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Podcast „Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“
Episode #61 | New Year Special 2026: What Prof. Dr. Stephan A. Jansen means by the “simultaneity shift” – and what gives him hope despite all the crises
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Podcast episode 61
New Year Special 2026: What Prof. Dr. Stephan A. Jansen means by the “simultaneity shift” – and what gives him hope despite all the crises
Prof. Dr. Stephan A. Jansen, economist
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Episode description
In the New Year’s episode of the podcast „Alles Neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum" we explore the major economic and societal questions of our time. Tobias Rappers, Managing Director of Maschinenraum, and Capital editor Katja Michel speak with Prof. Dr. Stephan A. Jansen, who is, among other roles, Professor of Management, Innovation and Finance at Karlshochschule Karlsruhe.
“We’re not living through a cyclical downturn, but a structural crisis,” he says. “We’ve made a whole series of bets that haven’t paid off.” The researcher points, among other things, to the “security bet” – the belief that the “big brother” United States would take care of Europe’s security – and the “growth bet,” which is essentially based on industrial goods from the 20th century. Jansen speaks of a “simultaneity shift,” which includes, for example, the mobility transition and the work transition.
“If you find a solution in one subsystem, you create a problem in another system. That’s why new problems keep emerging from solutions,” he says. “For instance, we believe AI will create more efficient systems.” But that requires a lot of new energy – which in turn depends on rare earths. “Right now, we’re world market leaders in the industrial museum,” Jansen says.
Yet he also brings positive messages: “In 20 to 30 years, autocracies will look to Europe because we have thriving cities – places where people like to live, and where history helps orient the future.” Political science has been recommending for decades that policymakers develop a “grand strategy.” Many family-owned companies have already done so. “Companies that are fit for the grandkids are already working with ‘grand strategies.’ Their thinking is anchored in the day after tomorrow,” Jansen says on the podcast „Alles Neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum" with Tobias Rappers, Managing Director of Maschinenraum, and Capital editor Katja Michel.
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Prof. Dr. Stephan A. Jansen
Stephan A. Jansen is a Professor of Management, Innovation and Finance and heads the “Center for Philanthropy & Civil Society | PhiCS” at Karlshochschule Karlsruhe. Previously, he served as founding president of Zeppelin Universität and led its Civil Society Center (CiSoC); he has also been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and Harvard Business School. He advises companies, foundations and public institutions, has served on various government and innovation advisory bodies, and has published more than 200 works, including 25 books, as a columnist and co-editor of the “Zeitschrift für Management (ZfM)”.
Über den Podcast
How can the origin and future of Mittelstand companies be courageously united? What are the challenges facing family businesses and what experiences do they gather in digital transformation? These questions are answered by “Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“, the interview podcast for German Mittelstand*. Once a month, Tobias Rappers, Managing Director of Maschinenraum, and Nils Kreimeier, Senior Editor of the business magazine Capital, talk to thought leaders and makers from the heart of the German economy and focus on the personalities and their motivation. *The podcast is in German.
For more episodes of “Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“ please click here!
