Global Connect Admin (GCA) was present at the 2019 Symposium of the Deutsch-Japanischer Wirschaftskreis (DJW). The theme of the event was Digitalisation and the situation of the fast ageing population in both Germany and Japan. The Symposium took place in the beautiful building of Nurnberger Versicherung and started off with a welcome by the president of the DJW: Herr Wiesheu, followed by Dr. Zitzmann (Chairman of the Board, Management Nurnberger Beteiligungs-AG) and eventually shifted to the ambassador of Japan in Germany: Mr. Takeshi. It was very clear that the aim of the Symposium was to learn from each other in terms of ageing societies and how each country is responding to this situation.
The first panel tackled the “Demographic change in Japan and Germany – Consequences for our economies”. The three panellist, Dr. Felix Lill (journalist, whom has worked in Japan), Mr. Naoki Matsumoto (Secretary and Attache of Labour at the Embassy of Japan in Germany) and Dr. Robert Mayr (CEO of Datev eG ) talked about similarities in the ageing population between Germany and Japan. The interesting part was that Dr. Lill showed graphs about the expenditures and savings of each age category. It showed that the older generation supported the younger generation by private money transfers. Mr. Naoki Matsumoto showed the response of the Japanese government and society to the ageing situation, which was surprisingly positive. The older generation in Japan was willing to work even after the age of 70, and many communities were created for the older generation to contribute to society by working. Online platforms were also used by the older generation to offer their services. Dr. Mayr spoke of automatization in jobs, mainly in the accountancy sector, where jobs have a 70% rate of being replaced by machines in the future. Although this was a scary thought, Dr. Mayr was positive that a certain solution could be found by developing the right software at Datev eG. The second panel was about “Chances for companies in Germany and Japan” with panellists Anne Christin Braun (Senior Marketing Manager at Digital Health Hub Lead/ZOLLHOF), Dr. Benjamin Nixdorf (Managing Director Europe at Zuken GmbH), Mrs. Andrea Schindler (Project Manager future learning at Continental Automotive GmbH) and Mr. Nobuhiro Tani (Manager and Robot engineer at OTC Daihen Europe GmbH). Questions were asked to the experts regarding change in management systems and how their companies and employees coped with certain changes (i.e. email systems) as well as the situation about a high percentage of job openings but a low percentage of people seeking jobs or that do not fit the criteria. The experts were convinced that specialist can also be made during the job (thus hiring someone that does not have all the qualifications), rather than seeking for a specific person. The skills that are required for a certain job can be learned by attending workshops and good guidance. At the end, Mr. Mathias Maul (Principal at MAULCO Digital Strategy) gave an inspiring presentation on “Impulses for implementation.” The key of this presentation was how people can easily think negatively about certain things or actions. Instead of thinking about a problem, think about a situation. Instead of thinking that something is impossible, try to think of it as a puzzle. After all the insightful panels and presentations, a networking session was held. A perfect ending to a successful Symposium.
