-: Siemens, I understand, was one of the pioneers
in establishing this function, Christian.
Can you tell us maybe a bit more about the importance
of having this function within the company?
-: I mean, when we started the department,
there were first discussions around mid 2019
and then later implementing the department in 2020
was a period that we thought that was really important
to understand a little bit more holistically
what was happening in the world.
So geopolitical trends, developments had an important
impact in companies like ours, which is present
in over 190 countries.
So this is really important on one angle about
our presence and footprint globally,
and the second is about the technology
that we are engaging with.
And since then, I think the pandemic accelerated
a lot of challenges and of course to overcome
those challenges and also the recovery plans
that took place afterwards.
But of course, we're entering a phase in which countries
are more focused a lot on their domestic resilience,
but also still in areas of cooperation
amongst on international release,
but a lot of intensification competition
or strategic competition in many cases
after recent developments and conflicts and war.
So I think this is an important element for companies
to understand the changes have the globalization,
the last 30 years reached a level, and now we're seeing
a lot of what we call "glocalization."
So it's a mix of the global developments that we have
in the past, but also with a stronger footprint
and local presence as well.
And this is important because this creates
also opportunities, not just about the risks.
And companies can have a... By understanding
and translating this can really early anticipate
the challenges that may come from different policies,
but also opportunities.
-: If you can, tell us a little bit more about
how do you actually structure this geopolitical radar
within the company.
I understand that you, of course, look at companies
as governments, but you also look, for example,
at international organizations and maybe others.
-: The department itself, we try to structure in a couple,
let's say, topics. One, it's of course, the geopolitical
advisory really to understand from what are the trends,
what are the domestic and foreign policy,
how they interconnect on international politics.
And this becomes more and more a special attention
on what is driving risks. Restrictions on one side,
on the other side, opportunities, investments,
and opportunities of trade.
So this is on one angle. But a lot that we do is,
OK, one thing is this analysis and advisory,
but we are also actively engaging externally.
And we try to engage with different international
and multinational forums, connecting with international
organizations such as United Nations,
such as the World Trade Organization,
but also in activities with OECD
and of course ICC and many other organizations.
And I believe this is an important way in which you can also
have a broader outreach and position our views
and of course our positions towards specific topics
representing the company's interests.
There's a lot of internal work, but it's also a mix of,
we're trying to balance the more and more external work
and connecting with the right stakeholders
to be able to drive, let's say, the function further.