Editor’s Foreword 2019

For some years now, technologies have been following a disruptive logic. This has enormous implications. - It is not just the entire industry that is being called upon to become much more digitized in all areas, which presents it with major challenges. Above all, great openness and fundamental rethinking are required. In disruptive times, traditional evaluation patterns are of no help, while the competence to thoroughly examine enticing digital concepts is lacking in many places. This often leads private equity and also venture capital funds to make the wrong investment decisions in the digital age, because incorrect parameters are assumed and no GAFA analysis has been carried out.
Even though quite a few PE funds increase their IT budgets significantly every year. The first question on the way to an investment decision should always be: How does the company position itself in relation to the platforms Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple - GAFA for short - because these are dominating more and more parts of the national economy. Digital due diligence is the solution.

Because the next big wave of digitization is already hitting our shores, and it can be decisive for war - the Industrial Internet of Things (Industrial-IoT). Unlike the platform economy, the Internet of Things does not emerge in a vacuum, but requires a sound infrastructure. This means completely different starting conditions and therefore an enormous locational advantage for Germany. Germany not only has the necessary technological expertise, but with companies such as Siemens, Bosch, BMW, Freudenberg and Festo, it also has the necessary capital and, above all, the traditional industrial infrastructure that is superior to that in the USA. - These are three important core components,
with which Germany can successfully ride the wave of digitization and promote high-tech startups.