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How well do you know those around you?
Essay by Elina Penner, author and editor-in-chief of the online magazine Hauptstadtmutti:
“How was your holiday?” my colleague asks cheerfully. We get along well, and I’m sure she genuinely hopes I had a relaxing break. Then she asks me: “Where did you fly off to?” First day back at school. The teacher…
A promising future for innovation spaces worldwide
Essay by Ebba Lund, Chief Executive Officer of IASP:
The International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) is a mission-driven non-profit dedicated to supporting our global community of Science and Technology Parks (STPs), Innovation Districts…
Tomorrow, children, joy awaits!
Essay by Matthias Gerschwitz, communications specialist and book author:
‘I like to watch’ is one of cinema’s legendary lines. In the 1979 US satire Being There, Peter Sellers stars as Chance, a gardener who has spent his entire life on a wealthy man’s estate. The world beyond the garden…
No youth movement of its own
Essay by author Lea Streisand on the concept of generation:
Generational shift. I had to google the word to begin with, boomer in spirit that I am.1 At least, I didn’t look it up in a dictionary because that definitely would’ve exposed me as geriatric. I’ve never been…
Science brings people together
Essay by Christian Rauch, PhD physicist, science communicator, and new director of Berlin Science Week:
In this era of great change in which disinformation and polarisation are increasingly shaping our society, science communication is becoming more and more important. However, science communication is also facing major…
The small-town gaze
Essay by Paul Bokowski, writer and satirist from Berlin:
It’s not even ten. Even though the builders from the Oderbruch are already saying »Mahlzeit«, implying that its lunchtime. It took two decades for them to greet me actually. Mind you, they are different people every…
Know-why, -what, -how, -who? What we need to know about the future world of work
Essay by Katja Ninnemann, Professor of Digitalization and Workspace Management at HTW Berlin:
Faced with current challenges like disruptive technology developments, the increasing shortage of skilled workers, and the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic, many people are posing questions about the future…
The digital revolution is the autists taking revenge on the narcissists
Essay by Christoph Holz, a self-confessed nerd, a writer, and a keynote speaker:
“Did you really think I was going to be normal?” said Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X and co-founder of several companies, when he made his appearance on Saturday Night Live. Why is it that IT nerds…
Our heart beats for high-tech
The opinion of Katrin Robeck, Managing Director of B.I.G. Corporate Services, on the topic of talent:
The ‘talent issue’: Is it as threatening as it is sometimes portrayed? As a medium-sized company with a very high demand for high-skilled workers from the STEM sector, we take the issue very seriously. However, at the…
That’s not what it’s about
Essay by Dilek Güngör, journalist and writer from Berlin:
Vera says she won’t have time on Wednesday. Vera says she had been there every Wednesday so far, and was often the first, which was because she had the shortest way from the office to Beppo’s, she knew that. The rest…
The future is our mission: Adlershof as a “world leader in impact innovation”
Essay by Prof. Dr. Klaus Fichter, director of the Borderstep Institute and professor at the University of Oldenburg:
Many of us probably associate the former US president John F. Kennedy with the following, famous sentence: “Ich bin ein Berliner.” It was uttered almost two years after the wall was built amid the Cold War in front of…
Without other animals, humans are “not quite complete”
Essay by Dr. Kurt Kotrschal, Austrian biologist, behavioral scientist and author:
There are 16.7 million cats, 10.3 million dogs, and 4.6 million smaller animals across approximately 15 million German households, most of which are kept for social reasons. Even the roughly 1.3 million horses are…
How welcome are foreign skilled workers in Germany?
A personal retrospective after 10 years of life in the country of Goethe, Einstein, and Mercedes-Benz – Essay by Olga Aktas:
Allow me to briefly introduce myself. My name is Olga Aktas and that already tells you I have a so-called migration background. My first name is Russian, my last name is Turkish, and my ideas and values are most…
Dogs and dads
Essay by Paul Bokowski, Author from Berlin:
“Nika could not have fit in there,” I say to you. Nika’s name is actually Nikita. But when we first came here, you couldn’t remember her name and so you called your grandad’s mutt Nika. “The capsule was tiny,” I…
The digital city – the future of places generating future innovation
Essay by Dr. Hans-Hermann Albers, architect, urban researcher, and consultant from Berlin:
For almost two decades now, the digitalisation of cities has been a stand-out issue in the international discourse around urban development. On the one hand, this discussion is about constructing entirely new “cities…
You’re still on mute. How we learn from mistakes
Essay by Ralf Kemmer, Professor at SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences, and hoster of the Fuckup Night Berlin:
Until 2020, digitisation and digital transformation were top of the list of strategic initiatives at many companies. This included plans for applying new methods to teams, teaching new technologies to staff, and…
What do I know?
Essay by Paulina Czienskowski, writer from Berlin:
When did you last learn something new? A thought, an activity, a fact. I couldn’t think of anything if it weren’t for the fact that I recently gave birth to a child. Since then, I have been soaking up new things like…
Jump into the (cold) deep end!
Essay by Uli Kunz, marine biologist, underwater photographer, and environmentalist:
My first underwater experience was certainly not my bravest. After encountering a scary pike in Lake Constance as an eight year old, I made a hasty escape. It took a few days of recuperation before I dared another…
The path to a real healthcare system
Essay by Dr. Paul Hammer, founder and CEO of BIOMES NGS GmbH:
Germany came in second behind Japan in a study rating the national health care systems of 24 OECD countries (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) conducted by the British job agency for medical…
New normality, new mindset
Essay by Christoph Burger, psychologist, career advisor and coach for personal development in and around Stuttgart:
Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis in 2020, we have been longing for a return to normality—the everyday life we are used to, partying together, going on holiday without a worry in the world. But how much of…