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Jörg Pretzel, CEO of GS1 Germany
Most people are aware of G7 (formerly G8), but not about GS1. What is GS1?
GS1 is an international not-for-profit association with member organizations in over 100 countries. GS1 is dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards and solutions to improve the efficiency and visibility of supply and demand chains globally and across sectors. The GS1 system of standards is the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world.
What will be the top three issues at your upcoming GS1 General Assembly in May?
•Innovation & Change for a Sustainable Future
•The Global Consumer and the Future of Retail
•Future Markets – Future Business: The Value Chain of Tomorrow
Why did you choose Berlin as destination?
Berlin is the vibrant, dynamic and trend-setting capital city of Germany, the center of Germany’s political power providing unique venues for an international conference like the GS1 General Assembly. The formerly divided city is Europe’s most exciting metropolis with approximately 4 million residents from over 180 nations and as such the perfect setting for the annual global gathering of GS1 organizations.
How important is your General Assembly for GS1?
The GS1 General Assembly is where key decisions for the organization’s future are made and GS1’s strategic direction is defined. GS1 General Assembly is attended by about 300 key industry players and key global decision-makers of global companies of the consumer goods industry and GS1 member organizations within the GS1 community from over 100 countries. In addition, the GS1 Management Board Members meet at this time. The GS1 General Assembly (GA) is also a major event for networking with the GS1 community at a very executive level and is hosted by a different member organization every year, 2014 by GS1 Germany.
What are the two biggest issues for your not-for-profit-association these days?
First big issue: The fast development of technologies fosters the always-on mentality of modern consumers. Companies are under pressure to meet the demands of the consumers on the one hand and to fulfill regulations concerning transparency and traceability on the other hand. We as GS1 Germany support these companies with solutions, standardization and cooperation.
The second issue is the development of solutions for more sustainability. The demand for more environmental protection and more sustainable practices is growing among consumers. But the variety of product labels and measurement criteria makes the buying decision for environmentally-friendly products difficult. GS1 Germany works together with the Consumer Goods Forum to put together a glossary for communicating product-related sustainability information in order to ensure that everybody speaks the same language.
GS1 Germany is the second largest of 112 national organizations in the global association. GS1 is dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards and solutions to improve the efficiency and visibility of supply and demand chains globally and across sectors. The EHI Retail Institute and the Trademark Association are backing GS1 Germany as joint shareholders. The GS1 General Assembly 2014 will take place from 19 to 23 May at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Berlin. http://ga.gs1.org, http://www.gs1.org, www.gs1-germany.de