A Commitment to Learning

This time of the year means back to school for children in Germany, the United States and elsewhere. As a father of three girls, the youngest who just started her first year of college, I have witnessed both the anticipation and dread of that first day back in school.

A secret that many students don’t know? Formal schooling is just the start of their education. A diploma in hand is more than an acknowledgement of success in an academic endeavor; it’s an invitation to continue learning.

Bayer has long been a strong supporter of education efforts, especially in science, technology, medicine and environmental protection. From scholarships that support international exchanges for educational purposes, to the BayLabs that teach scientific education and knowledge through hands-on experiments, our goal is to help prepare well-trained scientists and encourage society’s acceptance of technology.

Making Science Make Sense, an educational initiative founded in the United States, is now implemented in more than 14 countries across the world. In Germany, Bayer has been a corporate sponsor of Jugend forscht, the country’s best-known youth competition in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering, since 1966.

And last week, Bayer announced a multi-year, multi-million-dollar commitment to 4-H and the National FFA Organization to develop future leaders in food and agriculture.

As both a scientist and a father, I appreciate the efforts to encourage youth in STEM activities. We need students who are interested in helping us achieve sustainable prosperity.

But as the Bayer Crop Science CIO, I’m probably most excited about our company’s commitment to ongoing education for our employees. Currently, my colleagues and I are working with our HR counterparts to better define our digital skills set so we can provide ongoing learning opportunities to educate the employee base at large about the impact technology is having on our industry.

An example of such an opportunity is the online training platforms we offer employees on what it means to be a digital employee. In addition, at least once a year we offer basic programming in R and Python for employees with no coding or data analysis backgrounds to help encourage a better understanding of our digital mindset.

The exponential growth in AI, IoT, and computer learning necessitates that our employees continually seek new methodologies and learnings to solve age-old problems. As part of our IT strategy, we sometimes work with strategic partners that can bring new ideas and technologies that we can either adopt or adapt.

The result is an environment where we grow and develop talent. We bring together high-caliber talent and technologies. We encourage our employees to continue to push boundaries.

At Bayer, we have the unique opportunity to encourage our employees not just to push boundaries – but to cross boundaries. We’ve built an award-winning data platform in Crop Science. What learnings can we share about that platform and our computer modeling with our colleagues in Pharma or Consumer Health? And what can we in Bayer Crop Science learn from those other divisions?

I recently had the opportunity to meet with new college hires at Bayer’s German headquarters. Based on their energy and enthusiasm, I know they were excited to get started, putting what they had learned in school to work at our company.

Even as I encouraged these new hires, I also cautioned them to take the time to listen and learn. We have a reputation for developing best-in-class people, and we are committed to our employees’ development.

School is definitely in session.