Press Release 23/01/2012

"Who will support us?", "How will we live together?" and "How do we want to learn?" – experts from academia, industry and civil society have been discussing these issues since summer 2011 within the framework of the "Dialogue on Germany’s Future" initiated by Chancellor Angela Merkel. The target is to stimulate a nation-wide debate and gain food for thought and recommendations for public policy action. Professor Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, is the expert heading the working group Innovation Culture.

The Chancellor's Dialogue on Germany’s Future is divided into a non-public Experts Dialogue and a public National Dialogue. As part of the Experts Dialogue, suggestions for the future design of Germany's economy and society within the next five to ten years are being developed by a total of 18 inter-disciplinary working groups. Regardless of current issues and trends, the Experts Dialogue offers the opportunity to discuss fundamental questions and perspectives of a desirable future for Germany – without restrictions in the choice of subjects or proposed solutions.

"How are we going to innovate tomorrow and the day after tomorrow? How can we deal more creatively with scarce resources? And how can we all shape our joint future responsibly?" Weissenberger-Eibl summarizes the main issues concerning the working group Innovation Culture. Professor Lambert T. Koch (University of Wuppertal), Wolfgang Müller-Pietralla (Volkswagen AG), Professor Eckart Severing (Research Institute Vocational Education fbb), Dr. Philine Warnke (Fraunhofer ISI) and Dr. Manfred Wittenstein (WITTENSTEIN AG) have agreed to collaborate in the working group.

The aim is to work out proposals on how the innovation culture in Germany can be further developed jointly by industry, science, citizens and policy-makers. "We must create more room in our innovation culture for new ideas and understand risks more as opportunities, in order to ensure the quality of our lives in the future", states Weissenberger-Eibl.

The second pillar of the Dialogue on Germany’s Future, the National Dialogue, will begin in February as Chancellor Merkel already announced in her New Year's address. On the Internet platform www.dialog-ueber-deutschland.de citizens can put forward their own suggestions for discussion until mid April 2012. In addition, the Chancellor will discuss the central issues of the Dialogue on Germany’s Future with interested citizens in three public events. The results of the National Dialogue will be included in the Experts Dialogue.

"The Chancellor's Dialogue on Germany’s Future offers the opportunity despite all the short-term needs of politics to reflect on long-term policy issues without taboos. Thus a fundamental conviction of Fraunhofer ISI is being implemented. I applaud the initiative of the Chancellor to experiment with new forms of exchanging ideas with the citizens of our country", comments Weissenberger-Eibl.

The final report of the Experts Dialogue will be submitted to the Chancellor at the end of August 2012.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI analyzes the framework conditions of innovations. We explore the short- and long-term developments of innovation processes and the societal impacts of new technologies and services. On this basis, we provide our clients from industry, politics and science with policy recommendations and perspectives for key decisions. Our expertise lies in a broad scientific competence as well as an interdisciplinary and systemic research approach.