Stock Photo - 29 August 2019, Lower Saxony, Bielefeld: Peter Altmaier (r, CDU), Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, is holding a tablet with digital assembly instructions for a control cabinet in his hand when he visits the ""it'·s OWL"" (Intelligent Technical Systems Ostwestfalen-Lippeeinen) cluster of excellence. Next to him is Uwe Friedrichs, Managing Director of Westermann Schaltanlagenbau. Altmaier visits medium-sized companies in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia during his three-day trip, also to send a signal to medium-sized companies. He had been heavily criticised by trade associations, partly because small and medium-sized enterprises had hardly played a role in his industrial strategy. Photo: Ole Spata/dpa. - Bielefeld/Lower Saxony/Germany