Mr. Preinfalk, no entrepreneurial decisions are made today without discussing the topic of digitalization. How does Siemens manage to precisely meet the digital needs of its customers?
The entrepreneurial spirit of our founder is part of Siemen’s DNA. Our company leads Germany in European patent applications. In fact, in 2017 we registered 7,450 inventions worldwide – more than 20 innovations per day – focusing on electrification, automation and, most importantly, digitization.
In 2016, we created “Next47”, integrating the entire start-up business. Referring to the foundation of Siemens in 1847, the involvement of all start-up activities will enable the best of both worlds to be unified and gives access to agility, speed, and independence paired with a global basis of clients, years of experience, credibility and financial strength. In Mexico we have two research and development centers helping us to meet the digital needs of our customers.
It is often said that in the “digitization race,” the fast will beat the big. How does a “tanker” like Siemens tackle this challenge?
Yes, there is pressure, but at Siemens we do not do things half-heartedly. We are convinced of our potential to help our clients to become better. In terms of digitization, Siemens has actively invested in more thwell-equippedan 20 partnerships and acquisitions. Our most recent purchase to strengthen our portfolio was Mendix, a supplier of cloud-native, low-code application development software. Combined with the above-mentioned initiatives and research, Siemens is well equipped when it comes to innovation strength in the digitization race.
How are future topics such as IoT, artificial intelligence and robotics treated in the industrial sector of Mexico?
The Mexican industry has great potential for investment and development in the global economy. Particularly for Siemens, Mexico represents one of the top markets for growth and investment. The country has become an important manufacturing location and ranks 7th in automotive production which speaks for Mexico’s focus on Industry 4.0 and related technologies.
There is a great interest of the youth in jobs that do not exist yet. Therefore, Siemens and the Secretary of Public Education (SEP) signed an agreement on dual education incorporating digitization and Industry 4.0 in schools and universities.
Finally, a personal question: Amazon is developing a household robot. Would you get a digital assistant like this for your home?
Each day, we gradually integrate new technologies in our lives. If we already have a kitchen robot to make food, a refrigerator that notifies you when you are running out of items and a robotic vacuum cleaner, I can clearly see that, one day, everything could be combined into one household robot.
