“The stage is yours tonight,” said Prof. Ali Sunyaev, Vice President of the TUM Campus Heilbronn, welcoming the attendees to the fifth TUM Connect at the Bildungscampus Heilbronn. “The purpose of the event is for you, as representatives of regional companies and authorities, to network with each other.” The aim is also to strengthen the connection between TUM, as a University of Excellence, and regional SMEs: “We are in Heilbronn because we want to be. And we only want to be here because of you, because you make the region incredibly strong,” Sunyaev said to the guests.
Caroline Hoffmann, Division Director Continuing Education at TUM Campus Heilbronn gGmbH, briefly explained the concept of the event, which is based on the Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park: at four stations in the foyer of the auditorium, internal or external lecturers at the TUM Campus Heilbronn briefly present a topic that the participants then discuss. Each of them can take the floor and step up to the podium provided at each station. “The stage belongs to everyone who has an opinion. Don't hesitate to take the initiative,” Hoffmann encouraged those present.
AI and the Role of Humans
And they didn't need to be asked twice: the group at the station of Stefan Wagner, Professor of Software Engineering at the TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology at the TUM Campus Heilbronn, discussed controversial issues. The question was actually “Do we still need software engineers at all with generative AI?” But the overarching question of whether humans could become generally obsolete in the AI age kept coming up in the discussion. “For us, it's a given that humans are and will be the center of attention,” said Wagner, summing up his thesis. Of course, not all guests from the business world saw it that way: one of them said that humans don't want to admit that AI can already perform a large proportion of tasks better and faster. Another participant contradicted this, saying that AI could only be used for routine work and often still made mistakes when it came to truly creative tasks. Nevertheless, there was consensus that humans can achieve better results through clever prompting. And it also became clear that differing opinions were perceived as enriching.
Communicating Clear Messages
Dr. Christoph Geier presented a “scenario analysis in digital transformation”. Geier's basic theses “digital strategies must be meaningfully integrated into the overall portfolio” and “digital technology is not a value in itself, but a lever that we use” met with broad approval. When it came to the question of how to get as many people as possible on board during the digital transformation, the participants came up with many interesting ideas: the added value for customers must be made clear. A positive “purpose” is important. But clear messages are also needed, for example, when a large proportion of employees will soon be retiring and cannot be replaced. Last but not least, the economic benefits must be emphasized in order to win over the controllers for the idea. And it must always be clear that there is no alternative and that the digital transformation has long since begun. The core concept in the discussion was the ability to connect, Geier summarized at the end: “A digital strategy must take into account day-to-day operations. If you ensure that the elements are connectable, then you have already achieved a lot.”
Breaking Out of Old Patterns
In the Speaker Corner with Dr Karl Rabes, representatives from the business world discussed breaking out of old patterns with the business design coach. According to Rabes, the first step is to focus on customer needs: “How well do we understand the customer's problem and how well does the customer understand it? We have to know the customer better than they do themselves.” He called for a change in innovation in Germany, which must be strategic and well thought out, because “gut feeling is fatal for innovation”. The guests agreed, although they said that there is often a lack of time for this in their companies. Modern developments such as AI could provide relief here, but are only part of the solution: “We are not only thinking about technology, but also about business models.”
Two Are Better than One
Dr. Dina Barbian's Speakers' Corner covered two aspects at the same time. Under the motto “Two are better than one – framework conditions for the twin transformation”, the expert in sustainability discussed with interested parties. Why twin, isn't one transformation challenging enough? For Barbian, two things belong together: “How can I design sustainability digitally and design digitalization sustainably?” For many medium-sized companies, it is not easy to reconcile these two aspects. The expert showed understanding for this, especially since “the added value of a twin transformation cannot currently be measured, but it does pay off in the long term”. One way to simplify the process is to reduce bureaucracy – all participants agreed on this.
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