Dialog in the Museum

“The amalgamation of Carl Benz’s and Gottlieb Daimler’s companies in 1926 gave rise to Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft, with which the two engineers fundamentally transformed the automotive market.” Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Stork began his critical appraisal of Germany as a land of innovation by citing this famous example to explain disruptive innovation, which revolutionizes a market through entirely new business models and technologies. It usually originates in niches, initially ignores the mass market, and finally displaces established providers, he continued.

“In Germany, innovations are sparked by science, applied research, major industry, small and medium-sized enterprises, and startups,” the physicist stated. In his estimation, however, large industrial enterprises often miss out on disruptive processes: “These companies often fail because they spend too much time optimizing existing business models, while new technologies first capture small niche markets and then grow exponentially.”

“We conduct a great deal of research but make too little of it”

Stork followed up on this interim assessment by asking whether technical research in Germany, which has an excellent reputation, can in fact be truly excellent without transfer. “As I see it, technical research without implementation is a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he answered. In terms of the value generated by research findings in the technology start-up sector, a comparison between Germany and the USA shows that 3,000 to 4,000 startups were founded in Germany in 2025, but far more – 80,000 to 100,000 – in the USA. “In the USA, universities such as Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) play a decisive role when it comes to founding technology startups,” Stork emphasized, adding that the situation in Germany is much different. “But disruptive innovations often only emerge where large-scale industry and small and medium-sized enterprises connect with startups, capital, and more rapid technology transfer. Since my experience has shown that transferring knowledge to industry cannot succeed on the basis of academic publications alone, we need the cooperation of all stakeholders to achieve high value creation,” was his advice.