Hanbing Ma, Head of Innovation & Digital Transformation at ERGO, explains in both a video and written short interview why ERGO is involved as a sponsor of "Startup Week Düsseldorf" - and why working with founders is so important for a large company ...

According to the organisers, between 22 and 26 May, "visionaries will once again meet large companies, lone fighters will meet strong teams, founders will meet business angels and beginners will meet experts". Why is ERGO sponsoring this event for the second year in a row?

We actually sponsored the "Startup Week Düsseldorf" last year and got to know and appreciate it very much! We see it as an extremely multi-layered event with great formats where corporates like ERGO on the one hand and start-ups and founders on the other get to know each other, exchange ideas and inspire each other. For ERGO, such a meeting and networking between "big and small" is ideal for presenting ourselves as an innovative employer and generally increasing our visibility in the start-up scene even further...

Why is this visibility among young companies so important for ERGO? 

Well, the fact that large companies like ERGO are characterised by well-established and structured processes does not mean that we do not have to prove ourselves time and again. So let me ask you again: How do we get fresh impulses and notice when it is time to change? How do we catch the "innovative spark" again and again? For us, it's clear that we can only do this through our innovation scouting (read >>> here in the interview how our colleagues work exactly), through a flexible corporate culture with a corresponding willingness to change - and through cooperation with agile partners such as start-ups. We work with them along our entire value chain - from improving our products and services to increasing efficiency in our own operations. This gives our colleagues more freedom for more important activities, allows them to look after our customers more intensively and to help with empathy where technology reaches its limits.

How many start-ups is ERGO currently already working with and in which areas? And to what extent do our young partners benefit from cooperation with a large company? Hanbing Ma reveals this using current figures and examples in the following video interview (German only):

So is that also the reason why we are expanding our involvement in "Startup Week Düsseldorf" even further this year and even hosting a "Networking@ERGO" evening in our food court at the Düsseldorf site on 24 May?

That's right, on such an evening we can demonstrate our innovative strength to our internal and external guests in a cosy setting with delicious drinks and a fancy snack buffet and show them the many cutting-edge technologies, applications and use cases. Our experts will therefore present exciting topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), voice bots, process mining,virtual reality and metaverse, robotic process automation, low code/no code, startup scouting and new work in short impulses and with live demos on a pitch stage, while the following startups will fly the flag from among our partners: Celonis, Tech11, Arthur and Air Doctor. By the way, our cooperation with Air Doctor is currently nominated for the Innovations Insurance Award, we are keeping our fingers crossed for our partner and ERGO Reiseversicherung!

And let's not forget: Our host ERGO Gourmet, in whose food court our networking evening will take place on 24 May, not only has a lot to offer in the way of culinary delights, but also uses innovative AI solutions itself - if that's not the perfect setting for such an event!

Interview: Ingo Schenk