Innovators meet at Hinterland to plan Europe’s next wave
What happens when business leaders, innovators, and investors come together? Europe’s 10-year vision takes shape at the tech event of 2020
At one of the tech events of the year, 1300 innovators, hundreds of C-levels from leading companies, the money men (investors), the columnists and bureaucrats put plans in place to make a positive change in the world at the Hinterland of Things (HOT) in Germany. Team Fightback was there to find out how CEOs, innovation leaders, and heads of digital transformation in the German tech scene interpret the pressing issues related to climate, digitalisation, health and how they envisage the future.
Among the several engaging panel discussions “Entrepreneurs in times of global challenges” with Dr Brigitte Mohn, Ferry Heilemann and Sebastian Johnston was the standout discussion of the day. The message is clear: recent efforts to make large-scale changes are failing to deliver and much more needs to happen in the future, with greater urgency. That said, many great initiatives are building momentum like the Leaders for Climate Action, along with a new vibrant ecosystem which places a renewed emphasis on addressing the grand challenges of our time with a more hands-on approach to execution.
To achieve these goals in the desired timeframe, “we have to get out of our comfort zone”, says Dr Brigitte Mohn, member of the executive board of Bertelsmann Stiftung. This aligns with Fightback’s call to action for a united effort to break Europe’s inertia, incrementalism, and complacency, as the new digital landscape emerges.
Any big change has to start with a shift in mindset to nudge radical upheaval in the business world to move towards more sustainable business models with a positive impact.
How can we provoke a gut-level concern for future generations and reduce existential risks when the problem is seemingly so far removed from daily life? We are not hardwired to have an emotional response to even the scariest data and hence lack the motivation to solve the biggest problems. Especially problems with long-term horizons. When we consider existential risk (climate change, global pandemics) anything that could cancel all of us, people can’t relate, because it’s neither personal or immediate.
In fact, empathy only resonates to the problems of specific people (people you know) who express pain in the present moment. But this same empathy falls flat when it comes to a crisis that doesn’t have an identifiable victim (girl falling down a well) like climate change or inadequate healthcare. Or where there is no villain involved or perpetrator. This is one of the main reasons why neither of these two topics really move a critical mass of people to action.
An individual giving a Ted Talk about climate change is as emotionally engaging as ordering a cup of coffee; for most people. Indeed, Adam Smith summed up this conundrum well by asking you to imagine 100 million people dying in a far off land, of course, you think it’s horrible, then you go about your business. But imagine you learn that you are going to lose your little finger in the morning. You wouldn’t sleep that night. We are all guilty of this personal bias.
So if existential threats don’t move us what will? This is not the sort of thing that individual people do well. You can’t rewire the human brain, says Paul Bloom, professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University. The 100 million people dying will never matter more to you than the health of your child or your finger. But you can hack this weakness of the human mind by creating communities (with a mix of people, some who are disinterested, some who are very engaged, all who are ideally influential) and work together in constrained ways to solve big problems.
The group is set up with numerical thresholds, for example, say X number of people die from a new virus, no matter how far away or who they are, that triggers an action. Or you set up carbon targets for a particular industry or location and if they are exceeded it triggers an immediate response. With checklists, processes, and the required level of bureaucracy you can bypass personal bias and force an automatic response for quick and efficient impact.
Hence, a group of powerful people take a problem and execute with rules and procedures to warrant an immediate and appropriate response so companies or individuals need not shoulder the burden alone. If a platform is in place for more fluid collaboration we can ease the transition to both cleaner energy and better healthcare by working together in committed teams of influential stakeholders. This is why the next HOT event should be centred on “collaboration” to highlight the power of companies and institutions working together, instead of building solutions in silos.
“We have to get out of our comfort zone,” says Dr Brigitte Mohn and she’s right. We are way too comfortable. Of course, we are. The standard of living in Europe has reached a point where the majority of people live a good life. And, the majority of businesses are valuable with strong profits and market-leading positions. So what would motivate these individuals and companies to make dramatic changes to their businesses? Good question. This remains the challenge of our time. How can you influence business leaders to alter the course of their business without direct, short-term business incentives to do so?
Greta Thunberg gets dismissed out of hand because of her age, environmentalists are disregarded because of their distance to the corporate world. There appears to be a vital link missing which brings everybody together under one banner. When we asked Fabian Lenz, Head of Innovation at Goldbeck if he believes Europe, its organizations and institutions has what it takes to make a difference?” He was quick to say: “Yes, of course, we are one of the biggest industrial ecosystems, we have a strong position and now is the time to make progress.”
“Only collaboration will lead to big results!” he added. Similarly, Simon Brakhage, Partnership Manager of Founders Foundation supports the view that “collaboration is the key element in all of this. He believes that “together we can battle everything.” Indeed, roughly 80% of the people we asked agreed that collaboration can empower us to make a big difference while still making a profit.
When we chatted to attendees about what makes Europe strong we heard about our rich history, values, and the unique mix of cultures. As Tristan Foerster, MD Climate Partner, puts it “Europe has a chance to win if we get back to fostering the unique cultures, ideals, and skills we have here by putting them together in collaborative initiatives”
Europe′s deep knowledge in technology, automation, and mechanical skills are often considered its strongpoint says Mareen Vaßholz, Head of Digital Transformation at WAGO. But there is no question that we need to catch up when it comes to digital innovation.
In brief, when we think about our vision for Europe in 10 years, we all want a Europe that competes on the global stage. And as Simon mentioned our “ability to learn” will take us there if we adjust our legacy mindsets and work in committed communities. But one of the greatest challenges relates to the speed and political hurdles, which can both be fast-tracked by bringing different stakeholders together with a shared purpose.
“There is no better time than now. We are strong in doing not just talking,” said Fabian to conclude the session. At Fightback we are done talking. Now we see companies everywhere being “emission neutral”, but that’s not enough. They just offset. Real changes take more effort, will take much longer, are heavier to lift AND are not only related to just one company. So, we help to tackle the big topics in “alliances”, for joint approach to solution-finding.
It’s up to us. And, the time is nowː let’s do it together.
