently implementing. With the help of new technological 

possibilities, they are aiming to become 

TRENDING TOPICS

68 


2 

The interconnection 

of the 

various areas of 

urban life can 

make cities 

greener, safer 

and more pleasant 

to live in. 

smart cities and are thus hoping to be better placed 

to tackle the major challenges of the future. After 

all, many urban areas are at risk of suffering trafficinduced 

cardiac arrest, while climate protection is 

forcing them to rethink their energy and water provision. 

And that faster than many urban planners 

would like, for resident numbers are continuing to 

grow. In all likelihood, by the year 2050 two thirds 

of the world’s population will live in cities, as current 

figures from the United Nations testify. 

The citizen as partner / The development of a 

smart city is basically about “the renewal of infrastructures 

that are no longer viable”, says Elke Pahl- 

Weber, professor of urban development and regeneration 

at Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. For 

the future, it’s crucial that “cities actually make use 

of the opportunities arising from the windows currently 

being opened by digitisation. We need to link 

up infrastructures – technically, financially and operationally. 

This can only be achieved through digitisation.” 

The interconnection of the various areas 

of urban life can make cities greener, safer and more 

pleasant to live in. Nevertheless, Pahl-Weber stresses 

that there is no formula for smart infrastructure that 

can be implemented equally across the board. “The 

technologies have to be adapted to the specifics of 

each city.” 

Digital solutions therefore have to be oriented 

towards the actual needs of city-dwellers, 

“and these can’t be ascertained with standard surveys,” 

says Pahl-Weber. Leipzig, for example – one 

1 

of the most rapidly growing cities in Germany 

with annual growth of 10,000 inhabitants – has 

worked with experts from academia, local companies, 

and residents to develop a pilot concept for 

the area of the city known as the ‘Leipziger Westen’. 

Among other things, this provides for the use 

of heat from industrial plants for heating homes. 

“BMW is also on board with its storage farm of 

used electric car batteries on the Leipzig factory 

site,” explains project manager Beate Ginzel from 

Leipzig Office for Urban Renewal and Housing 

Promotion. The aim is for excess green energy, for 

example from photovoltaic plants in the district, 

to be temporarily stored at the storage farm in future. 

“This interconnectivity of players and technologies, 

which the smart city approach strives to 

achieve, has not previously been envisioned in the 

context of city districts,” says the project manager. 

Yet for the implementation of the smart district 

solution, the city is reliant on external funding. 

Support is available from EU programmes, for example, 

which allocate funds to the best concepts 

to emerge from a competition process. But the 

high number of submissions means Beate Ginzel 

is realistic about Leipzig’s chances. “We are therefore 

hoping that there will soon be a funding initiative 

from the federal government for these sorts 

of interdisciplinary approaches.” 

TRENDING TOPICS

69 


IMAGES 

1 

Incubator: at the Gläserne 

Manufaktur (‘transparent 

manufactory’) in Dresden, startups 

can develop their trailblazing 

mobility ideas through 

to market maturity. 

The green transport service 

Fewer cars, less pollution: 

that’s the goal of the three 

founders of CleverShuttle. 

The start-up relies on 

the principle of ride sharing, 

with environmentally friendly 

cars available to book via 

a smartphone app. An algorithm 

bundles passengers 

with similar routes, so 

multiple users share a car 

and its driver. 

www.clevershuttle.de 

2 

Digital solutions: Elke 

Pahl-Weber, professor of urban 

development and regeneration 

at TU Berlin, carries out 

research into the future of 

city centres. 

Smart innovations / The concepts Leipzig has 

come up with for existing districts are also being 

applied to three newly emerging inner-city areas. 

Martin Richter from Saxony’s Smart Infrastructure 

Hub believes that other cities can learn from Leipzig: 

“It’s crucial that the local authorities recognise 

the potential of digitisation and embrace it and put 

it into practice.” Andreas Franke, managing director 

of VNG ViertelEnergie, agrees. If smaller and 

medium-sized municipalities do not wish to implement 

smart-city concepts alone, they can get help 

with district development from his company, a subsidiary 

of Leipzig-based VNG AG founded in July 

2017, in cooperation with the firm Tilia. They work 

with representatives of local authorities to produce a 

district concept that incorporates all areas of energy 

infrastructure – from decentralised energy provision 

to fast internet and electromobility, and even LED 

street lighting – “offering unbiased advice on manufacturer 

and energy type, from the concept to the investment 

stage and on to operation of the systems,” 

as Franke emphasises. 

The basis for the entire approach is fast internet 

available across the board. In terms of expanding 

bandwidth, some regions of the country have some 

catching up to do, although there are already plenty 

of smart ideas. “In Germany we have a fantastic environment 

for research, development and innovation. 

We just have to promote that more outwardly,” says 

Martin Richter, whose successful start-up support 

programme SpinLab – The HHL Accelerator, part 

of the Smart Infrastructure Hub, aims to link up the 

lively scenes in Leipzig and Dresden with players in 

business and academia. 

Example of electromobility / At the Gläserne 

Manufaktur (‘transparent manufactory’) exhibition 

space in Dresden, Volkswagen’s Future Mobility Incubator 

is enabling selected company founders to develop 

their trailblazing ideas through to market maturity. 

One such start-up is ChargeX. Since March 

2018 the young trio of founders and their team have 

been testing an expandable charger system for electric 

vehicles, which charges the vehicles like a multiple 

power socket – albeit not evenly, but rather one 

after the other with a self-learning algorithm. Each 

vehicle is filled up with power according to its basic 

energy need. The advantage: the charging stations 

are cheaper than previous models because they require 

neither the complex installation nor the expensive 

hardware of previous versions. “The solution is 

particularly well suited to buildings in urban areas, 

where companies wish to install charging stations 

for employees, but also residents’ associations that 

want to install charging points for residents,” says 

co-founder Tobias Wagner. 

The city of Dresden is generally very open 

to the new smart technologies. Among other things, 

it has opened up parts of its road network as a test 

field for self-driving vehicles. From September 2018 

the ride-sharing service CleverShuttle will also expand 

its service to Dresden. The start-up, which 

was founded in 2014, has so far been operating in 

Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart. 

Passengers with similar routes are bundled together 

into travel communities via an app and transported 

to their chosen destinations by drivers in electric or 

hydrogen-propelled vehicles. At the same time, the 

service represents an affordable alternative to taxis or 

private cars. It also helps cities to avoid traffic jams, 

according to Fabio Adlassnigg, spokesperson for 

CleverShuttle: “After all, if we’re really serious about 

improving quality of life, health and the attractiveness 

of our cities, we need a drastic reduction in individual 

motorised transportation.” ■ 

TRENDING TOPICS

70 



Eight innovative objects that make life in our 

world that little bit easier. 

Illustration 

ANJE JAGER 

text 

Christina Lynn Dier, 

Benjamin Kleemann-von Gersum 

& Sabine Simon 

Algorithms to combat depression 

The use of modern sensor technology 

can help treat people with depression. 

Software developers at IT firm 

adesso are currently working on an IT 

solution together with Leipzig University 

as part of the STEADY research 

project. It involves the use of a fitnessstyle 

bracelet that collects the patient’s 

biodata, for example the quality and 

duration of their sleep. Algorithms 

evaluate the data and correlate them 

with individual information. The aim is 

to recognise nascent depressive episodes 

at an early stage. 

www.biomedical-data-science.org 

Independent living 

Anyone born in Germany in 2018 will live to an average age of around 80 

– and that number is rising. Smart solutions that enable us to lead independent 

lives in our own homes for longer are therefore much in demand. One 

very smart system is RICA from IoCare. The start-up initially got going in the 

accelerator at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management. The RICA sensor 

box, which analyses the activities of seniors in need of care and informs 

relatives or care staff when there are any deviations, is straightforward in 

the way it works, using a movement sensor and a light. The sensor in the 

user’s home learns their habitual movements and is connected via telephone 

or WLAN to a display in the home of a responsible person, who is notified 

by means of lights on the display. If the movements are interpreted as ‘normal’, 

then a green light is displayed. Deviations that come about due to a 

fall, for example, trigger the display of an amber or red light. www.iocare.de 

Greater independence for the blind 

Finding your way in an unfamiliar environment 

is virtually impossible for 

blind people. Artificial intelligence, a 

camera, loudspeakers and sensors, 

all packaged together in the form of 

smart glasses, are set to change this. 

This navigation system, designed to 

boost the independence and safety 

of visually impaired people, is being 

developed by the start-up AiServe 

Technologies, which was part of the 

accelerator at HHL Leipzig. If the 

glasses make it to market maturity, it 

will represent a quantum leap for millions 

of people. 

www.aiserve.co 

Computer models in the operating theatre 

The Innovation Center Computer Assisted Surgery (ICCAS), part of the 

medical faculty at Leipzig University, carries out research into the 

medicine of the future. Since its foundation in 2005, quite a few innovations 

have been launched, from ultrasound for cancer cell research to 

the recording belt for in-situ monitoring of accident victims. An ‘intelligent’ 

operating theatre has also been developed. Computers assist the surgeon 

with additional information during the procedure, which – based on 

computer models – should help with decision-making. Another innovation 

is the ‘magic lens’, which makes it possible to see inside the patient’s 

body before the procedure with the help of an iPad, for example to ensure 

the cut is made in an optimum position. The basis for this is MRI and CT 

data. www.iccas.de 

TRENDING TOPICS

71 


New material for the construction industry 

Four times lighter than steel and six times its load-bearing capacity: carbon 

concrete could soon revolutionise the construction industry. This new composite 

material is set to achieve market maturity by 2021 – then carbon fibres 

could replace the steel that is currently encased in concrete for the construction 

of buildings or bridges. This will make it possible to build entire structures 

that are much leaner, and thus to make material savings of up to 50 per 

cent – an important step for the construction industry with its high consumption 

of resources and energy. The long-term goal? For new buildings, it 

should be possible to replace at least 20 per cent of the steel reinforcements 

with carbon reinforcements. More than 160 partners from science and industry 

are working together to make this a reality. One leading figure in the project 

is Professor Manfred Curbach, who is based at the Institute of Concrete 

Structures at Technische Universität (TU) Dresden. The significance of the 

carbon concrete technology has also been recognised by the German Federal 

Ministry of Education and Research, which is supporting the project 

with 43 million euros. www.bauen-neu-denken.de 

Travel 4.0 

In the past, people would flick through travel brochures, but these days 

most book their holidays online. Or perhaps they might substitute this with 

an animated adventure, like that offered by Japan’s First Airline, involving 

virtual flights to New York complete with sightseeing and on-board meals. 

At Diginetmedia in Schneeberg, one of the biggest virtual reality providers 

in the tourism segment, the fundamental change in user behaviour sparked 

an idea: what would it be like to be able to see your accommodation even 

before you make the trip? And how can travel agents secure important 

market shares in the hard-fought tourism sector? Diginetmedia makes use 

of the technologies for virtual reality, bringing the holiday accommodation 

or the cruise ship to compatible VR goggles. The concept has been well 

received: more than 10,000 travel agents and six cruise companies are 

already using the portal. www.diginetmedia.de 

The alternative bike lock 

Most bicycles are still secured against theft by means of heavy steel 

chains and padlocks. Leipzig-based company founders Alexandra Baum 

and Suse Brand have spent eight months developing a flexible, lightweight 

alternative, however, in the form of their product tex-lock. The 

textile rope consists of multiple layers of modern high-tech fibres, the 

properties of which have also led to their use in space travel and the 

automobile industry. The combination of rope, eyelets and lock boasts 

a level of resistance comparable to that of a steel chain. Initial reactions 

following the market launch of the young product were mixed, but the 

e ntrepreneurs see this as an incentive to keep working on it. The next 

stage of development will involve not only better theft protection, but 

also electronics, alarm and sensor technology. www.tex-lock.com 

Remote support 

Our grandparents’ generation is facing a dilemma: smartphones are too 

complicated for them, yet they find the mobile phones designed for older 

people to be too stigmatising. Without Skype and WhatsApp though, it’s 

not easy to stay in touch with grandchildren living hundreds of kilometres 

away. One solution is the asina app by Dresden-based company exelonix, 

which offers a clear interface, making it easier to access the digital 

world. And there’s another plus point: grandchildren can provide remote 

support with its configuration. The tablet is managed via a web portal. 

Using a login, relatives or friends can log various settings, addresses and 

telephone numbers, set up a medication plan, upload photos or arrange 

apps on the start screen. Another accessory is the blood pressure monitor, 

which shows the data as a graphic on the tablet. The software is now 

also available separately from the tablet for all common smartphones. 

www.exelonix.com 

TRENDING TOPICS 09/18

72 

Big Data 


11 

Big 

Data 

short cut / Data as the raw material of the future / In 

the Internet of Things alone, 20 billion devices are set to be 

communicating with one another by 2020 / These connections 

produce vast quantities of data / Using big data, self-learning 

algorithms form smart data / The data sets supply us with power, 

make investment decisions, optimise advertising or recognise 

hacker attacks 

TRENDING TOPICS

73 

Big Data 

ONE 

QUESTION 

How much 

data does 

a person need? 

ONE 

ANSWER 

»The key question is rather 

how much transparency there is 

with regard to the processing of 

personal data. In the Germanspeaking 

countries in particular, 

users of digital networks want 

sovereignty over their data – 

protecting this is one of the most 

important concerns of our time.« 

( Thomas Vollmoeller, PhD, has been CEO 

of career portal Xing since 2012. ) 

TRENDING TOPICS

74 

Big Data 

A Man with a 

1 

mission 

TRENDING TOPICS

75 

Big Data 

text 

Christina Lynn Dier 

‘Astro Alex’ 

has an 

unusual 

experiment 

with him 

on board 

the ISS. 

IMAGES 

1 

Space mission: 

Alexander Gerst conducts over 

50 European experiments on 

board the ISS. 

2 

Return visit: 

the geophysicist already 

spent six months at the 

outpost of mankind back 

in 2014. 

‘Horizons’ was the name astronaut Alexander 

Gerst gave to his second mission on the International 

Space Station (ISS). And that is quite fitting, 

as his second stay 400 km above the Earth is indeed 

intended to explore new horizons, including 

in matters of digital self-measurement. Specifically, 

Gerst has an experiment from Saxony on board 

called Metabolic Space that analyses the human 

metabolism. This innovative wearable system was 

especially advanced for use on the ISS in a joint 

project by the Institute of Aerospace Engineering 

at Technische Universität (TU) Dresden and Leipzig-based 

firm Cortex. Gerst is to wear the 600- 

gram device a total of five times when he gets on 

the treadmill during the six-month mission, to test 

the state of his health and fitness. “In addition to 

oxygen intake and carbon dioxide emission, the device 

measures respiration, heart rate and treadmill 

speed. This way we know how much air he needs 

2 

for which performance levels,” explains Markus 

Siepmann, managing director of Cortex. Based on 

this data, the experts on Earth calculate roughly 

100 additional parameters. 

Consequently, the experiment is very much 

in line with the (earthly) trend: in future, the 

enormous amounts of data that are already generated, 

say, by networked machines will be complemented 

by further huge amounts of medical 

monitoring information. The use of big data technologies 

could enable new insights for research 

through the interplay of statistics, machine learning 

and pattern recognition. This is also the hope 

of those involved in the Metabolic Space project: 

“This is not only about evaluating the physical fitness 

of astronauts; results should also help prepare 

future space tourists for their journey into outer 

space,” says Siepmann. They could be provided 

with a smart system for testing their physical fitness 

before, during and after their stay in space, 

entirely independently and without medical assistance. 

And there is also the manned mission to 

Mars that is scheduled to become reality in the 

years after 2030. If a crew is to spend months travelling 

to Mars, maintaining physical fitness will 

play an even more crucial role. 

Meanwhile, Cortex director Siepmann intends 

to continue research. The company hopes to 

make the current device smaller and lighter – also 

for use on Earth – and at the same time it is to 

provide even more information. And yes, the fact 

that Alexander Gerst is using a Cortex device on 

his mission “does make one proud – and also a little 

sad when it burns up on re-entering the Earth’s 

atmosphere”. ■ 

TRENDING TOPICS

76 

Virtual Reality 


12 

Virtual 

Reality 

short cut / Virtual Reality / A reality that exists only 

virtually, but in which one can move around and have experiences 

and feelings / Virtual worlds are conquering the art scene, 

facilitating unimagined perspectives / VR cameras transform 

what has been experienced into 360-degree panoramic images / 

For gamers, VR is the ultimate kick, while for medical practitioners 

and technicians, it represents the future 

TRENDING TOPICS

77 


Brave new world 

‘The Birth of Venus’ is 

displayed to the public 

at the Uffizi Gallery in 

Florence – and online, 

since an Italian company 

has now digitised Botticelli’s 

work in high resolution. 

The insights gained are not 

available to the naked eye. 

TRENDING TOPICS

78 


Virtual 

Worlds 

Reimagined 

1 

text 

Sabine Simon 

Photos 

Gene glovER 

How a hidden champion from Germany’s Ore Mountains 

is setting standards with 360-degree cameras. 

TRENDING TOPICS

79 


2 

3 

Different 

angles: digitised 

art offers 

young people 

in particular an 

entirely new 

way of approaching 

the 

subject area. 

4 

IMAGES 

1 

Utmost precision: 

before the systems go to the 

customer, they are meticulously 

tested and calibrated. 

2 

In production: the ‘piXplorer’ 

combines with a camera to produce 

panoramic images in the 

gigapixel range at the touch of 

a button. 

3 

Hands-on work: in the 

automated manufactory, the 

company bridges the divide 

between automated series production 

and manual assembly. 

This view shows the automatic 

circuit board assembly. 

4 

Keeping it in the family: 

with Hartmut Clauss, the 

company is now in the hands of 

the second generation. 

The expertise is in the detail / When Hartmut 

Clauss talks about his work, he uses no shortage of 

superlatives. From Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ 

in 16-gigapixel resolution to a panorama of the Malaysian 

capital Kuala Lumpur with virtually 900 gigapixels: 

these images are not just big, they are enormous. 

One gigapixel corresponds to around 50 times 

the resolution of a handheld camera, for example. Yet 

the staff at Dr. Clauß Bild- und Datentechnik GmbH 

are not photographers; rather, they supply the technology 

that makes these sorts of photographs possible: 

high-resolution 360-degree recording systems. 

“Here, the expertise lies in the detail,” says Clauss. 

Placed on a tripod, the company’s panoramic 

heads direct the camera with which they are linked so 

that the object to be photographed is automatically 

scanned step by step. A gigapixel shot takes a few 

minutes on average, while multiple lighting stages 

or multispectral content can also be captured. Following 

this, software reassembles the countless individual 

images. This depth of detail is not visible to 

the naked eye. The potential applications are manifold 

and the systems much in demand: from virtual 

tours for the tourism industry, which can be viewed 

by means of VR headsets, to gigapixel and industry 

photography, to the digitisation of artworks. ➔ 

TRENDING TOPICS

80 


Panoramas and virtual tours / Established in 1996, 

the company from Zwönitz in Germany’s Erzgebirge 

region (Ore Mountains) is now one of the world 

leaders in its segment. The founder of the company, 

Ulrich Clauss, handed over the operational management 

to his son Hartmut a few years ago, but continues 

to run the development department himself. 

15 people work in the family-run company, which 

manufactures all the parts and components of its 

panoramic heads – in some cases even the camera – 

in-house, distributing them across the world. 

While the systems have already been in use 

among police forces and security services for some 

time – for example to create virtually explorable 

crime scenes, to secure clues and evidence photographically, 

or for the planning of deployments and 

escape routes – new approaches are also emerging, 

for example as part of the energy transition. Gigapixel 

photography can help to save time and costs 

in the maintenance of wind turbines, explains Hartmut 

Clauss. “Efficient inspections permit shorter 

test intervals and any material damage is recognised 

much more quickly.” 

IMAGES 

5 

Compatibility as standard: 

the shots generated by the 

panoramic heads can be viewed 

using any VR headset, for 

example the Oculus Rift or the 

Samsung Gear VR. 

6 

Extraordinary panoramas: 

gigapixel photography permits 

entirely new insights, for 

example into the burial chamber 

of Pharaoh Ramses VI in 

Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. 

7 

With its ‘Renaissance 

experience’, Leipzig’s Kunstkraftwerk 

has brought to life 

the treasures of the Uffizi 

Gallery in Florence by means 

of cutting-edge technology. 

150 of the most important 

paintings are on display. 

5 

6 

7 

Art you can touch / In the last few years, many 

museums and archives have also transitioned to digitising 

their treasures for eternity – and have thus also 

secured new sources of income. Digitised art offers 

young people in particular an entirely new way of approaching 

the subject area. At the beginning of 2018, 

for example, works from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence 

were brought to life in Leipzig’s Kunstkraftwerk. The 

panoramic heads from Zwönitz were involved here 

too. Alongside projections on the eight-metre-high 

walls, visitors were also able to use large touchscreens 

to delve into paintings by such artists as Sandro Botticelli, 

Caravaggio, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and 

Michelangelo, with options to view and zoom into individual 

paintings. The digitisation itself was initiated 

by Italian firm Centrica. 

If there’s a new record in gigapixel photography 

anywhere in the world, the Zwönitz-based company 

will likely be involved. And Hartmut Clauss is 

not stopping there: “Our VR technology is already being 

used in many new areas of application. We are continually 

working on the further development of our 

products – and thus also that of the entire industry.” ■ 

FACTS // Location: Zwönitz / Year of foundation: 

1996 / Employees: 15 / CEO: Hartmut Clauss / Mission: 

To explore new virtual worlds with 360-degree cameras 

TRENDING TOPICS

81 

Index 

INDEX // 

PEOPLE 

A 

Adlassnigg, Fabio 69 

Assadollahi, Ramin 39 

B 

Balfour, Lady Kinvara 5, 43 

Baum, Alexandra 71 

Beck, Monika 64 

Berners-Lee, Sir Tim 43 

Bether, Carsten 35 

Böhringer, Martin 14, 16, 17 

Boos, Hans Christian 38 

Brand, Suse 71 

Brandenburg, Paul 19 

Bullinger-Hoffmann, Angelika 39 

C 

Claus, Sören 23 

Clauss, Hartmut 79, 80 

Clauss, Ulrich 80 

Clooney, George 35 

Curbach, Manfred 71 

F 

Feger, Karl-Otto 28 

Fettweis, Gerhard 19 

Fitzek, Frank 11 

Franke, Andreas 69 

Frenking, Stefanie 33 

Freysoldt, Matthias 35 

G 

Gadowski, Lukasz 20, 31 

Gerlach, Lutz 14, 16, 17 

Gerst, Alexander 75 

Ginzel, Beate 68 

Gläss, Rainer 18 

Grosa, Patrick 11 

H 

Haase, Robert 34 

Hillenbrand, Katja 18 

Hofstetter, Yvonne 40 

I 

Ittner, Andreas 62, 64 

J 

Janszky, Sven Gabor 44 

Jasper, Anna 58, 60 

Jäschke, Sandra 58 

Jentzsch, Christoph 64 

Jobs, Steve 31 

K 

Knie, Andreas 23 

Koederitz, Martina 3, 44 

L 

Lehner, Wolfgang 40 

Leischnig, Steffen 34 

Leitermann, Franziska 27, 28 

Lohrer, Artur 35 

M 

Maier, Robin 34 

Montag, Christian 9 

Möckel, Hendrik 34 

Musk, Elon 44 

N 

Nakamoto, Satoshi 62 

Nida-Rümelin, Julian 24 

Nyderle, Oliver 28 

P 

Pahl-Weber, Elke 68, 69 

Petsch, Tino 48, 49, 51 

Posselt, Thorsten 40 

R 

Reichelt, Dirk 55, 56 

Richter, Martin 69 

Ritter, Teresa 27, 28 

Rojas, Raúl57 

Rooke, Philip 31, 32, 33 

Rost, Thomas 60 

Rudolph, Sebastian 41 

S 

Scheeren, Ole 3, 43 

Schmid, Wilhelm 60 

Schumacher, Christoph 56 

Seifert, Joachim 11 

Siepmann, Markus 75 

Slusallek, Philipp 40 

Spiess, Matthias 31 

Stenzel, Lukas 34 

Streiter, Robin 22 

T 

Trautmann, Toralf 22, 23 

Tumasjan, Andranik 64 

U 

Unger, Ronny 34 

V 

Voit, Brigitte 19 

Vollmoeller, Thomas 73 

W 

Wagner, Tobias 69 

Wagner, Uwe 51 

Weger, Gesche 19 

Weibel, Peter 39 

Wijburg, Rutger 40 

Wilhelm-Mauch, Frank 38 

Wolf, Frank 14, 16, 17 

Z 

Zehl, Sven 55 

PLACES 

A 

Aachen11 

Annaberg-Buchholz 22, 23 

B 

Berlin 5, 11, 23, 43, 57, 68, 69 

Bruchsal20 

C 

Chemnitz 5, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 39, 

48, 49, 51, 62, 64 

Cologne 13, 17 

D 

Dresden 11, 17, 19, 22, 23, 27, 35, 

40, 41, 55, 56, 58, 64, 69, 71, 75 

E 

Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) 

5, 18, 34, 58, 60, 78, 80 

F 

Florence77 

G 

Glashütte58 

Görlitz35 

Greensburg31 

H 

Hamburg69 

Hanover55 

K 

Karlsruhe39 

Kassel31 

Krupka31 

Kuala Lumpur 79 

L 

Las Vegas 31 

Legnica31 

Leipzig 19, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 

40, 44, 68, 69, 70, 71, 75, 80 

London17 

Los Angeles 38 

M 

Mainz64 

Meissen 58, 60 

Mittweida 62, 64 

Munich 24, 39, 40, 69 

N 

New York 5, 17, 71 

O 

Oelsnitz18 

Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) 

5, 18, 34, 58, 60, 78, 80 

P 

Paris 6, 67 

S 

Saarbrücken 38, 40 

San Jose 51 

Schneeberg71 

Schöneck18 

Sehmatal34 

Silicon Valley 5, 17, 19, 33, 49, 50 

Stuttgart69 

T 

Tel Aviv 67 

U 

Ulm9 

V 

Vogtland18 

W 

Wolkenstein34 

Wuxi51 

Z 

Zwönitz80 

COMPANIES & 

INSTITUTIONS 

A 

Adesso70 

Adidas16 

Airbus23 

AiServe Technologies 70 

A. Lange & Söhne 60 

Amazon 31, 33 

Amt für Stadterneuerung und 

Wohnungsbauförderung Leipzig 

(Office for Urban Renewal) 68 

AOK Plus 34 

Apple 32, 35, 41 

Arago38 

AG Verbrauchs- & Medienanalyse 6 

B 

Baidu41 

Barkhausen-Institut19 

Baselabs17 

Beiersdorf28 

Bertelsmann Foundation 7 

Bitkom 6, 13, 27, 55, 56 

Blackberry35 

Blockchain Competence Center 

Mittweida 62 

BMW 22, 68 

Bosch 19, 55 

Brands4Friends31 

BSI (Federal Office for 

Information Security) 27 

C 

Capnamic Ventures 17 

ChargeX69 

CleverShuttle69 

Constellation Research 7 

Cortex75 

Cloud & Heat 27, 28 

D 

Dahlem Center for Machine 

Learning and Robotics 57 

Daimler20 

DFKI (German Research 

Center for Artificial Intelligence) 40 

Deutsche Telekom 11, 19 

Diginetmedia71 

Dr. Clauß Bild- und 

Datentechnik 79, 80 

Dresden-Concept19 

E 

Ebay31 

E.ventures17 

Exelonix71 

ExB Labs 39 

F 

Facebook 13, 16, 33 

Federal Office for 

Information Security (BSI) 27 

First Airline 71 

Fraunhofer IAO 7 

Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic 

Microsystems IPMS 64 

Fraunhofer Institute for Process 

Engineering and Packaging IVV 35 

Fraunhofer Center for International 

Management and Knowledge 

Economy IMW 40 

Freie Universität Berlin 57 

Future Mobility Incubator 69 

TRENDING TOPICS

82 

Index 

G 

Gartner 64 

German Federal Statistical Office 6 

German Research Center 

for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) 40 

Gläserne Manufaktur Dresden 69 

Google 13, 33, 38, 41, 64 

GK Software 18 

H 

HHL Leipzig Graduate School of 

Management 31, 34, 35, 70 

HTW Dresden University of Applied 

Sciences 22, 23, 55 

I 

IBM 19, 38, 44, 64 

Infineon 40, 50, 55, 56 

Innovation Center Computer 

Assisted Surgery (ICCAS) 70 

Instagram 13 

Institute of Aerospace 

Engineering TU Dresden 75 

Institute of Artificial Intelligence 

TU Dresden 41 

Institute of Concrete Structures 

TU Dresden 71 

Institute of Processing Machines 

and Mobile Machines 

TU Dresden 35 

Intel 20, 38 

Intenta 17 

International Data Corporation 6 

IoCare 70 

Inrix 38 

IW German Economic Institute 13 

J 

Johannes Gutenberg University 

Mainz 64 

K 

Kiwigrid 35 

Kizoo Technology Capital 17 

L 

Leibniz Institute of Polymer 

Research (IPF) Dresden 19 

Leipzig University 39, 70 

Lieferheld 31 

LinkedIn 13, 16 

LSA 34 

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität 

München (LMU Munich) 24 

M 

Massterly 23 

Medienpädagogischer 

Forschungsverbund Südwest 7 

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory 5 

Microsoft 38 

Mindance 34 

Mister Spex 31 

Mittweida University of Applied 

Sciences 62 

Møller-Mærsk 28 

N 

Naventik 22 

Nomos Glashütte 58 

O 

OECD 6 

P 

Packwise 19 

Phacon 34 

Pinterest 13 

Prudsys 17 

PwC 13 

R 

Roland Berger 6 

RWTH Aachen 11 

S 

Saarland University 38 

Sensape 35 

Siemens 16 

Skype 71 

Slack 16 

Slock.it 64 

Smart Infrastructure Hub 69 

Smart Rail Connectivity Campus 22 

Smart Systems Hub 11 

Snapchat 13 

SpinLab 34 

Spredfast 13 

Spreadshirt 30, 31, 32, 33 

Staffbase 14, 17 

StudiVZ 31 

SQS 35 

T 

Telegram 13 

Tencent 13, 41 

Teramark Technologies 40 

Tesco 32, 33 

Tex-lock 71 

Threema 13 

Tilia 69 

T-Systems Multimedia 

Solutions 16, 28 

TU Berlin 68 

TU Chemnitz 22, 39 

TU Dresden 11, 17, 19, 39, 40, 

41, 71, 75 

Twitter 13, 16 

U 

Ulm University 9 

Unger Kabel-Konfektionstechnik 34 

V 

VNG ViertelEnergie 69 

Viessmann 16 

Volkswagen 38, 69 

Volocopter 20, 23 

W 

Watttron 35 

Wendt & Kühn 60 

WhatsApp 13, 71 

World Economic Forum 13 

WZB Berlin 

Social Science Center 23 

X 

Xing 73 

Y 

YouTube 13 

Z 

ZenCity 67 

ZKM Center for Art and Media 

Karlsruhe 39 

2b Ahead ThinkTank 44 

3D-Micromac AG 48, 49 

5G Energy Hub 11 

5G Lab 11, 17, 19 

IMPRINT 

Publisher 

Special Trending Topics, 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 

© Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH 2018 

Publishing house 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH, 

Hellerhofstraße 2 – 4, 60327 Frankfurt am Main, 

the service address for the responsible parties and 

authorised representatives mentioned in the imprint. 

Management board 

Thomas Lindner (CEO), Volker Breid 

Responsible for advertising: Ingo Müller; 

for advertising production: Andreas Gierth 

Project management 

F.A.Z. Media Solutions Manufaktur, 

Philipp T. Meyer 

Editorial concept and design 

FAZIT Communication GmbH, 

Frankenallee 71 – 81, 60327 Frankfurt 

Editorial team 

Christina Lynn Dier (lead editor), 

Stefanie Hutschenreuter, Boris Karkowski, Benjamin 

Kleemann-von Gersum, Klaus Lüber, Doreen Reinhard, 

Judith Reker, Sabine Simon, Juliane Streicher, 

Guido Walter, Christiane Zimmer 

Creative direction 

Anita Mrusek 

Printing 

Westdeutsche Verlags- und Druckerei GmbH 

Cooperation 

The special issue Trending Topics was created in cooperation 

with the Free State of Saxony, the Saxon State Chancellery, 

and coordinated by Ketchum Pleon GmbH, Dresden. 

Photo and illustration credits 

p. 1 Lennart Gäbel | pp. 4 – 5 ESA/S. Corvaja, Gene Glover, 

Volocopter, Joachim Baldauf, Thomas Meyer, Franziska Rieder, 

Alex Bramall | pp. 6 – 7 nadla/Getty Images | p. 10 RoseStudio/ 

shutterstock | pp. 14 – 17 Gene Glover | pp. 18 – 19 Gene Glover, 

Micas, TU Dresden, Amac Garbe, Ronald Bonss, Dipat | pp. 20 – 21 

Volocopter | pp. 22 – 23 HTW Dresden/Peter Sebb, Anne Schwerin 

| p. 26 iStock | p. 28 Brandon Laufenberg/iStock | pp. 30 – 33 

Spreadshirt | pp. 34 – 35 André Gottschalk | pp. 36 – 37 agsandrew/shutterstock 

| p. 39 Arvid Müller, Onuk, Michael Bader | 

p. 40 TU Dresden, Infineon, Heimo Aga, Fraunhofer IMW, Uwe 

Bellhäuser | p. 41 TU Dresden | p. 42 Alex Bramall | p. 43 Iwan 

Baan | p. 44 IBM Deutschland, Roman Walczyna | pp. 47 – 51 

Thomas Meyer | p. 54 Infineon | p. 55 HTW Dresden/Peter Sebb | 

p. 59 Nomos Glashütte | p. 60 Wendt & Kühn, Meissen/Klaus 

Tänzer | p. 63 buffaloboy/shutterstock | p. 64 slock.it | p. 66 Prasit 

photo/Getty Images | pp. 68 – 69 Steven Lüdtke, Kai-Uwe Knoth | 

pp. 70 – 71 Anje Jager | p. 74 ESA/S. Corvaja | p. 75 NASA/Getty 

Images | pp. 76 – 77 Imagno/Getty Images | pp. 78 – 79 Gene 

Glover | p. 80 Gene Glover, Salma Eldardiry, dpa 

TRENDING TOPICS

Modern Opulence 

C R A F T S M A N S H I P

FEEL THE BEAT OF INNOVATION. 

CURIOSITY AND THE URGE TO EXPERIMENT ARE PART OF THE SAXON 

DNA Dreams become ideas, which creative individuals share and spread. Like 

the researchers at Jymmin, whose unique blend of exercise and music has been 

proven to deliver feelings of happiness and successful therapy outcomes among 

professional athletes and rehab patients alike. With a total of 14 universities 

and some 50 non-university research institutes, the region is notable for worldchanging 

innovation and a vibrant start-up landscape. To discover the full range 

of perspectives and opportunities that Saxony offers, visit: 

www.simply-saxony.com

Sachsen Magazin - Trending Topics (ENG)

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