Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Participants,A very warm welcome to the German Southwest, right in the very heart of Europe, and to the number one innovation region in all of Europe.
Baden-Württemberg is a highly dynamic, highly innovative state. Our State Government is working with full power for the digital transformation. This legislative period from 2016 to 2021, we will be spending one billion on this: which means 500,000 euros on every single day. This goes to show: we in Baden-Württemberg are working for the future. Digital transformation is changing our word. It confronts us with some very real questions concerning humanity as such. What will happen if a failed eye sight can be reclaimed through digital processes, or when we have brain controlled artificial limbs or if we can expand our capability to acquire intelligence artificially? These are the questions that will occupy us in the future. The International Congress of the Society for Medical Innovation and Technology traditionally spearheads medical innovation. Therefore – in my capacity as Minister for Digitisation and thus as the one in charge of the future – I claim that it is excellently suited to take place in Baden-Württemberg and – as a true native of Heilbronn – that it belongs to Heilbronn. I wish you a most successful, insightful and inspirational meeting! With warmest regards,Thomas Strobl
Minister of the Interior, Digitisation and Migration