Christian Junker

#MadeforGermany is growing: 44 new members have joined our initiative! 🚀 Among them? Innovative start-ups like GetYourGuide, Allisa Software GmbH, cylib, Taxfix and many more! Together, we're not just talking about Germany's future - we're investing in it: 735 billion euros by 2028, setting things in motion.  A prime example? With Siemensstadt Square in Berlin, we are opening an industrial site to create space for a new open technologically pioneering city district. Within this major urban development project, we're building Europe's largest wastewater heat exchanger of its kind, in cooperation with GETEC Group and Berliner Wasserbetriebe. This groundbreaking system will ensure 100% CO2-neutral heating and cooling for the entire campus - turning urban wastewater into clean energy. This is the spirit of #MadeforGermany in action: We don't just identify challenges - we solve them. Now, the government's "autumn of reforms" must match this momentum - through lower non-wage costs, less bureaucracy, competitive energy prices, and a more flexible labor market. 

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Hearing your own voice on the radio? Still weird. But sharing how we handled a real-life hacker attack? That felt important. (Spoiler: No, we didn’t pay the €5 million ransom. 💸🙅‍♀️) Recently I was invited to Die Wirtschaftsreportage on rbb24 Inforadio. The topic? Digitalisation in Berlin and Brandenburg. And the timing couldn’t have been more fitting. Just a few weeks earlier, Finetech was hit by a ransomware attack. 🚨 I was on my bike to work when I got the first call. At first, we thought it was a power outage. But when the servers stayed down and a “middleman” reached out demanding €5 million, we knew it was serious. A colleague went straight to the police. At the same time, the LKA contacted us. They had just received a list of targeted companies  and we were on it. We were unable to work for about 1.5 days. Then the preparation paid off. ✅ 70% of systems restored within 24 hours ✅ backups recovered after just 8 days  completely                                                 ✅ after a week, we were able to work without any restrictions  The root cause? A legacy account with a weak password. The outcome? No data leaked. No ransom paid. And a clear roadmap to strengthen our defences. My biggest takeaway: Investing in digitalisation was absolutely the right decision. We had strong cyber insurance in place. That helped cover the downtime and gave us the peace of mind to focus on solving the problem instead of panicking. Our internal IT team was incredible. Their fast, focused, and coordinated response made all the difference. Having that kind of expertise in-house is invaluable when something like this hits. What really saved us? Our cloud setup. The attackers never got access to it and that made all the difference. Not all of our backups could be encrypted at the time. Luckily. That allowed us to restore most of our data quickly and stay operational. It’s easy to talk about digital transformation in theory. But moments like this prove why it truly matters. ...and one more thing: A friend’s brother works at a company that was attacked on the same day. They’re still working with pen and paper, digitalisation just hadn’t been a priority. 👏 Huge respect to our team. Proof that preparation, the right mindset, and a solid digital strategy really do matter. And that the right steps today make all the difference tomorrow.

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The first edition of “TECH by Handelsblatt” – an interesting new forum at the intersection of German politics, business, and Europe’s AI ecosystem. Key discussions focused on how Europe can strengthen its independence in strategic areas like AI, data, cloud infrastructure, quantum computing, space technology and beyond. The message was clear: the capabilities are there – what’s needed now is the willingness to act and the courage to take the next steps. Notably, Heilbronn is increasingly positioning itself as a center for technological innovation. A positive development for the region and the companies located here. #TECHbyHandelsblatt #AI #Würth #IPAI #TechInEurope #Heilbronn #Innovation #DigitalEurope

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𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝟵𝟬% 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗮𝗱? 🔩 Our development team is working on a new set of standard connections that can be configured in just a few clicks thanks to full parameterization. This will make the design process much easier, especially for junior engineers. For a connection between two CHS profiles, we compared the load-bearing capacity of four different variants. All of them have the same end plate (12 mm thick) and six M24 8.8 bolts. The only difference? Stiffeners. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀: ✔️ A well-reinforced joint can carry 90% more load than a standard solution. ✔️ A slight change in bolt placement (moving them closer to the stiffeners) increased the capacity by 𝟭𝟱%. We didn’t analyze the cost aspect this time, but stiffeners have a significant impact on joint performance. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻? 🤔 #ideastatica #structuralengineering #steelconnections #jointdesign #innovation #inspiration

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𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭-𝐮𝐩? In the newly released "𝘉𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘣𝘶𝘤𝘩 – 𝘓𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘧𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘧ü𝘳 𝘉𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘐𝘐𝘐" by Business Angels Deutschland e.V. (BAND) and VentureCapital Magazin, Lin Gong-Deutschmann and I contributed a chapter focused on the most critical part of early-stage investing: Picking. Our piece, “𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘯 – 𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘦 Ü𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘵” (evaluating investment opportunities – a practical overview), lays out a structured, experience-based approach to evaluating start-ups beyond gut feeling. 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞: ✔️Building real conviction before investing ✔️What to look for in exceptional founding teams ✔️Why Product-Market-Sales Fit beats Product-Market Fit ✔️Early traction signals by start-up type ("Goldilocks Zone") ✔️Using the “7 Powers” to assess defensibility ✔️Best practices for deal terms, co-investors & decision-making ✔️Tools for pattern recognition and continuous learning The handbook covers the full angel investing journey—from sourcing to exit—and is a solid resource for both new and seasoned angels. More info & download see comments

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⚡ “Customer experience can’t wait.”   That was the bold realization at Stadtwerke Düsseldorf.   In the middle of their SAP S/4HANA Utilities transformation, the team faced a big choice: wait for the new ERP system — or start improving the customer experience now.   They chose action. 💪   Because when you serve more than 600,000 households with electricity, gas, water, and heat, customer proximity isn’t optional — it’s essential. With SAP Service Cloud, they replaced a 20-year-old legacy system, broke down silos, and gave their service teams the tools to truly understand and support their customers.   Supported by SAP Business Technology Platform, Emarsys, and SAP Customer Data Platform, the utility built a 360° customer view and laid the foundation for personalized, data-driven service. The CX integration was carried out by Power Reply. As a partner of Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, they were involved in this successful project from the very beginning. Their experience contributed to the project's success. “It would have been negligent to postpone customer orientation by two or three years just because the SAP S/4HANA transformation was still ongoing,” says Christian Hüging, Head of Process & System Integration. This story isn’t just about software — it’s about mindset. About moving fast, thinking customer-first, and showing that even in the energy sector, innovation and empathy can go hand in hand. 💙   #CustomerExperience #SAPServiceCloud #CXTransformation #Utilities #SAPBTP #CustomerSuccess #Innovation Ines Graefe Barbara Badiane Christian Blattgerste Christoph Hefner Thomas Ofenloch Olga Jilibert Stefanie Nuckelt Philipp Heitland Moritz Meurer Sven Gaßdorf Tim Holm Caroline Böttcher

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