Thomas Biedermann and Dr. Fabian Fechner interviewed on strategy, competition, and innovation for a medium-sized corporation in challenging times.
The RWTÜV Group sees it as its mission to help shape the future. When digital technologies drastically change the world of work, when the call for renewable energies changes supply concepts, when living and working spaces need to be rethought, or when trade routes and security demands change, the group wants to lead the way with new concepts.
As a result, in 2025 – and this will remain the case in the following years – innovation and its promotion were one of the main tasks for the RWTÜV Group's management. In their „Strategy 2030,“ Thomas Biedermann and Dr. Fabian Fechner clearly formulated the task for the group's management, with the mandate to strategically further develop the group and its companies. The goal is for the diverse competencies that exist under the RWTÜV Group umbrella to grow into a collective strength under the motto „move AS ONE.“ Crucial measures in this regard in 2025 included clearly defined tasks for the internal innovation competition, as well as a training course on innovation management.
In an interview, Dr. Fabian Fechner and Thomas Biedermann explain why innovation is vital for the survival of the RWTÜV Group and how it is specifically promoted.
Mr. Biedermann, you are calling on your employees throughout the entire company to actively participate in internal innovation competitions and training courses on innovation management. Why is this so important to you?
Thomas Biedermann: Clearly, innovation is no longer an optional add-on today; in these challenging times, it is vital for our group. Our group is broadly positioned with the business divisions of insurance services, telecommunications, and energy & environment. However, this breadth must be leveraged as diverse expertise and not misunderstood as „too different in content.“ We must constantly work to move towards each other, to think one decisive step ahead, and then together deliver operational excellence to overcome the current challenges. This means we want to continuously develop new service offerings and business models. Ideally, not just in response to market needs, but proactively.
The annual internal innovation competition addresses this claim. We explicitly encourage employees from our subsidiaries to contribute their ideas in the spirit of "move AS ONE" through partnerships and to inspire each other. Real potential often emerges in dialogue when I broaden my perspective from my core business to the areas of expertise of others.
Through joint professional development initiatives—for example, in innovation management or talent development—we simultaneously foster mutual understanding and get to know one another better, while also building specific competencies. These sessions cover how innovation processes must be designed to support ideas during their inception and development so that they quickly contribute significantly to value creation. Or how to lead teams and processes to achieve optimal results.
Our wish is for everyone at RWTÜV to develop the awareness that we are not simply providing services – but that we want to shape the services of the future.
Dr. Fechner, are synergies between subsidiaries crucial for the development of „Services of the Future“?
Dr. Fabian Fechner: Absolutely. For one thing, because it makes me more independent of exogenous factors. RWTÜV has a strongly diversified portfolio. The diversity of industries and services of our subsidiaries makes us resilient, especially in crisis situations. If we now manage to leverage „spill-over effects“ from growth topics for capacity utilization and shared services, we will make ourselves future-proof. Let's take the construction sector, for example, which has been hit hard in recent years. But if I can establish a link with the energy sector, which is in enormous motion, then I immediately have a completely different potential. Specifically, if we actively leverage synergies – for example, by combining the planning of technical building equipment with energy infrastructure consulting, or if we think about IoT measurement and certification services in conjunction with digital insurance services – then added value can arise that clearly sets us apart from the competition.
We want our employees to think not only for their own unit but also across divisions in the spirit of move AS ONE, with a view to our entire portfolio.
The title of the innovation competition was „Smart Innovation for a Safer Tomorrow,“ and it called for ideas in the areas of „infrastructure and security.” The competition specifically targeted the special funds established by the federal government. Why is that, Mr. Biedermann?
Thomas Biedermann: The German economic area is under considerable pressure to transform – for example, in the areas of renewable energies, infrastructure development, digitalization, security, or critical technologies. The special funds are intended to „untangle the knots“ that have formed in many places in recent years.
We see this as an opportunity for our businesses to profit. At the same time, with our value system and our self-understanding as a medium-sized German company, we feel responsible for contributing to the search for solutions.
Our expertise in the areas of energy and the environment, telecommunications, and insurance and risk management fits perfectly into this funding landscape. It therefore makes perfect sense for us to generate ideas internally that will enable us, together with our subsidiaries, to participate in funding programs in a targeted manner and, as a corporate group, to access government funding directly or indirectly. New revenue opportunities strengthen our competitiveness.
We are confident that the RWTÜV Group, in collaboration with clients in areas such as the military, infrastructure, or utility networks, is capable of developing innovative solutions for the future and driving sustainable progress.
How do you empower your employees for this complex challenge, Dr. Fechner?
Dr. Fabian Fechner: This is, of course, our core task as group management. A triad of networking, information, and training is necessary for this.
Through our Campus—a shared intranet—as well as through a regular lineup of diverse professional development opportunities that we organize with participants from all subsidiaries, and through joint town hall meetings and video events, we strive —first and foremost—to foster mutual understanding, exchange, and networking among all employees.
Second, we develop formats that involve mutual knowledge exchange and disseminate information across a broad base. For example, this year we had the „7 Facts...“ series, with which we once again introduced all subsidiaries briefly and informatively, and which is also depicted here in the annual report. Or there was a Christmas quiz, for which knowledge about each other was crucial.
Regarding the specific task for the ideas competition, there were two joint, very well-attended team meetings beforehand, in which the subject areas of infrastructure and security were presented by the managing directors of the companies considered. These were two very successful, inspiring, and informative kick-off events, which directly led to the development of initial ideas.
Incidentally, the format for interdisciplinary exchange originated from the previous internal innovation competition on the topic of move AS ONE: Three colleagues from Enoplan had submitted it under the title „One Connect“ and were also awarded for it. The premiere of the innovative online meeting format boosted information exchange within the Group as hoped and heralded the 5th internal innovation competition.
Thirdly, we then not only collect ideas, but we also empower interested, selected employees through appropriate training as innovation managers to support structured, permanent innovation processes from within.
In 2025, 18 participants from the groups Enoplan, Enometrik, Van Ameyde Köln, cetecom advanced, RWTÜV, and TÜV Thüringen systematically learned strategic innovation management. The focus was on creativity methods, for example for workshops, and the management of innovation processes, also with regard to the integration of AI. We even have the competence for training within the company itself, with our Austrian affiliate isn – innovation service network.
Thomas Biedermann, to what extent have these efforts and offers already shown an impact?
Thomas Biedermann: Very clearly. We have received many excellent ideas in past years and through past competitions, they have been awarded prizes, and each one of them has been pursued. This is particularly important to us.
These initiatives show that employees are willing to think outside the box and actively develop new service offerings. We are now increasingly seeing colleagues from different subsidiaries approaching each other and saying, „Let's work together on this or that topic, because it promises added value.“
There is also a growing realization that when I participate in an innovation competition or attend a training course, I am not only investing in my own development and my own job—I am securing the future of our company.