3 min read

Digitalisation and an increasing need for sustainability are changing almost every aspect of the way we live and work. Technology is changing the way we communicate and work with one another in an unprecedented way. Monica Dalla Riva, vice president of customer experience and design at Deutsche Telekom AG, and Lukas Cottrell, managing partner at the Peter Schmidt Group, discuss the future prospects of digitalisation with Lutz Dietzold. The Expert Talk Digitalisation is moderated by Julia Bauer.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected almost every aspect of our interactions. It has changed the way we live and work more than any other event in the past decades. Its influence on digitalisation is no less dramatic. Solutions aimed at creating new digital ways of communicating and working with others are being developed at previously unimaginable speeds.

On – fittingly – a video call with digitalisation experts Monica Dalla Riva and Lukas Cottrell, CEO of the German Design Council Lutz Dietzold discusses the effects and opportunities arising from our change in circumstances and the new digital technologies that go with it:


The experts

Monica Dalla Riva and Lukas Cottrell contributed their know-how to the expert talk on digitalisation.

Monica Dalla Riva
© Monica Dalla Riva

Monica Dalla Riva is vice president of customer experience and design at Deutsche Telekom AG. She has dedicated her entire career to the topic of innovation and has worked for some of the most innovative B2B and B2C companies in the world. As a designer, Dalla Riva has developed award-winning products, digital experiences and customer and design strategies that always put the customer first.

“Digitalisation is happening across our entire lives. We must understand where we want to go with this new world.”

— Monica Dalla Riva


The change is here to stay. And what we are experiencing at the moment is that this world can move on with this new operating system.”

— Lukas Cottrell

Lukas Cottrell
© Lukas Cottrell

Lukas Cottrell is a managing partner of the Peter Schmidt Group. His work as a strategist and designer includes the development of thoughtful, integrated design solutions. He has extensive experience in the fields of marketing strategy, brand development, design management and digital transformation. Cottrell builds on more than 20 years of work experience encompassing projects with numerous international blue-chip clients from the financial services, telecommunications, technology, mobility and FMCG sectors.


German Design Award. »All Eyes On«

This video was produced for All Eyes On, the digital programme for the 2021 German Design Awards. Over a period of four weeks, the German Design Council will present to you the recipients of the Gold Awards and their projects, as well as interviews and round-table discussions with design experts, entrepreneurs and journalists. The talks will focus on current trends and design topics related to innovation, branding, sustainability and digitalisation.

Special highlights will include the introduction of the Newcomer Award finalists, the selection of the »Newcomer of the Year 2021« and an interview with »Personality of the Year« Paola Antonelli, architect and curator of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

You can follow the current programme on the »All Eyes On« website until 12 March. Be part of the experience!

In the Studio of the GDA Round Table - "Focusing on Digitalisation
Monica Dalla Riva and Lukas Cottrell talk virtually with Lutz Dietzold about digitalisation of tomorrow.

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