Lucas Sauberschwarz is Managing Director of the strategy consultancy Venture Idea, Director of the Centre for Innovation at the SGMI Management Institute St. Gallen and best-selling author. Because the Düsseldorf native wanted to be at the centre of innovation in Germany, he founded his company in Berlin in 2010. After five years, he moved Venture Idea's headquarters to Düsseldorf - for good reasons.

Why did you come back from Berlin to Düsseldorf?
I noticed: In Berlin there is a lot of talk about business - and in Düsseldorf business is done. In the capital I met many exciting people, start-up founders, innovators and got inspiration - but in the end I did the business meetings with companies here. And a bit of homesickness also played a role, of course.

Düsseldorf in three words
Home, joy of life, openness.

Düsseldorf is home because....
... I was born and raised here and have had many wonderful and formative moments in my private and professional life. Whether as a former children's carnival prince of the KG Till's Freunde, managing director of a bar in the old town or now as owner of the consultancy Venture Idea. The latter is based in one of Düsseldorf's oldest houses dating back to 1652 - that too is a sense of home!

Düsseldorf is innovative because...
... it is a centre of the advertising, telecommunications and fashion industries, has a high degree of industry diversity and internationality and can boast world-class international trade fairs.

What else can you find here?
Düsseldorf has this unique combination of leisure value and business in one place. Berlin, on the other hand, has a lot of leisure value, but doing business is more difficult (see above) and Frankfurt, for example, is a great business metropolis, but on weekends most people are away from the city. In Düsseldorf, both coexist - and in a very good central location in Germany.

This is where I get inspiration
Without a doubt: while walking along the Rhine. For example, when I need to reorganise my thoughts in a demanding project, I walk along this beautiful river, which is within walking distance of my office. Even in my childhood, this was a place that inspired and calmed me.

This where I get in a good mood
It's not a specific place, it's the people in Düsseldorf. There are so many friendly folk running around that it's hard to get into a bad mood.

This is where I meet interesting people
Two places in particular come to mind. In the “Uerige” in the old town, you find exactly the mix of leisure and business that I described. The banker stands there next to the artist, the pensioner next to the student. I do most of my business meetings at Rösterei Vier. This place suits my credo ‘feeling good at work and having funʼ very well. •

Interview Tom Corrinth
Pictures Frank Beer

WHY DÜSSELDORF? Lucas Sauberschwarz