Nearly two centuries ago, a 30-year-old inventor named Werner von Siemens set up shop in an inner courtyard behind a building on Berlin’s Schöneberger Strasse. His first idea was a new design for the pointer telegraph. The company he set up has gone on to become a multibillion-dollar engineering conglomerate by the name of Siemens AG that recently celebrated 175 years at Berlin’s Siemensstadt Square, which is touted to be the German capital’s district of the future. While Siemens now focusses on industry, infrastructure, transport and healthcare, according to Matthias Rebellius—CEO of Smart Infrastructure and Member of the Managing Board at Siemens AG—it is a technology company. In an interaction with Business Today’s Tech Editor Aayush Ailawadi in Berlin, 57-year-old Rebellius talks about India’s smart cities project, EVs, the company’s plans in India and why the country is important for Siemens. Edited excerpts:
Q: It’s interesting that you refer to Siemens as a technology company, because we tend to associate Siemens with hardware and engineering…
First of all, we have always been a technology
