Quo Vadis Wirtschaft?

We invited executives from SME in a variety of industries to tell us about their experiences and issues before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. We were also interested to hear how the SME representatives see their own and the general future development of the economy.

More than 70 participants were registered, unfortunately dial-in was not possible for some participants due to technical reasons.

The short report with links to the presentations/manuscripts of the speakers and panelists can be found here:

The complete keynote of Dr. Fabian Mehring MdL, Parliamentary Director of the parliamentary group FREIE WÄHLER can be found on our YouTube channel.

Heinz Ostermann / I.K. Hofmann/Personaldienstleistung
The staffing industry recognised long before the pandemic began that large parts of our industry were undergoing fundamental change. This became clear through the dismantling of temporary employment contracts. Using the examples of NOKIA / iPhone and TESLA / German car industry, garnished with the ingredients of a changed attitude towards the environment and real environmental problems, he describes the difficult situation of one of our key industries.
Here you can find the speech of Mr. Ostermann and the presentation of I.K. Hofmann

Claus Schweinheim / HT Group - Healthcare Technology
HT Group is an internationally operating manufacturer in the healthcare sector. The pandemic required innovative action at short notice. For example, a new building for the Institute of Virology of the TUM with complete laboratory equipment was realized within ten weeks.
Here you can find the HT Group presentation

Hermann Rudolf / manngenau GmbH
As a service provider in the foundry and mechanical engineering sector (employee leasing/casting trade/other services), he has to deal not only with the problem of the pandemic, but also with increased competition from China.
Here you can find the manngenau manuscript

Karl Zettl / Römerbad Clinics
is already running the clinics in the fourth generation. The spa industry and health tourism are particularly affected by the pandemic. In his presentation, he impressively describes the problems in the health sector, which have been dramatically intensified by Corona.
Here you can find the Römerbad Clinics presentation

Thomas Blösel / Orthomed Medical Products GmbH
The company specializes in custom manufacturing of orthopedic extension devices. Other areas in the healthcare sector have also been severely affected by the pandemic due to the decrease in treatments outside of the Covid-19 event.
Here you can find the Orthomed manuscript and the Orthomed company presentation

Elmar Mangold / STEGO Elektrotechnik GmbH
The STEGO Group manufactures in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany, and has 10 foreign subsidiaries. The company recognized the importance of digitalization for production and sales long before Corona and established its own IT department. The problems of digitization in Germany become clear when an industrial area of a medium-sized Swabian town was only provided with 6MBit connections until 2018, and only since 2020 has it been possible to implement a 100MBit connection.
Here you can find the STEGO presentation

Armin Weber / ECOVIS
The internationally active law firms work with tax consultants, auditors, lawyers and management consultants in more than 80 countries with more than 8,500 employees, about 2,000 of them in Germany. During the presentation it became clear how different the impact of the pandemic is in the different business sectors and how difficult the re-entry into the post-pandemic period will be for some sectors.
Here you can find the ECOVIS presentation