Berlin to go, english edition, 04/2019

INTRO BERLIN‘S

INTRO BERLIN‘S COLORFUL FUTURE Text: Sarah Braut „The future has many names,” wrote Victor Hugo very aptly. “For the weak, it means the unattainable. For the fainthearted, it means the unknown. For the valiant, it means opportunity.” This credo continues to inspire many young entrepreneurs in their effort to achieve peak performance in the startup capital of Berlin. But what exactly does the future look like? Which future is being developed at the city’s countless multifaceted think tanks? How are work and life environments going to change in the city on the Spree? And how sustainable can this development even be? As a startup-scene hotspot, Berlin is already the ideal breeding ground for innovation. According to a recent study carried out by the Institute for Innovation and Technology in cooperation with the Startup Detector platform, a new startup company is founded every 14 hours in Berlin. In direct comparison with all other German federal states, the metropolis on the Spree River ranks in first place, with 111 startups per 10,000 inhabitants in 2018. The aim of Berlin’s startups is clear: they want to shape the future. And they continue to create new and exciting ways to transform the lives of their customers, whether it’s through clean driving with hydrogen cars or Fotos: © 8

the almost fantastical application of quantum technology for data encryption. Some innovations sound like they were taken from a sci-fi movie and many of them are already being developed in the office buildings and co-working spaces of the capital. Berlin’s universities are also talking about the world of tomorrow. With its Master‘s program in “Futures Research,” the Freie Universität, for example, is directly exploring the phenomenon itself. For the scientists and students involved in the program, Berlin is more than just the place where their campus is located; for them, the city itself is a huge laboratory. One of Berlin’s most interesting characteristics is that it does not grow and develop as a whole; instead, each city district changes independently of one another. This is a phenomenon caused by different infrastructures and demographic make-ups, among other things. The FU program also examines sociological, philosophical and practical questions: What opportunities arise from new developments? What ideas and wishes do human beings have when it comes to their future? What concrete changes can be expected in different professional fields? And, also, the rather less-attractive issue: What if the beautiful utopia envisioned for the world of tomorrow proves to be not-so-beautiful? 9