With letter and seal: Cobi is the HR innovation of the year
The moment of truth
Even if you have prepared for it for a long time, there are moments that tell you straight to your uncertain face whether your work makes sense... and then put a big grin of joy on your face!
At the end of September 2025, I stood on stage in Berlin and took the Big Bang Innovation Award in the category HR innovation of the year from the hands of former Federal Minister Brigitte Zypries and the Head of Corporate Communications at the Lufthansa Group, Andreas Bartels.
After months of working in the notorious „quiet room“, this was a special moment. Not because awards are the goal of my work. But because applying for such an award - especially for a freelancer - is a very good checkpoint to see whether you are on the right track with your ideas. An external perspective that helps to categorize: Does what I'm developing here really make sense? Or am I going down the proverbial wrong path and heading in the wrong direction?
I am therefore a little proud not only to have been nominated, but also to be the very first winner in the category HR innovation of the year to be here. At the same time, I know that this award does not mark the end of a journey. It is the starting signal for the work that will follow. Because Cobi and the resulting AI solutions are still a permanent work in progress and therefore far from perfect.
The jury (including Professor Jan van Treeck from Fresenius University of Applied Sciences Hamburg and Kerstin Scholtis from KfW Bankengruppe) was of course less interested in me personally. It was actually the concept and the development of my chatbot family Cobi to date (more about this in a separate blog post).
Despite all his imperfections, Cobi has already smuggled himself into the group picture with all the award winners quite confidently, he's right 😉
The Innovation Award is a mission - not a goal
What does this award mean to me? First of all, confirmation. Confirmation that we are on the right track. That it was right to invest months in a project whose outcome was uncertain. That it is worth taking new paths, even if they are lonely at first.
But above all, the award means one thing: the real work is only just beginning. Further content training, fine-tuning linguistic skills, developing new topic-specific avatars. The to-do list still seems endless.
Above all, however, it is about building trust. Step by step. Because trust in an AI solution is not created by technology alone. It comes from transparency, a consistent attitude and the ability to listen.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Claudia Holzkämper, who played a very important role in the conception and realization of this project. And to Bianca Möller, Managing Director of DISQ, who brought the Big Bang Innovation Award to life - and who had a really nice chat with me over lunch in Berlin.
The award is not a conclusion. Of course, it is also no longer a beginning, but a valuable stopover.
I look forward to continuing on this path - with all the people who are willing to embrace human-centered AI.
I don't know what world lies beyond this sea, but every sea has a different shore, and I will arrive.
THE READING TIP
Read part 3: The AI strategy 2025 - an insight into my AI map
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