Joe Kaeser has no time to sit down. As the crowds of the World Economic Forum sweep past us – and with no free seat in sight – the chief executive of Siemens is happy to think, and talk, on his feet. “Busy times here,” he says.

The urgency is justified. The start of the new decade will be a crunch time for the German engineering giant as it navigates the dual challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit while morphing from a dated industrial conglomerate into a more modern digital energy, transport and infrastructure player.