Based on her work as board member and COO of KfW Bankengruppe, CIO of BayernLB and Union Investment and on her career with the Boston Consulting Group, Edeltraud knows that established companies are under enormous pressure concerning speed and rigor of innovation and digitization. Due to a multitude of obstacles, including structure, processes, and most often culture, it is hard to drive these changes from the inside of the company. But Edeltraud has always believed in and experienced the power of interdisciplinarity, during her university studies and research as well as in her business career.

Therefore, in 2016, she founded her own company - Connected Innovations - dedicated to precisely these goals: advancing innovation in established companies and organizations by using an interdisciplinary approach. As a scientist and tech pioneer (she started programming in a cement factory when she was 16), Edeltraud is convinced that technical progress - if done right - in concert with an entrepreneurial approach, has the potential to improve human live in multiple aspects.

Consequently, she is also a mentor for startups, works with the German Founders’ Association (Deutscher Gründerverband) and with Arago, the leading German-based AI company and pioneer in AI engineering. She also initiated „Der Utopische Salon“ (www.utopischer-salon.de), a forum to discuss and shape the implications of technical progress on society.

Edeltraud is enthusiastic about Leonardo da Vinci, loves opera and literature and is interested in (paleo) anthropology. She enjoys the outdoors such as running, mountaineering, climbing and mountain biking with friends and family.

The clients of  Connected Innovations GmbH are established organizations facing the challenges of innovation and digitization. Whereas generating ideas is not the biggest problem in most cases, making them survive in a complex and regulated environment while continuing regular operations and meeting daily needs definitely is a challenge in all industries. Even companies working with startups or operating their own innovation labs have experienced this many times. This is not due to unwillingness or incompetence but rather caused by the various and very different conditions, needs, goals, and cultures. To make change happen, a translator or transmission belt is needed: Connected Innovations. We strongly believe that cooperations between established companies and internal as well as external startups are the only way to drive digital innovation fast and successfully. Our experienced strategists, AI experts, and project managers combine expertise from company projects, technology and product development in startups as well as cutting edge research. We drive the process from ideation to implementation working side by side with you and your team, fostering a startup atmosphere and entrepreneurial drive. We anticipate innovation hurdles and help to mitigate them. We support decision makers in setting the agenda and enabling their teams. And we know professional project management helping companies to adopt agile transformation.