Press Release

Berlin, 17.01.2019 - Christopher Möhle, CEO at Turbine Kreuzberg, presents central trends in digital innovation at the start of 2019.

• Platform economy as true driver of innovation
• The blockchain hype continues - beyond Bitcoin
• AIaaS starts its triumph
• Digital innovation: China as driving force

Platform economy as true driver of innovation
2019 will be the year of those who dare to think outside the box when it comes to digitisation, with ever new product and process optimisations. The magic word here is platform economy. In times of digitization, real innovation is only sustainable if it is not a piecemeal process. It is worth investing not only in the development and optimization of ever better individual products or services, but also in the creation of an expandable ecosystem. It may seem paradoxical to open up your own business model to external innovators so that they can further develop your basic idea and invent additional products. However, true innovation today no longer occurs behind closed doors, but rather in interaction and exchange of data with the competition - so-called "coopetition". Examples such as App mytaxi, whose business model is based on the integration of numerous data from direct competitors, are proof of this.

The block chain hype continues - beyond Bitcoin
The blockchain hype continues. But the crypto-currencies like Bitcoin, which are usually the subject of blockchain discussions, are only one facet of the technology. In fact, there are innumerable fields of application for block chain, for example in the healthcare sector, for example when it comes to decentralized, unforgeable storage of patient data that is secured by cryptographic methods. In the future, we will see how the technology continues its triumphal procession and provides real innovations in more and more areas of life. Blockchain is therefore by no means just hype, but will be heard about in many ways as a groundbreaking technology in 2019.

AIaaS starts its triumph
Artificial intelligence becomes a service. Up to now, those who wanted to use AI technology had to develop it themselves at high cost and learning effort. In 2019, we will see the first providers making generalist AI technologies available to other companies as a service. The revolutionary thing is that AI does not then necessarily have to be understood within the company at the development level. The AI provider can be approached with a problem and take over the strategic design. This makes it possible to process immense amounts of data, identify patterns and trends and develop complex prediction models - for example, to forecast purchasing behavior or increase capital efficiency through intelligent warehousing. This eliminates the need to build the necessary infrastructure, train neural networks or invest in in-house developments. Another exciting feature is that the visualization tools of the services make the data understandable, which is helpful for decision-making, while interfaces allow for the connection to existing systems. Offers from Google will soon only be the tip of the iceberg, as numerous other providers will be added. One example is predictive analytics, a service that can be purchased in the form of predictive models. For example, forecasts could be ordered on the basis of own customer data, which provide information about future customer behaviour.

Digital innovation: China as driving force
GAFA was yesterday, tomorrow is BAT. The supremacy of US tech companies has passed its zenith. While in Europe in particular the industry is now oriented towards the "big four" Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, Chinese players such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are steadily expanding their market presence in international competition. The real innovations have long since come from the Far East. A current example is the music video platform Tiktok, which now has 500 million active monthly users and is currently considered the world's most valuable start-up. It is therefore high time to turn our gaze away from Silicon Valley and head east. This is where important, if not the most important impulses for the global digital industry will come from in the future.