Old World Problems

For the past few years, I have found myself visiting Berlin a few times. If the visit is for public speaking engagement or vacation with my family I find the city to be lovely. The nightlife, the cultural arena, the political strength, they all gave the impression that Berlin is the real capital of Europe as opposed to Brussels.

Dollars not data

It didn't take me a long time to understand that no matter how shiny the surface is– something didn't smell good underneath. Maybe it was my argument with the taxi driver who insisted that I paid cash and refused to let me pay with my card– a case that happened almost every time I used a taxi. The few times I was able to pay with my card, not only I was charged extra, but I needed to spend ten extra minutes for the driver to read a paper manual on how to operate the mobile card reader. 

Taxis are not alone; from grocery stores to kiosks to museums to restaurants, I was always pushed to pay with cash. To make things more interesting– every time I wanted to check my email, use maps to navigate or upload an image– the network felt as if I had traveled in time to the 90’s. How can the so-called most robust economy in the European Union operate with such an old-fashioned model? (Full disclosure– I live in Sweden and the last time I used cash was about three years ago.)

Digital Transformation

In a world that is shifting its focus from physical exchange to digital exchange to generate value, how does Germany expect to compete on a global scale when its basic connectivity is broken? When we see the rise of alternative currency structures that fundamentally pave the way for the creation of a new monetary system, how can Germany, Sweden and the rest of the European Union cope with the changes? Especially when the monetization platforms are in the hands of the big tech companies and social media giants?

Algorithms, automated cars and truly next generation computation power define our current reality. Yet we still teach and think about economic models as though our current mode of transport is a horse and a carriage.

Change Management

Thomas Edison said: “Hell, there are no rules here– we're trying to accomplish something.” In Europe, we are all about the rules. We completely forgot that progress is driven by creativity and inventions. I always like to think about laws in the context of dynamic movement rather than a stop sign. Unfortunately, the bright minds of politicians and public servants define our reality by focusing on everything that is not allowed (GDPR for example) and ignoring the narrative that society is only great when allowing personal prosperity to flourish. You do that by enabling, not restricting.

Out legislative process is designed on old assumptions that what exists is right and shouldn't be changed. The adaptation of technology is slow and driven by gaps of knowledge instead of understanding fractions, growth, and value. We are trying to feed old horses with paper money while expecting a ride to colonized Mars. 

Rules-based

Rules should be designed to help you when you get into trouble, not to prevent you from getting there. Europe has lost it's imagination, passion, and courage. The vision of past thinkers was ahead of their time and gave us tools to push ourselves beyond anything we thought is possible. We’re now closer than ever to a point where the lack of creativity is defining our reality. We can't continue and search for ‘the new’ using patterns of the old. We can't pave new roads, using old tools and expect them to carry us into the future.

We know how to sponsor technological research. Yet when it comes to rethinking our policy infrastructure, we dare not challenge the status quo. Yes, there are some experimentations here and there, but the majority of policy decision-making is based on fashion rather than thinking. That is made clear when the outcome of public work is a report as opposed to a result. We use ethical reasoning to justify the judgment of individual moralism, and by doing that, we drive innovation and creativity to the fringe.