17. SZ-Wirtschaftsgipfel

November 13 - 15, 2022
live on site at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin and digitally

For more than 15 years, the SZ Wirtschaftsgipfel has stood for first-class journalistic quality, varied discussions and top-class speakers. This year, the summit will once again take place at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin and digitally via livestream under the guiding theme “A Divided World, a United Europe – Time for a New Beginning”. In addition to three exciting congress days, you can look forward to the traditional Adlon Talk Evening and the exclusive Night of European Business at the Museum of Communication. Or follow all stage talks digitally in our livestream. Be there when the original German business summit comes together and secure your attendance or digital participation.

Register now for 2023!

Register now and take part! Register for the 17th SZ Wirtschaftsgipfel, November 13-15, 2023, and secure your early bird discount!

The conference


Varied discussions, cross-examinations and debates, moderated by leading editors of the Süddeutsche Zeitung

Our highlights. That’s why you should be there:

  • Three conference days with varied formats
  • Controversial discussions instead of long-winded lectures
  • More than 60 top international speakers
  • Livestream of all stage talks
  • Unique atmosphere in the Hotel Adlon, one of the best hotels in the world
  • Many interaction and networking opportunities
  • Night of the European Economy at the Museum of Communication. In 2022 with formal dinner speech by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock followed by an interview
  • Talk evening in the Adlon ballroom: an evening in a relaxed atmosphere with Marc Beise, founder of SZ Wirtschaftsgipfel and his guests from society, culture and sports – in 2022 with Harald Schmidt.
  • Flexible booking models: book all congress days, one day ticket or digital participation

Speakers 2022


Among others were

Our guests

Olaf Scholz
Olaf Scholz

German Chancellor

Olaf Scholz


German Chancellor, SPD

Olaf Scholz, born in 1958, was elected as only the 9th Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany on December 8, 2021. This needs to be remembered occasionally when general criticism of the Social Democrat once again gets out of hand: Whether he communicates enough and moderates coalition sufficiently energetically or not: the man can win elections. And he must govern in the face of a turning point in Europe unprecedented since World War II.

Marc Beise
Annalena Baerbock
Annalena Baerbock

German foreign minister

Annalena Baerbock


German foreign minister, BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN

born in 1980, became the first woman to be Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs in December 2021. The Green politician ran as a candidate for chancellor in the 2021 federal election. Baerbock studied political science with a minor in public law, and her hobbies include trampolining. She was recently Germany's most popular politician for a time.

Caspar Busse
Robert Habeck
Robert Habeck

German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection

Robert Habeck


German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN

born in 1969, has been under fire since the first day of the traffic light coalition. The former Green Party leader actually wanted to drive forward the climate-friendly transformation of the economy. Instead, he is now the federal government's top troubleshooter - in the fight against the energy crisis.

Michael Bauchmüller
Wladimir Klitschko
Wladimir Klitschko

Wladimir Klitschko


Multiple world heavyweight boxing champion, long-time No. 1 according to all independent rankings, celebrity on all channels: that's how Wladimir Klitschko (born 1976) is known, along with his older brother Vitali, who later entered Ukrainian politics and is now mayor of Kiev. Wladimir Klitschko became an entrepreneur. Even before the Russian invasion, he joined the reserve army of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Today he is an influential face of Ukraine's defense struggle against Putin

Marc Beise
Karl Lauterbach
Karl Lauterbach

German Federal Minister for Health

Karl Lauterbach


German Federal Minister for Health, SPD

Karl Lauterbach, born in 1963, undoubtedly has one of the most important jobs in the country. As Germany's health minister, he's tasked with bringing down the pandemic - and also defending his impressive talk show ratings. Where would Markus Lanz and Anne Will be without him? Lauterbach owes his appointment as federal minister in part to the popularity his public appearances brought him at the start of the pandemic. However, the medical graduate has not only enthusiastic fans, but also enthusiastic critics.

Angelika Slavik
Christian Lindner
Christian Lindner

German Federal Minister of Finance

Christian Lindner


German Federal Minister of Finance, FDP

He got the office he really wanted: Christian Lindner, born in 1979, has been Federal Finance Minister for almost a year. Since then, he's been practicing the discipline of all treasurers: saying "no. In 2023, he wants to comply with the debt brake again, and taxes are not to rise either. It's not easy being finance minister, Lindner likes to say. But he probably wouldn't want to change jobs.

Henrike Roßbach
Sir Tim Clark
Sir Tim Clark

Emirates Airline

Sir Tim Clark


Emirates Airline

Sir Tim Clark, born in 1949, was part of the founding team of Emirates and has been instrumental in its expansion into the largest international airline. Clark has been President of Emirates Airline since 2003. The hub in Dubai, which is unparalleled anywhere in the world, is his creation. Emirates offers long-haul connections there to all parts of the world. After the deep cut of the Corona pandemic, Clark and his team are busy restoring the Dubai hub to its former greatness as quickly as possible.

Jens Flottau
Michael Diederich
Michael Diederich

HypoVereinsbank – UniCredit Bank

Michael Diederich


HypoVereinsbank – UniCredit Bank

Michael Diederich, born in 1965, has been CEO of Hypo-Vereinsbank, a subsidiary of the Italian UniCredit Group, since January 2018. Prior to that, he was responsible for the credit institution's investment banking division. His conviction is that investment banking must primarily serve corporate customers.

Harald Freiberger
Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath
Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath

BP

Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath


BP

Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath has been a member of the BP Group's Global Executive Board since March 2022. Prior to that, she was head of RWE Renewables, one of the world's leading renewable energy companies. Dotzenrath studied electrical engineering and business administration in Aachen and then initially worked in management consultancies, after which she worked for the energy group E.ON before moving to RWE.

Caspar Busse
Martin Eisenhut
Martin Eisenhut

Kearney

Martin Eisenhut


Kearney

Martin Eisenhut has been working in the consulting industry for around 25 years. He has been working for the international consulting firm Kearney since 2015 and has been responsible for the business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland since 2016. Eisenhut studied at the Technical University of Munich and still lives in the Bavarian capital. Prior to his studies, he earned a journeyman's certificate as a machinist.

Caspar Busse
Markus Haas
Markus Haas

o2 Telefónica

Markus Haas


o2 Telefónica

born in 1972, began his career after studying law in 1998 as a legal and regulatory officer at Telefónica in Germany - then Viag Interkom. Since 2017, Haas has been Chairman of the Management Board of Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG in his hometown of Munich. For internal digitization, the amateur chef relies on ideas from the team.

Katharina Kutsche
Ingrid Hengster
Ingrid Hengster

Barclays

Ingrid Hengster


Barclays

Ingrid Hengster, born in 1961, is one of the best-known female bankers in Germany. She has been the head of Germany at the British investment bank Barclays since the beginning of 2022. Before that, she was a member of the board of the state development bank KfW for almost eight years. Born in Austria, she studied law in Salzburg, followed by professional positions at Commerzbank, UBS, Credit Suisse, ABN Amro and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Harald Freiberger
Albrecht Kiel
Albrecht Kiel

Visa Europe

Albrecht Kiel


Visa Europe

After two and a half years of the pandemic, at the latest, it has long since become normal to pay even for bread rolls at the bakery by card - and that also has to do with people like Albrecht Kiel. For the past seven years, he has headed the Central European business of Visa, a leading global payment network that most people associate with credit and debit cards. With his team and many industry partners, he works every day to further develop secure digital payments and make them more accessible. Prior to 2015, Kiel led Allianz's European direct insurance business, among others.

Christian Klein
Christian Klein

SAP

Christian Klein


SAP

Christian Klein, born in Heidelberg in 1980, started working as a student trainee at the global software company SAP in 1999. He quickly made a career for himself and was promoted to the Group Executive Board in 2018. When American Bill McDermott surprisingly left in 2019, Klein took over the leadership of Europe's largest software provider together with U.S. manager Jennifer Morgan. He has been sole CEO since April 2020.

Caspar Busse
Fränzi Kühne
Fränzi Kühne

Edding

Fränzi Kühne


Edding

Fränzi Kühne, born in 1983, was once Germany's youngest female supervisory board member. After leaving the social media agency TLGG, which she founded with two friends when she was 25, she wrote a book - about men and the questions you never ask them - and is now Chief Digital Officer at pen manufacturer Edding.

Kathrin Werner
Harald Schmidt
Harald Schmidt

Entertainer, host and actor

Harald Schmidt


Entertainer, host and actor

Harald Schmidt, born in 1957 in Neu-Ulm, is the - so far - unbeaten grandmaster of ambiguity. Sometimes he's on the Traumschiff, then he hosts a venerable classical music program on WDR, himself an organist with a C certificate. His shield? Multiple irony.

Hendrik Munsberg
Joachim Schreiner
Joachim Schreiner

Salesforce Germany

Joachim Schreiner


Salesforce Germany

Born in 1962, he joined CRM market leader and cloud provider Salesforce in 2007 after working at Boole and Babbage, Veritas Software and Symantec. There he is now responsible for strategic management and development as well as key account business in Germany and Austria. Schreiner also supports various projects in the areas of education and integration, and is specifically committed to improving education in STEM subjects.

Helmut Martin-Jung
Christian Sewing
Christian Sewing

Deutsche Bank

Christian Sewing


Deutsche Bank

Christian Sewing, born in 1970 in East Westphalia, actually wanted to become a sports journalist. After graduating from high school, however, he did an apprenticeship as a banker at the Bielefeld branch of Deutsche Bank, then studied part-time at the Bank Academy in Bielefeld and in Hamburg. In 2015, he rose to the Management Board, and in 2018 he was appointed Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank. With the exception of two years at the real estate bank DG Hyp, Sewing has always worked for Germany's largest financial institution.

Caspar Busse
Margret Suckale
Margret Suckale

multi-supervisor

Margret Suckale


multi-supervisor

Margret Suckale, born in Hamburg in 1956, studied law and initially worked for the U.S. Mobil Oil group. She then moved to Deutsche Bahn, where she made a career for herself and ended up as a member of the Board of Management. She then went to the chemical group BASF, where she was a member of the Board of Executive Directors until 2017. Since then, she has sat on supervisory boards, for example at the Dax companies Infineon and Deutsche Telekom.

Caspar Busse

Program 2022

Program 2022

Instead of long-winded lectures, the SZ-Wirtschaftsgipfel offers varied discussions, cross-examinations and debates, moderated by leading editors of the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Information


Locations

For more than 15 years, the SZ Business Summit has been held at the legendary Hotel Adlon Kempinski – in the middle of Berlin, directly at the Brandenburg Gate, and just a few steps away from the government district. Our exclusive evening event “The Night of the European Economy” also takes place centrally, at the Museum for Communication Berlin.

Overview of the locations


Hotel Adlon Kempinski, Berlin
The legendary Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin is located in the heart of Berlin, directly at the Brandenburg Gate, and only a few steps away from the government quarter.
www.hotel-adlon.de

Dresscode: Business Casual

Museum of Communication
The museum links the past and the future under one roof and provides the location for "The Night of the European Economy".

Dresscode: Business Casual

Our evening events


Networking at the highest level. In addition to the classic panels on the three conference days, our two evening events were unique and exclusive: The Night of European Business and the Adlon Talk.

The Night of European Business took place on Tuesday, November 22 at the Museum of Communication in Berlin. The dinner in the historic premises of the museum offered all guests the opportunity for a trustful exchange in an exclusive atmosphere. In 2022, we were pleased to welcome Annalena Baerbock as our guest of honor. The event was framed by a festive dinner speech by our foreign minister followed by an interview with the chief editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Our Adlon Talk on Wednesday, November 23 offered entertainment on the second day of the congress with Marc Beise, founder of SZ Wirtschaftsgipfel and his guests from culture, science, sports and society – in 2022 with Harald Schmidt. In a relaxed atmosphere, the evening offered a perfect opportunity for new contacts and inspiring conversations.


Sponsors & Partners


The Wirtschaftsgipfel was supported by


Become a partner 2023!

Become our partner! Benefit from reach, context and our network as a partner of the SZ Wirtschaftsgipfel.

Review 2022


The economy between war and peace - creating new trust

On our review page for 2022 you will find highlight impressions and the entire coverage of the Süddeutsche Zeitung from three days of congress and two evening events.
Review 2022

From 2007 until today


Every year, over 60 top executives from the worlds of business, politics, culture, science and sport take part in the panel discussion. Here you can find all the speakers who have spoken at Germany’s major business conference since 2007.

All speakers