Business reception City of Hanover 2022
"HANnovativ: Our city is getting smart" was the motto of this year's business reception on November 14, 2022. Around 600 guests accepted the invitation from Anja Ritschel, Head of the Department of Economic and Environmental Affairs, to the Hannover Congress Centrum. The evening focused on a lecture on entrepreneurial thinking differently and a subsequent panel discussion on the digitalization of the city.
Prior to this, Lord Mayor Belit Onay presented Anna Lina Bartl with this year's"CITY OF HANOVER AWARD - Women make the city". Ms. Bartl is the Managing Director of Mulembe Kaffee UG, a coffee-producing company from Hanover that focuses on direct trade with Uganda as well as sustainability and transparency in coffee production. The company also has a café store in the Limmer district and its own roasting plant.
In her welcoming speech, Anja Ritschel outlined the difficult social and economic situation against the backdrop of the crises resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's attack on Ukraine. At the same time, she described how the city administration is responding with various support measures and emphasized that the business reception is geared towards new beginnings and digitalization.
Entrepreneur and author Anja Förster spoke about the rules of tomorrow's economy in her keynote speech. "In a non-linear world, only non-linear ideas can create new prosperity. This requires courageous designers who dare to do something: Self-thinkers who oppose conformism and standing still and who drive new thinking forward not with a hammer but with their brains," she demanded.
In the subsequent panel discussion entitled "HANnovativ: Our city is getting smart", Lord Mayor Onay emphasized: "For me, Hannover as a smart city is an integral part of sustainable and liveable urban development. There is a particular focus on becoming a climate-neutral, resilient city and advancing the digital transformation." He listed some examples of areas in which digitalization could help the city move forward: mobility, irrigation and greening of the city as well as the healthcare industry.
HaCon CEO Michael Frankenberg agreed and said that the "smart city" is no longer about owning a car, but about "being mobile to get from A to B". It's not about the price, but that things are easy." His hope for Hanover's future: fewer cars, but more mobility.