AmCham Germany frequently invites its NextGen participants to meet with politicians, innovators and other stakeholders in the transatlantic business community in Berlin. This time, the NextGens discussed transatlantic relations and current challenges with Peter Beyer, MdB, Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation, and learned about innovation strategies with Jonathan Weiss, Managing Director at Amazon Web Services GmbH.
Building bridges between the US and Germany
During the discussion with Peter Beyer at the Auswärtiges Amt in Berlin, the NextGen participants were able to take a look behind the scenes of Berlin politics and the relationship between Germany and the US. As Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation, Peter Beyer is responsible for consolidating and expanding cooperation between the US and Germany in a variety of fields. Thus, he supports networking between Germany and the US and aims to build bridges between the partners. Peter Beyer’s work focuses on cooperation in science and research, current social policy issues, the impact of new media as well as contacts to Jewish organizations. In the discussion with NextGen participants, Beyer pointed out: “To support and improve transatlantic relations, it’s important to look at the relationship between the US and Germany with fresh eyes. We cannot take this relationship for granted and therefore it’s essential to talk about common goals in politics as well as trade and culture.”
Establishing a new innovation culture
At the Amazon Research and Development Center, the NextGen group talked about innovation strategies with Jonathan Weiss, Managing Director at Amazon Web Services. In his presentation, Weiss talked about how teams are set up at Amazon and how each employee identifies with Amazon’s unique innovation strategy. “We aim to solve our costumer’s problems. That is our main task,” Weiss said and pointed out what role the Amazon Research and Development Center plays in the process of creating new products and services. Based in Berlin, over 1,000 employees work at the center and do research on machine learning, cloud computing and many more fields.
About AmCham Germany’s NextGen initiative
Through the NextGen Initiative, AmCham Germany connects young professionals with a strong interest in fostering the transatlantic partnership. In bringing together this group of aspiring people from a variety of sectors, it is our goal to support tomorrow's decision makers and transatlantic business leaders. By participating in the NextGen Initiative, our member companies will profit from employees with a transatlantic mindset and an enhanced professional network that spans multiple industries.
