Bringing “Moonshot Thinking” to Germany

Germany is famous for its entrepreneurial spirit and innovative capacity, which is why it is suprising that Germans have been more reluctant than others to grasp new opportunities offered by the Internet. In an attempt to jumpstart moonshot thinking, Google and its partners Deutsche Bank, Shell, and start-up hub Factory recently launched initiative called ConSensus.

Technology & Society:  this logo captures the innovative spirit of ConSensus

Since June, ConSensus collected from all over Germany some 280 audacious Internet ideas, ranging from energy & finance to education. This month, business executives, researchers, entrepreneurs and artists came together at the Factory campus close to Berlin’s former wall. Based on the suggestions, steering committee created a 10-point charter to trigger a new kind of “moonshot innovation” in Germany which was handed over to the Ministry of Economics State Secretary Anne Ruth Herkes.

From left to right: Wolfgang Warnecke (Shell), Philipp Justus (Google), State Secretary Anne Ruth Herkes, Simon Schaefer (Factory) and Harald Eisenach (Deutsche Bank); Foto: Jürgen Stüber

The experts also chose 10 “lighthouse” projects for innovation ranging from an online education platform, a cloud computing platform, to an Aupair exchange programme for seniors. Hopefully, ConSensus can help show that Germany is still the country of bold innovators that are willing to take their idea up to the moon - and further.

Posted by Max Senges, Internet Policy and Innovation Manager