Birthplace of ideas

As a general rule, candidates for participation in the BBUG are recommended by the board, the directors, or the supervisory board of their company. Admission is decided by a committee of the BBUG board convening twice a year, usually in May and November for the main BBUG event in spring and autumn respectively of the following year. Nominations must be submitted to the BBUG offices by April 15 / October 15 respectively.

The committee’s decision takes into account not only the individual admissions criteria (Terms of Participation), but also relevance to the BBUG’s objective to guarantee the greatest possible diversity in the composition of each group and of the BBUG alumni network (in terms of sectors, responsibilities, specialist backgrounds, foreign experience, age, gender, social and political involvement, etc.).

Since the number of nominations often significantly exceeds the places available (approx. 35 per conference), the committee is obliged to reject some candidates who may have fulfilled the formal admissions criteria. A rejection therefore says nothing about the suitability of the candidate in question.

• The BBUG is a programme for the next generation of top-level executive leaders. As such, those nominated to take part have either recently been appointed as board members or directors, or are expected to join the highest level of company management in the foreseeable future.
• Participants are primarily employees of organizations from across all industrial sectors, the service sector (financial services, logistics, communications, etc.), as well as commerce, banking, insurance, and a few auditing and consulting companies.
• Candidates should have at least seven years’ executive experience, of which the last two were in top-level management or the level directly beneath it.
• Furthermore, admission is only permitted on the condition that the candidates are able to participate without interruption for the entire three weeks of the main talks in Baden-Baden, as well as in each of the five-day follow-up conferences held abroad over the following four years.
• Alongside nominations coming from the 120-odd member organizations of the BBUG e.V., nominations from non-BBUG member companies and organizations are regularly considered in the interest of ensuring the greatest possible diversity within the individual groups as part of the BBUG’s overarching objective. The key criteria applied are not just personal suitability, but also the current or potential significance of the nominating company or organization in the wider economy or at the interfaces between business, state and society.
• BBUG conferences are held both in German and English. Participants must be proficient in both languages.
• In keeping with the BBUG’s non-profit objectives, there is particular interest in selecting candidates who will hold positions of responsibility in business long after their participation in the conference. For this reason, when deciding on the ideal composition of participant groups, the admission committee considers a flexible age limit of 50 years.