{"id":3678,"date":"2016-10-09T13:34:45","date_gmt":"2016-10-09T11:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/?p=3678"},"modified":"2026-02-16T14:03:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:03:22","slug":"zukunftsdialog_mittelstand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/zukunftsdialog-mittelstand-saarlouis-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Zukunftsdialog Mittelstand – Tuesday, October 11, 2016, in Saarlouis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSMEs face the challenge of having to recognize for themselves what opportunities digitalization as such offers them. To do so, they must be able to draw on digital skills of their own and, above all, understand that every market player is seeking its salvation in digitalization \u2013 they must become \u2018gold diggers\u2019 themselves, but also create their own mine in the process.\u201d<\/em> (Andr\u00e9 Winzer)<\/p>\n

Having been a guest in Saarbr\u00fccken last year, I\u2019m delighted to travel to Saarland again as a speaker at the \u201cZukunftsdialog Mittelstand\u201d (Future Dialogue for SMEs). This time I\u2019m heading to Saarlouis, a town of 34,000 inhabitants.<\/p>\n

Of course, I hope that the \u201cdigitalization of SMEs\u201d won\u2019t mean digitalizing everything. That would be a particular shame at the Ludwig chocolate factory. After all, who wants to eat chocolate only virtually instead of savoring it on their own tongue?<\/p>\n

The district of Saarlouis<\/a> itself is also facing change \u2013 and historically, it has already been through quite a few. Saarlouis has only been part of the Federal Republic of Germany again since July 6, 1959. People here are used to change. The strong local dependence on steel and automotive manufacturing means that SMEs need to be strengthened, because these industries are themselves currently undergoing structural change. While steel is suffering from enormous price pressure, the automotive industry has to face, among other things, the shift toward electrification and autonomous driving. This calls existing infrastructures into question once again. Incidentally, the same goes for its twin town Eisenh\u00fcttenstadt. But before the complaining starts, I\u2019d rather spark enthusiasm for shaping and modernizing. Adapting to change is unavoidable anyway if you want to hold your own in competition and within regulation. And every change also holds the chance to change life and one\u2019s surroundings for the better.<\/p>\n

That is exactly what the \u201cZukunftsdialog Mittelstand\u201d event is for. Three thematic workshops will get people excited about change. The aim is to understand digitalization properly, set impulses for new things, put ideas into practice \u2013 and receive good funding support along the way.<\/p>\n

In the first 45 minutes, I will set the tone on the opportunities of digitalization, aiming to spark as much drive to shape things as possible in the audience for the subsequent workshops.<\/p>\n

Since around 2012, the term Industry 4.0 has been firmly established as a buzzword in Germany and discussed in depth. Everyone is on board, since it is about nothing more and nothing less than the digitalization of industry. Since 2015, economic policy has increasingly focused on SMEs, as this seems to be one of the major levers. Policymakers hope that targeted \u201cagenda-setting\u201d will help the country\u2019s own SMEs survive and reposition themselves.<\/p>\n

SMEs themselves, however, seem to be \u201cresistant to advice\u201d \u2013 or rather, they have to be able to answer for themselves where the benefits of digitalization and connectivity might lie. In other words, they need to gain an inside view of possible use scenarios for Industry 4.0. Only once they understand the benefits will they take action themselves.<\/p>\n

I will build an understanding of these benefits in order to inspire as many people as possible to become gold diggers. The goal is not to copy market behavior, but to examine along your own value chain where a potential vein of gold might lie.<\/p>\n

For the invitation from the Saarland Minister for Economic Affairs, Labor, Energy and Transport<\/a>, Anke Rehlinger, I would like to express my sincere thanks in advance.<\/p>\n

You can find the program here:<\/p>\n

Flyer: Zukunftsdialog Mittelstand in the District of Saarlouis [in German]<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019d still like to register, it\u2019s best to contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Wirtschaftsf\u00f6rderung\u00a0Untere Saar mbH (WFUS)<\/p>\n

Gro\u00dfer Markt 8<\/p>\n

66740 Saarlouis<\/p>\n

Email: wfus@kreis-saarlouis.de<\/p>\n

Fax: 06831 503-1919<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Venue and time:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tuesday, October 11, 2016, 3:30 pm<\/p>\n

Viktor\u02bcs Residenz-Hotel Saarlouis<\/p>\n

Bahnhofsallee 4 | 66740 Saarlouis<\/p>\n

Entrance: \u201cThe Club\u201d<\/p>\n

  \t<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201eDer Mittelstand steht vor der Herausforderung, dass er selbst erkennen muss, welche Chancen sich ihm durch die Digitalisierung an sich geboten werden. Dabei muss er selbst auf digitale Kompetenzen zur\u00fcckgreifen k\u00f6nnen und vor allem verstehen, dass ein jeder Marktteilnehmer sein Heil in der Digitalisierung sucht \u2013 er muss selbst zum \u201eGoldgr\u00e4ber\u201c werden, sich dabei aber […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":3679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[307],"class_list":["post-3678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workshop"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":307,"user_id":17,"is_guest":0,"slug":"andrewinzersz","display_name":"Andr\u00e9 Winzer","avatar_url":"http:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-Andre-w_1920px-96x96.jpg","author_category":"","first_name":"Andr\u00e9","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":"The formal head of the company, but generally happier to dive headfirst into new challenges. His switch is set to \u201cmain\u201d, his range of action preferably to \u201csimultaneous\u201d. He passionately analyzes & interprets business models. His workshops and talks revolve around the theme of \u201cPreparing for Tomorrow\u201d. He likes to show that business models can easily be transferred to other industries."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3678"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schaltzeit.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}