INTO GERMANY! The German Business Podcast

GDP may have stagnated, foreign direct investment continued apace in Europe’s largest economy. 2024 was a banner year for German pharma and artificial intelligence. The world’s largest IT companies invested heavily in data centers, and the government further relaxed entry regulations for international professionals with sought-after skills and launched massive infrastructure projects to provide the country with green energy. INTO GERMANY looks back at the year that was. Our guests: Our year in review features leaders from business and politics and Germany Trade & Invest experts from a variety of fields.

Germans may have taken a while to get used to cashless payment systems and other fintech applications, but they’re now rapidly becoming standard in both B2B and B2C. Where are the greatest opportunities and what does the future ho0ld in store? We speak to the head of Berlin’s new fintech hub and the strategy guru at a French neobank that has branched out to Germany. Our guests: Sebastian Schäfer is an experienced entrepreneur and ecosystem builder and CEO at the newly established HoFT, the House of Finance and Tech in Berlin. Founded in spring 2024, it serves as a central hub within the city’s finance and tech ecosystem. Albertine Lecointe is Vice President of Strategy and Head of Strategic Management at French neobank Qonto, which expanded to Germany in 2020.

The German vegan and vegetarian movement goes back to the nineteenth century, but this lifestyle and nutrition choice has never been so popular. More than a third of Germans opt for a plant-based diet. The German plant-based retail market has been valued at around €1.9 billion, making it the biggest in Europe. We talk to two up-and-coming companies and the head of a leading pro-meatless advocacy group about what the future holds in store. Our guests: Tom Johansson is founder and CEO of Hooked Foods, a Swedish start-up producing vegan “seafood” based on plant protein. Elin Roberts is co-founder and co-CEO of Better Nature, a UK-based producer of tempeh. Jens Tuider is Chief Strategy Officer at ProVeg International, which originated in Germany and aims to “transform the global food system.“

Germany remains a pioneer when it comes to self-driving cars. Europe’s automotive heartland is the first country in the world to pass nationwide regulations for level-4 autonomous vehicles. International businesses that expand to Germany will find top-class research facilities, a well-trained and innovative workforce and an open-minded car culture! Our guests: Yang Ji is founder and CEO of LiangDao, a Chinese-German software and engineering service provider of AI-based sensor systems with offices in Munich and Berlin, as well as in Beijing and Shanghai. LiangDao is focusing on the so-called LiDAR technology, which is crucial for self-driving cars. Christoph Mester is Manager of Transportation Technologies at GTAI and works for the agency’s investor service department. As an expert for future mobility, he advises international companies planning to expand to Germany.

Green hydrogen is a key part of Germany’s drive to decarbonize industry and transition to clean energy. To that end, the country is establishing a core network, spanning 10,000 kilometers all across Europe’s largest economy. What are challenges faced by the new distribution grid? How many of the old natural-gas pipelines can be repurposed? How much new construction is needed. Germany’s biggest gas network operator and the German Association for Gas and Water give us some answers.    Our Guests:   Philipp Ginsberg is Head of Grid and Heating Policy at the DVGW, the German Association for Gas and Water, which currently has around 14,000 members, including 2,000 utility companies. Since its formation more than 150 years ago, it has been the first point of contact for all questions relating to the supply of gas and drinking water in Germany. Niko Bosnjak is Head of Communications & Energy Policy at Open Grid Europe. With around 13,000 kilometers of pipelines, Open Grid Europe is the largest of Germany’s 16 long-distance gas network operators.

Germany is setting record upon record for renewable electricity, but the hardware used to generate that energy is not built for the ages. What to do with all the outdated and decommissioned equipment? We talk to an innovative French company that’s brought its solutions to Germany and to a German industry association that aims to convert the wind energy sector into a circular economy.   Our Guests:  Markus Krausewitz is the German site and ramp up manager for ROSI, a French company specialized in the recycling of PV modules. ROSI – an acronym for Return on Silicon – is currently building its first German plant in the eastern regional state of Saxony. Annette Nüsslein is founding and board member of RDRWind, a German association dealing with repowering, dismantling and recycling wind turbines. It was established in 2018 to develop standards and norms for the recycling process.

Food, accessories, services, tech gadgets - the house pet market is huge and diverse. The number of pets in Germany has been growing for years, and so has the amount Germans are willing spend on the welfare of their animal loved ones. And the outlook for the future is top dog! So what are the particulars of Germans’ relationships with their pets? We talk to a Swedish pet insurance company that has recently expanded to Germany. And we ask two members of Germany‘s biggest pet association for an overview of a doggone great market.   Our Guests:  Natalie Rosen is country manager for Germany at Swedish company Lassie, a preventative pet insurance provider that entered the German market in 2023. Antje Schreiber and Rowena Arzt work for Germany’s oldest and biggest pet association, the Zentralverband Zoologischer Fachbetriebe, ZZF. It represents the professional, economic and socio-political interests of the German pet industry and organizes the world's leading trade fair Interzoo. Arzt is responsible for the exhibition department as well as a subsidiary that helping companies in the pet business internationalize their business. Schreiber is head of communications.

Intel, TSMC and Tesla are just three of the commercial giants that are increasing their business by expanding to the eastern part of Germany. Unlike former spurts of investment in the regions that used to be Communist East Germany, growth this time around seems more organic and likely to last. Indeed, it’s no exaggeration to say that the economic map of Germany is being redrawn. We speak to an expert on business in the region and one of the companies benefitting from going east. Our Guests: Martin Ledwon is vice president of stakeholder relations at UPM Biochemicals in the city of Leuna. The company is a new division of Finland’s biofuel pioneer UPM, and the plant being built in eastern Germany will produce chemical products from wood stocks to be used in place of chemicals from fossil fuels. Silke Poppe is Germany Trade and Invest’s expert on Germany’s eastern regional states and other areas undergoing structural change. She travels around the world promoting investment through GTAI’s Internationalization of Regions in Structural Transformation program, and oversees other business development programs for the east, including Taskforce Transformation. Video link audio credit to NDR https://www.facebook.com/ndrinfo/videos/30-jahre-w%C3%A4hrungsunion-helmut-kohls-vision-von-bl%C3%BChenden-landschaften/902774740205272/

The costs of converting Germany's power supply infrastructure to renewably generated electricity is enormous. Some skeptics fear the high cost of the transition will frighten off international companies. But there is also a case that with increasing numbers of firms committed to carbon-neutral production, Germany's green energy grids will soon a powerful argument for them to do business there. Our Guests: Nicolas Steinbacher is Senior Director of Strategy & Corporate Development for Swedish lithium-ion battery company Northvolt in Germany. Northvolt has broken ground on a gigafactory in northern Germany with its huge supplies of wind-generated electricity. Marco Nix is Chief Financial Officer for 50Hertz, one of Germany's electrical transmission grid operators. His company is building thousands of kilometers of power lines to feed green grids bringing energy from wind and solar sources in the north, to manufacturing centers in the south of the country.

In late 2023, American pharma giant Eli Lilly and Company announced plans to build a $2.5 billion production facility in western Germany. It’s one of the largest investments in the sector ever. The plant will at first produce its new tirzepatide drugs for diabetes and obesity. Demand is expected to soar. The major expansion comes as Berlin is reforming the rules governing German pharma, with a key aim of boosting drug production within the country. Our Guests: Gerd Kräh is associate VP of government affairs with Eli Lilly Deutschland. He is one of the most experienced media and political affairs executives in the German pharmaceutical industry. Marcus Schmidt is director of the chemicals and health division at Germany Trade & Invest. He has worked as an advisor to the German government on reforming policies regulating the pharmaceutical sector, and helped Eli Lilly and Company find a location in Germany to build one of its largest plants outside of the United States.

Germany’s GDP growth has slowed recently, and the number of FDI projects are slightly lower, but the country’s long-term stability and even its transition to sustainable industry are still attracting big projects in critical sectors as pharma, microchips and battery production. Eli Lilly and Company, Intel and Northvolt are just some of companies pushing ahead with gigantic endeavors in Germany. But what challenges await in the future? Our Guests: Terry Toland is a co-author of the Kearney 2023 Foreign Direct Investment Index and the thought leadership manager at the firm’s Global Business Policy Council. Robert Hermann is the CEO of Germany Trade & Invest, Berlin’s international economic promotion agency.

As Germany’s median age rises, new opportunities are opening the med-tech sector, for instance in the area of physiotherapy. At the same time, “silver agers” determined to remain active and fit in their later years is configuring the market for fitness clubs and service. There’s plenty of room in industry for international players. Our Guests: Davide Ferrario and Marco Sauer are with Movendo Technology, an Italian company pioneering robotic physiotherapeutic devices driven by artificial intelligence. The machines are being used to help people retain mobility into advanced age and recover more quickly from injuries. Florian Brauer is senior global product manager at FIBO, Germany’s annual fitness trade fair, and the largest of its kind in the world. FIBO will be held again in Cologne in April 2024.

Germany is aiming to become climate-neutral by 2045 – to help combat climate change but also to become more resilient in its energy supply. Russia’s war oin Ukraine highlighted an aspect of energy provision most people had previously ignored: storage. As renewables take over an increasing share of the powermix in Germany, opportunites are being created everywhere for innovated solutions in the energy storage sector. We take a deep dive. Our Guests: Lars Stephan is senior policy and market development manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa at the Fluence company. Fluence is a global leader in energy storage products, services and software, operating in 47 markets around the world. The company was founded in 2018 as a joint venture between Siemens in Germany and AES in the United States. Beatrice Schulz is head of technologies and markets at Germany's BVES Energy Storage Systems Association. The BVES is the largest trade association in the world for players in the energy storage sector. It represents a spectrum of storage technologies in the sectors of electricity, heat and mobility. Links to sound clips: Joe Biden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK80IAM7Pgg Boris Johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK80IAM7Pgg Olaf Schulz - One https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Lvhy5sZ-4 Olaf Schulz - Two https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEjdiduyQXI

Is "smart city" just another buzzword? Or a useful way of thinking about how to make urban life more livable, sustainable, diverse, healthy and equitable? We speak to the head of one of the largest property development and urbal planning projects in Europe, HafenCity Hamburg. And we get an assessment from two smart-cities experts on the challenges and opportunities of the metropoles of the future. As Germany’s cities grow, and environmental and other demands intensify, the need for innovative and intellegent urban planning is creating business opportunities in Europe’s largest economy. Our Guests: Andreas Kleinau is the CEO of HafenCity Hamburg, Europe’s most extensive inner-city property development project. Started 25 years ago, HafenCity is now a vibrant, functional part of Germany’s second biggest city. Its unique mix of commercial, residential, educational and leisure aspects has won many major architecture and urban design awards at home and abroad. Tamlyn Shimizu is the lead for global partnerships and communication at Bable. A spin-off of leading Geran applied research organization the Fraunhofer Society, the young company fosters relationships with key stakeholders to promote sustainable and innovative urban solutions. Shimizu is also the host of Bable's "Smart in the City" podcast Robert Compton is a deputy director of energy construction and environmental technologies at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI) and a key figure in GTAI’s Smart Cities initiative. Walt Disney sound bite courtesy of 1966 EPCOT Film: https://youtu.be/UEm-09B0px8?feature=shared

The threat of cybercrime is at an all-time high. That’s due to a variety of factors including companies’ increasing digitization, vast amounts of work now being done in home office and the war in Ukraine. That’s created huge demand in Europe’s largest market, Germany. We talk to an expert and a business executive about the current state of cybersecurity and what opportunities are opening up for international companies in Germany. Our guests Torsten Strufe is a cybersecurity expert from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and adjunct professor at the Technical University of Dresden. His fields of research include privacy and resilience in the context of social networking services, the metaverse, and behavioral privacy. Pierre-Alain Mouy is a managing director of NVISO, a cyber security consulting firm focused mainly on the financial, technology and government sectors. The company is based in Belgium and expanded into Germany in 2018. For further information and feedback please turn to andreas.bilfinger@gtai.eu

The stakes could not be higher. Germany aspires to lead the way in achieving carbon emissions neutrality. To that, it’s going to need lots and lots of regenerative energy, including solar power. The country already experienced a solar boom around the turn of millennium, but it didn’t last. Now, the sun is back at the center of Germany’s transition to clean energy and its new energy economy. Can solar succeed this time around in Europe’s largest market? We get assessments from a CTO of an up-and-coming solar company and a sector expert. Our guests Chris Case is the CTO of Oxford PV, a solar energy company that has expanded to the eastern German city of Brandenburg, He’s a board member of the European Solar Manufacturing Council, a steering committee member of the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP-PV) and, since 2021, the president of the International Thin-Film Solar Industry Association (PVthin). He also advises the SuperSolar Hub of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (ESPRC). He has extensively published in international newspapers and scientific journals and is a regular speaker and lecturer on integrated circuits and photovoltaics. David Wedepohl is a trained radio journalist who studied and has worked on both sides of the Atlantic. He first came in contact with the solar industry while working for an American consulting company, which he left to take up a job as director of communications and markets at the German Solar Association. He also served as the association's spokesperson. He is now that organization’s managing director of international affairs, working on projects in North, West and Southern Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and the US. Send your feedback and comments to andreas.bilfinger@gtai.com.

After the success of previously unknown biopharma company BioNTech in combatting Covid, Germany is back in the spotlight as “the world’s pharmacy.” But what comes next for the sector? And how can international health-sector companies profit? We talk to the world’s oldest pharmaceutical company Merck, a serial entrepreneur and a biotech journalist about personal medication, international partnerships and mRNA technology and its potential for fighting cancer. Our guests  Laura Matz is the Chief Science and Technology Officer for Merck, Darmstadt, Germany. An executive vice-president, she’s responsible for the corporate innovation teams including the digital office and new digital business models. She has 20 years of experience in semiconductor manufacturing and a decade of experience running semiconductor materials businesses. She has a PhD in analytical chemistry from Washington State University. Maike Becker-Krüger studied International Relations at Lake Forest College in Chicago and at Franklin University in Switzerland. This was followed by an MBA from Quadriga University Berlin. She worked directly for state premier of the regional German state of Hessen before taking responsibility for European policy coordination within the national government. Starting in 2015, she has built up the capital city office and the Corporate and Government Relations Berlin department at Merck. Since 2022, Maike Becker-Krüger has been Head of EU & Germany Corporate Affairs. Oliver Schacht is a corporate finance professional and expert in the molecular diagnostics industry and CEO of OpGen. He has co-founded several start-up companies in biotech, clean tech, IT and education in Europe and the US and has experience in developing and implementing commercial strategies and financing measures (including two IPOs). He also serves as the chairman of the Board of Internal Council of Biotechnology Assocations and the president of the German industry association BIO Deutschland. He studied European Business Administration in Reutlingen and London and holds a PhD from Cambridge University (UK). Dr. Georg Kääb studied biology in Regensburg and Munich and earned his doctorate in neuroimmunology. After freelancing for the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, he became editor-in-chief and co-managing director at the Association of German Biologists. From 2007 to 2021, he headed the communication of the cluster organization BioM (Martinsried), was managing director of the Biotechnology Cluster Bavaria and spokesperson for BioRegions in Germany. Since autumn 2021, he has headed the editorial team of the biotechnology magazine division at media company BIOCOM AG. Send your feedback and comments to andreas.bilfinger@gtai.com.

Think Germany, and you probably don’t think fun and games. But you should. Where else is gaming a special part of the Economics Ministry? Germans are absolutely fanatics for games and represent Europe’s biggest electronic gaming market, with some 49 million active players. To get the latest on this dynamic sector, we talk to one of Europe’s leading games developers and the head of the German Association for the Games Industry. Our guests       Benedikt Grindel is managing director of Ubisoft Blue Byte and also heads Ubisoft Düsseldorf. Grindel studied mathematics with a minor in business administration at the University of Münster. He joined Ubisoft in 1998 and worked for three years in the marketing and business development department. He then moved to the game development studio Blue Byte after it was acquired by Ubisoft. As a producer, he was responsible for the "The Settlers" brand, and in 2010 he launched the live operation unit at Ubisoft Blue Byte. In 2014, he took on the role of managing director.    Felix Falk has been managing director of game since February 1, 2018. From 2009 to 2016, he was managing director of the Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body (USK). As vice chairman of the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), he helped develop the global labeling standard for online games and apps during this time. From 2004 to 2009, he headed the office of Monika Griefahn, chair of the Committee for Culture and Media in the German Bundestag. In this capacity, he was responsible for the computer games and, among other things, helped create the the German Computer Game Prize, which was awarded for the first time in 2009.    Send your feedback and comments to andreas.bilfinger@gtai.com.

You can have the best product in the world, but when it doesn’t reach your costumers, you can’t sell it. Thanks to its geographical location and other factors, Germany is the heart of European transport and shipping – and one of the world’s largest logistics markets. But geopolitical concerns and the need for sustainability, is forcing a reload in logistics. We talk to the head of digitalization at one of the largest global forwarding companies and a popular logistics podcaster about where the sector is headed. Our guests  Thomas Grunau was made Senior Vice President of Global Business Strategy & Digitalization at DHL Global Forwarding in June 2019. Under his leadership DHL Global Forwarding has developed an industry-leading customer portal, myDHLi, that allows connects suppliers, customers and partners and gives users a 360-degree view of their shipments. Andreas Löwe works on the integration of automation technology and software at Norwegian company AutoStore and is a mastermind behind the weekly German podcast "Irgendwas mit Logistik" (Something About Logistics). Send your feedback and comments to andreas.bilfinger@gtai.com

Cars, e-bikes, smartphones…the future will run on batteries. They're a crucial component of Germany’s transition to clean energy, but they can only have their desired effect if they’re recycled. We take a closer look at the battery recycling industry in Europe’s largest economy and automotive heartland. Is this thenext big thing in the German economy? Our guests  Chris Reed has over 30 years’ experience in the mining industry including more than 20 years in senior executive roles. Chris co-founded Reed Resources (now Neometals Ltd) in 2001 and is Managing Director/CEO. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Notre Dame and a Graduate Certificate in Mineral Economics from WA School of Mines. He is also aember of the AusIMM and is a past Vice-President of AMEC. Dr. Philipp Rose is a project director at Strategy&, the global strategy consultancy of PricewaterhouseCoopers. A trained engineer with more than ten years of experience working with electric vehicles, five of them as a business consultant in America, Asia and Europe, he’s a passionate advocate of electrifying the transport sector in terms of both vehicles and systems. He has also advised the German parliament, the Bundestag, on questions of e-mobility. Send your feedback and comments to andreas.bilfinger@gtai.com.