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Thinking the Future – Universität Innsbruck

Discussion forum: Thinking the future

Wednesday 20 to Friday 22 November 2019
Campus Universitätsstraße (SOWI)

This discussion forum for all interested parties marked the end of the 2019 anniversary year and was an invitation from the university to its region and its population. Experts presented possible scenarios, approaches and perspectives for the future of our society. Interactive formats invited people from the region to take part in the discussion. Four different key topics were covered. For each of these four thematic blocks, the university appointed curators from among the professors to organise the half days.

Renowned speakers such as the Austrian philosopher and journalist Isolde Charim, neuropsychologist Claus Lamm and former Danish environment minister Ida Auken took up exciting topics and invited participants to listen and join in the discussion.

Kick-off event

Wednesday, 20 November 2019, 18:00 - 19:30
SOWI auditorium, Universitätsstraße 15

Programme of the kick-off event

Moderation: Sebastian Possert, Life Radio Tirol

18:00-18:20
Welcome and opening
Tilmann Märk, Rector University of Innsbruck
Karlheinz Töchterle, former Minister of Science, Curator Discussion forum: Thinking the future
Günther Platter, Governor of the Province of Innsbruck

18:20-18:50
Keynote speech by Andreas Reiter: Land in sight - What makes regions successful in the future
Smart, collaborative and resource-light - the future of the region

Regions are facing enormous challenges: global competition in an uncertain environment, technological disruptions, social upheavals. In this "liquid modernity", regions must also become agile and strengthen their regional capital.

The region of the future will be smart, collaborative and resource-light, shaping its value creation sustainably via smart data. The source code of the future is creativity. The successful region of tomorrow is a talent laboratory, with close links between education and business and a differentiated quality of life. It is about the good life in a smart region.

The following challenges were discussed over the course of four half-days:

Thursday, 21 November 2019, 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Settlement area - transport - energy

Smart paths to a sustainable future

Our current networked social and economic system is based on a high energy demand and causes greenhouse gas emissions through the use of fossil fuels. The severe climate change in recent decades clearly shows that radical changes towards energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and behavioural changes must take place in a short space of time in order to secure the basis of life for future generations. Transport and buildings are responsible for 60 % of energy demand and 37 % of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. Spatial planning determines the density and distribution of buildings and thus also the transport required for supply and disposal. Individual solutions must therefore always be evaluated in the overall system. What opportunities do IT and new technologies offer to overcome these challenges?

Professors Wolfgang Streicher (Energy Efficient Building), Markus Mailer (Intelligent Transport Systems) and Ruth Breu (Computer Science - Quality Engineering - Digital Platforms) are responsible for the topic "Settlement Space - Transport - Energy".

Programme

9:00 - 9:15 a.m.
Welcome and moderation: Univ.-Prof.in Dr.in Ruth Breu

9:15 - 09:30 a.m.
Keynote speeches
Fridays for Future - what does the next generation need to have equal opportunities?

9:30 - 10:00 a.m.
Introductory lecture by Prof. Dr Hermann Knoflacher: Do we need a different understanding of "settlement area - transport - energy" for a sustainable future?

10:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Presentation of a study on resource and technology deployment scenarios for the Tyrol 2050 energy-autonomous vision
Univ.-Prof. Dr Wolfgang Streicher / Univ.-Prof. Dr Markus Mailer

10:30 - 11:00am
Break/Exhibition

Stands from computer science, technical sciences, architecture

11:00 - 12:30
Panel discussion with experts from science, business and politics

Chair of the discussion: Dr Sigrid Thomaser, Energie Tirol
Persons invited to the panel

  • Em. Prof. Hermann Knoflacher (TU Vienna)
  • Prof. Dr Diana Ürge-Vorsatz (Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University and Vice Chair of Working Group III, Mitigation of Climate Change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC)
  • Assoc. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr Eric Sidoroff (University of Innsbruck, Institute of Design)
  • Alexander Peschl (Siemens AG Austria)
  • Dr Helmut Hojesky (Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism)
  • Representatives of Fridays for Future

Curators

breu

Ruth Breu is head of the Institute of Computer Science. Her research focusses on the quality and security of IT systems on an industrial scale. The methods and tools developed together with her team and industry partners are applied in practice through know-how transfer and spin-offs, e.g. in the areas of IT asset management and IT risk management. Ruth Breu is the scientific director of the Digital Innovation Hub West, a project currently being launched by research funding organisations, interest groups and universities in western Austria to support digitising SMEs.

mailer

Markus Mailer is Professor of Transport Planning and heads the Intelligent Transport Systems department. Markus Mailer's research is always based on people's mobility needs and the spatial and environmental framework conditions, taking into account limited resources. He is the spokesperson for the Alpine Infrastructure Engineering Research Centre and a member of the interfaculty Tourism and Leisure Research Centre at the University of Innsbruck. He has also headed the Centre for Mobility Change (CMC) since November 2018.


streicher

Wolfgang Streicher is a full professor of "Energy-efficient construction with special consideration of the use of renewable energies" and is currently President of ISES Europe (International Solar Energy Society). He teaches and conducts research in the fields of building technology, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning technology (HVAC), heat pumps, pipe hydraulics, modelling and simulation, thermodynamics and energy and ecological aspects of energy supply.

Thursday, 21 November 2019, 14:00 - 17:30
Labour - Economy - Education

Valuing Tyrol
Creating digital value

The digital transformation is increasingly permeating our working and living environments. It is fuelling new forms of business, work and learning. In this panel, we ask about the effects of these changes on the individual economic sectors, on the organisation and sustainability of our work, on job profiles, qualification processes and educational requirements. This also involves the question of which of the historically grown and culturally anchored structures in Tyrol appear to be worth preserving, expanding and changing in the new era and what needs to be completely rethought. We are moving between preserving the tried and tested and thinking about the radically new, between tradition and disruption.

Firstly, we will be inspired by the keynote speech by former Danish Environment Minister Ida Auken entitled: "A Europe of green regions - thoughts on a new concept of prosperity in the face of changing demands and technological opportunities".

We will then take you with us on our journey of thought as active discussion partners in so-called encouragement stations. At each of these stations, after the presentation of a provocative thesis, specific topics relating to work, the economy and education in the digital transformation will be discussed in depth.

Programme

14:00 - 14:15
Brief introduction to the programme and introduction of keynote speaker Ida Auken

14:15 - 15:15
Keynote Ida Auken - A Europe of green regions - thoughts on a new concept of prosperity in the face of changing demands and technological opportunities

It is obvious: digitalisation, climate change and new social trends pose major challenges to the European prosperity model. The need for a green, climate-friendly transformation is evident. But how do we initiate this change? Regions all over Europe are setting out on this path. What can we learn from each other? Copenhagen has as many inhabitants as Tyrol, has ambitious restructuring plans and there is no sign of fear of the future. A plea for a Europe of green regions.

15:15-15:30
Brief presentation of the three slots (labour-economy-education) by the curators Dobusch, Ostendorf, Stuchtey

15:30 - 15:50
Break / Change of room / Drawing of place cards

15:50 - 16:40
Discussion rounds

Discussion of provocative theses on the future of work-economy-education in the digital transformation:

Topic group "Future of work"

Discussing with you:
Dr Leonhard Dobusch, University Professor for Organisation
Dr JuliaHautz, University Professor of Strategic Management
Dr Martin Stuchtey, University Professor of Sustainability

Topic group "How we do business in the future"

Discussing with you:
Luca de Agostini, VP Manufacture & Sustainability at Swarovski Distribution GmbH
Alexander Koll, COO, Head of Werkstätte Wattens
Dr KerstinNeumann, University Professor for Sustainable Resource Management

Topic group: "The future of education and work"

Discussing with you:
Dr AnnetteOstendorf, University Professor of Business Education
Dr Bernd Gössling, University Professor of Business Education with a focus on vocational education research
Dr BernadetteMüller-Kmet, University Assistant at the Institute of Sociology and Dr VeraBrandner, University College of Teacher Education Tyrol, "Chill die Basis" project, Future of the Tyrolean Higher Education Area

Documentation of central discussion results by the leaders of the discussion groups in the form of a tweet of 500 characters each

16:40 - 17:00
Conclusion in the foyer: the collected tweets are presented on a screen in front of the auditorium

Curators

ostendorf

Annette Ostendorf has been Professor of Business Education at the Faculty of Business Administration since 2006 and is also Head of the Institute for Organisation and Learning. In her research and teaching, she deals with didactic and structural issues of vocational skills development, in particular with questions relating to the combination of school and company-based learning venues, changes in vocational education and training in the context of digitalisation and issues relating to vocational teacher training

Leonhard Dobusch

Leonhard Dobusch, business economist and lawyer, is Professor of Business Administration with a focus on organisation at the University of Innsbruck. His research focuses on organisational openness, the management of digital communities and transnational copyright regulation. He is co-founder of the Momentum conference series, a member of the ZDF Television Council and blogs regularly at netzpolitik.org.

stuchtey

Martin R. Stuchtey is a professor of resource strategy and management, founder and managing partner of SYSTEMIQ and strategic advisor to the World Economic Forum. Over the past 10 years, he has led global initiatives to realise systemic change processes in the transition to new regenerative, circular business approaches. Prof Stuchtey draws on his twenty years of experience in initiating, supporting and financing change processes: in global water management, in the circular economy, in sustainable land use or in the development of resource or pollution markets.

Friday, 22 November 2019, 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Life - Diversity - Participation

Unleashing the forces of the future: a good life for all

Fear of the future is one of the most defining phenomena of current Western societies: social inequalities, unstable political and economic conditions, rapid technological developments and unpredictable populist movements cause uncertainty. Threat scenarios, security discourses and the promotion of social divisions are gaining political weight. The resulting anxiety is paralysing, both collectively and individually. On the one hand, we see a recourse to the past and, on the other, a clinging to the present, as if it were to protect us from an uncertain future or even the best possible hope for the future.

The question of how we will possibly live, what is in store for us socially and individually, often displaces thinking about how we actually want to live. An attitude that conceptualises the future as a given simultaneously portrays people as passive and merely reactive. However, we don't just react to an imagined future that comes our way, we also play a decisive role in shaping it today through our imagination. The medium and long-term future will not simply happen as fate would have it, but will be initiated, prepared and pre-decided by our present ideas and decisions.

Against this backdrop, questions about sustainability, a good life for all, inclusion, plurality, sustainability and a sense of possibility become pressing: What does the future mean? When does the future begin? How does the new enter the world? What role do education and universities play in this?

In this thematic panel, we want to explore these and similar questions, come to an understanding about the current state of society and the nature of its future prognoses, exchange ideas about a desirable future and articulate sustainable ideas along selected themes. The aim is to weigh up the individual and collective perspectives against each other and relate them to each other: How do individually desirable futures relate to socially or even globally desirable futures?

In order to stimulate reflection on these connections, we combine plenary events (moderation/keynote speaker/closing podium) with smaller keynote speeches and interactive workshops (themed tables, each with a keynote speech and activating moderation).

Programme

9:00 - 09:20 a.m.
Opening and introduction to the topic of the half-day by thepanel team (Heimerdinger/Kraml/Ralser)

9:20 - 10:00 a.m.
Keynote Isolde Charim - Thinking society

So many centrifugal forces - from the economic impositions of a competitive society to the intensification of identities and the retreat into communities - so many centrifugal forces make one thing a utopian challenge: thinking society.

Isolde Charim, born in Vienna, studied philosophy in Vienna and Berlin, works as a freelance journalist and regular columnist for "taz" and "Falter". In 2006, she was awarded the City of Vienna's Journalism Prize. She has been a scientific curator at the Bruno Kreisky Forum since 2007. Books include: "Lebensmodell Diaspora. On modern nomads" (ed. with Gertraud Auer 2012). In spring 2018, Zsolnay published the volume "Ich und die Anderen. How the new pluralisation is changing us all", for which she was awarded the 2018 Philosophy Book Prize.

10:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Break / Room change / Drawing of seat tickets

10:30 - 11:50 a.m.
Thinking about the future: We will discuss important questions about the future together at eight themed tables. There is a choice:

Competition for the good: What contribution can religions make to good coexistence in plural societies?

** Topic & impulse: Maria Anna Juen and Abdullah Takim Moderation & commentary: Mehmet Tuna

Religions are not an end in themselves and show ways and possibilities for peaceful coexistence. It is therefore one of their essential tasks to commit themselves to the common good for different reasons and to contribute their different perspectives to tackling the major issues of the future. The contributions and potential that religions can bring in this context in the present and future for good coexistence in plural societies will be discussed at this themed table.

Multi-national on site?

** Topic & impulse: Erol Yildiz Moderation & commentary: Marc Hill

The fact that people can be at home with and in different cultures, loyalties, biographies, languages and localities at the same time is proving to be a lived, unspectacular everyday practice. Fewer and fewer people spend their entire lives in one and the same place, and many have changed their place of residence several times across national borders. This is all part of everyday life and only becomes recognisable at second glance: when life stories are told and reflected upon. Much of what we perceive today as national or homogeneous is a result of mixing and translation, a part of interwoven histories. Innsbruck is a good example in this respect: Diverse aspects of historically grown experiences, ties and connections can be found in artistic creation, in music, literature and cultural events and in everyday diversity - a kind of cosmopolitanisation from below. Have we all become more local? Does Innsbruck need a charter of diversity?

Who will look after us tomorrow? Robots?

** Topic & impulse: Anne Siegetsleitner Moderation & commentary: Sergej Seitz

It is assumed that robots will be increasingly used in the care sector in the coming years. Research into such robots is already underway and some are already in use. Some of them are modelled on animals or humans. But is this the solution to the so-called care problem that we want? What can robots do in care and what can't they do? It will also be our decisions that shape the future in this area.

A good life for all means balance: how do we guarantee a fair distribution?

** Topic & impulse: Andreas Exenberger Moderation & commentary: Ute Ammering

Economic and social science research makes it clear that too much inequality harms a society in many ways, but that total equality also undermines performance incentives. Instead, a balance is important in order to make a good life possible for everyone, so that neither planetary boundaries are broken nor people are left behind. With this in mind, the theme table will address the question of how our society needs to be organised in order to guarantee a fair balance in the long term.

Barriers of the future and the future of accessibility: In dialogue with Volker Schönwiese

**Topic & impulse: Lisa Pfahl Moderation & commentary: Thomas Hoffmann

We encounter barriers in different places, with different people and in different contexts. Where people are permanently restricted in their everyday lives, barriers become disabilities. Around 26,500 people in Innsbruck (around 20%) live with a disability in this sense. With increasing age, the probability of such a disability increases massively due to health impairments. Social and medical-technical advances are generally important prerequisites for the removal of barriers. However, new technical possibilities often also give rise to new social norms and expectations of ability, which in turn can become barriers, exclude or marginalise certain groups of people and thus create new disabilities in the long term. How can barriers in everyday life be dismantled and minimised? How can politics, administration and civil society be sensitised to the emergence of new barriers as early as possible?

Age and dependency: the future of the good life

**Topic & impulse: Bernhard Weicht Moderation & commentary: Bettina Mahlert

How will I feel when I am old? Who will look after or care for me then? Old age and the need for care pose challenges for us as individuals, but also for our society. Physical and mental limitations, dependency on others or a life in institutions characterise many ideas and fears. Being dependent on the care of others often prevents a good life in old age. But to what extent are dependencies really only negative? Aren't all people more or less dependent on each other at different points in their lives? Aspart of this discussion, we want to break down the often ideologically entrenched dichotomies of old/young, dependent/independent or active/passive in order to reflect on a good life in relationships and interaction with others.

Where do you get your strength from? For a beer with Practical Theology and the Kulturbackstube

**Topic & impulse: Christian Bauer, Christoph Grud and Florian Ladstätter Moderation and commentary: Katrin Geiger

Unleashing spirituality: for a good life! - Practical theology and the cultural bakery DIE BÄCKEREI are linked by (at least) one question: What are spiritual resources for social innovation? The workshop looks for the sources of corresponding future forces: What is my inner drive? What spirit guides me? What do I actually live from and for what?

Forms of living together

**Topic & impulse: Ursula Schneider Moderation & commentary: Annette Steinsiek

"Nobody is forcing you to continue the tradition. Traditions don't last forever either. They start becoming traditions once and stop being them once." (Barbara Frischmuth)

In our history, there have always been forms of cohabitation that did not correspond to tradition, but in the last 50 years, the socially accepted possibilities for all of us have increased enormously. This applies to partnership models, but also to every other form of cohabitation. Even within a single lifetime there are different needs regarding the form of daily realisation of love and companionship, just think of the different ages. The choice of a form of living together is always a personal risk. Using selected short texts by the Austrian author Barbara Frischmuth, we will play with "mystifications", "metamorphoses" and "models" - what needs do we want to be considered in forms of living together - privately and politically?

12.00 - 12.25 pm
Podium with the moderators of the eight themed tables

Commentary summarising the discussion

Conclusion. Closing remarks by the panel team

Curators

kraml

Martina Kraml is University Professor of Religious Education at the Faculty of Theology and Dean of Studies at the Faculty of Teacher Education. Her research focuses on interreligious education and religious education, qualitative empirical methodology with a particular focus on the contingency paradigm.

Michaela Ralser

Michaela Ralser, University Professor at the Institute of Educational Science and Dean of the Faculty of Education. Her research specialisms are: History of science and subject formation, structural and discourse history of public education, critical gender and social research in an intersectional perspective. Most recently, her research focussed on the regimes of care in historical residential care in the welfare region of Tyrol & Vorarlberg.

Timo Heimerdinger

Timo Heimerdinger, Professor of European Ethnology at the Institute of History and European Ethnology at the University of Innsbruck. Studied ethnology, modern German literary history and German philology at the Universities of Freiburg i. Br. and Pisa, M.A. 1999, doctorate (Dr. phil.) 2004, then junior professor for cultural anthropology / ethnology at the University of Mainz, since October 2009 at the University of Innsbruck, since 2015 head of the research focus "Cultural Encounters - Cultural Conflicts".

Friday, 22 November 2019, 14:00 - 17:30
Tourism - Climate (change) - Consumption

Tyrol 2050 - A look into the future

Energy and climate change adaptation - tourism and leisure consumption in transition?

Climate change is a fact and the role of humans is clear - just as clear is what we (as a society, as a university, as an economy, as individuals) would have to do to keep the effects within limits, namely radically change our own behaviour in order to still meet the Paris Agreement - limiting the global temperature rise to 2° or even 1.5°. So the question arises:

Since we know what's going on, are we doing -
or why aren't we doing - what we should be doing?!

We approach this question by letting representatives of society, the university and business have their say live and in the video. Neuropsychologist Prof. Dr Claus Lamm (University of Vienna) will provide answers to our question in an exciting keynote speech in which he will focus on the individual behaviour of each and every one of us:

Do we know and even have compassion - and yet blithely carry on as usual?
How psychological patterns of thought and behaviour contribute to man-made climate change

Finally, in a discussion round with all participants and the audience, we will outline possibilities for a future-oriented action strategy - we want to show ways out of the dilemma.

Programme

14:00 - 14:15
Opening and introduction to the topic of the half-day by the panel team

Kerstin Neumann, Mike Peters and Mathias Rotach

14:15 - 14:50
Climate change - tourism in transition and consumption in transition: Tyroleans have their say!

14:50 - 15:40
Prof. Dr Claus Lamm: We know it and even have compassion - and yet we carry on as usual?

How psychological patterns of thought and behaviour contribute to man-made climate change

15:40 - 16:20
Break, posters & prizes

The sustainable destination in transition: an exhibition by Tyrolean students at the University of Innsbruck

16:20 - 17:20
We are doing something! An insight into sustainable action - discussion forum

"Bewegter Auftakt" with Armin Staffler (theatre pedagogue & political scientist)
Discussion forum with actors who are doing something!

5:20 pm
Closing, summary and award ceremony!

Curators

neumann

Kerstin Neumann is Professor of Corporate Sustainability at the University of Innsbruck and co-founder of its interdisciplinary Innovation Lab for Sustainability. She researches how companies can change their decision-making processes and structures in order to be not only economically, but also socially and ecologically sustainable. As a member of the global research programme "GOLDEN for Sustainability", she helps companies on this path.

peters

Mike Peters completed an apprenticeship as a restaurant specialist and worked in the hotel and catering industry for several years. After practical years in the hotel industry, he studied at the University of Regensburg and Innsbruck and then embarked on an academic career.

He is a professor for "Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises & Tourism" and researches, for example, the development of tourism destinations or family businesses in tourism.

rotach

Mathias Rotach is Full Professor of Dynamic Meteorology and Head of the Institute of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences at LFUI. His research focuses on 'weather and climate in the mountains' - and in particular on the (turbulent) exchange processes between the atmosphere and the mountain surface.

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