Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart

Economics Minister of North-Rhine Westphalia, opens Hansa Congress

Prof. A. Pinkwart has been Minister for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation, and Energy of North-Rhine Westphalia since June 30, 2017. After first training as a bank clerk, he studied economics and business administration in Münster and Bonn until 1987, gaining his doctoral degree in Bonn in 1991. Having worked for some time as office manager to the Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Group of the FDP (Free Liberal Party), he continued his academic career as a professor in Düsseldorf and Siegen. In 2002 he was elected MP to the German Bundestag Parliament and Chairman of the FDP in North-Rhine Westphalia. From 2005 to 2010 he was Minister for Innovation, Science, Research, and Technology and also Deputy Prime Minister of North-Rhine Westphalia State. In 2011, returning to academic research, science, and teaching, he was appointed Rector of the Leipzig Graduate School of Management and Professor for Innovation, Management, and Entrepreneurship

To me, Hansa means …

… transferring to our modern era a concept of trade and commerce that links people and regions: A community based on tradition, but capable of demonstrating the strengths of cooperation, especially in today's world.