These are turbulent times for entrepreneurs. Global uncertainty, economic volatility and social challenges are affecting businesses like never before. Companies, and especially small and medium-sized enterprises like our Steinbeis Qualitätssicherung und Bildverarbeitung GmbH, are increasingly confronted with the question of how to maintain their competitiveness while also remaining sustainable and resilient in a fast-changing economic and political environment.
The theme of this edition of TRANSFER is “Real Impact: It’s the Benefits That Count!”. The edition is devoted to business models that add sustainable, social value as well as delivering commercial success. It’s about finding a balance between short-term performance targets and long-term resilience. At a time when companies are having to focus on sustainability like never before, this resilience is the key to a sustainable economy.
Times are hard for small and medium-sized enterprises. Rising energy prices, supply chain issues and geopolitical instability are forcing us to rethink our business models and develop new strategies. But these challenges also harbor opportunities. Partnerships, networks and knowledge transfer from universities – for instance via life science startups – are valuable resources for driving innovation and developing new lines of business.
Enterprises must think and act proactively – a willingness to cooperate strategically with other companies and with research institutions is becoming increasingly important. Resilience comes about through innovation, and you can’t have innovation without education. It is thus more important than ever to bridge the gap between theory and practice in order to create synergies that go far beyond mere commercial gain. Steinbeis’s brand of technology transfer is particularly good at enabling small and medium-sized enterprises to strengthen their resilience and competitiveness by developing innovative, future-proof business models and sustainable strategies for an uncertain future.
Sustainability is more than just a trend, it is a competitive advantage and a necessity. It is no longer enough simply to leverage short-term market opportunities – the key to long-term success is to build sustainable value chains, resilient business models and a diversified finance mix. Strategic partnerships and shrewd investments in the technologies of the future are crucially important in this context.
This edition of TRANSFER shows several different ways in which businesses can cope with the current economic uncertainty, highlighting the part played by sustainability and resilience. Concrete examples relating to employee potential, young talent recruitment, and leadership and organizational culture also show how knowledge transfer from research and academia can help businesses develop innovative solutions that make them more resilient – and more sustainable, too.
This edition contains a wealth of fascinating approaches and solutions for you to discover. I hope you find it an interesting read!
With kind regards, Steffen Lübbecke
Contact
Steffen Lübbecke (author)
Steffen Lübbecke is managing director of Steinbeis Qualitätssicherung und Bildverarbeitung GmbH in Ilmenau. The enterprise specializes in the customized development and system integration of special testing equipment, components, devices and systems for industrial image processing. The team also provides consulting services in the fields of quality assurance, quality management, industrial image processing, measurement systems and test engineering.
www.steinbeis.de/su/1544 | https://sqb-ilmenau.de