M2G Sym­po­si­um 2023 with a focus on transfer processes

On Fri­day, 3 Novem­ber 2023, the Mobility2Grid rese­arch cam­pus held its annu­al sym­po­si­um on the EUREF site in Ber­lin. This year, the sym­po­si­um was orga­nis­ed in coope­ra­ti­on with the TUB Mas­ter-in-Ener­gy, the EUREF Talent Cam­pus and the nexus Insti­tu­te to form a con­fe­rence entit­led “Chal­lenges in Sus­taina­bi­li­ty: The Gre­at Tran­si­ti­on as a Chall­enge and Chan­ce in Times of Cri­sis”. With the help of fur­ther fun­ding from the Ber­lin Sena­te Depart­ment, the event was orga­nis­ed as part of Ber­lin Sci­ence Week 2023 and ope­ned up to a wide audi­ence. This also gave the Rese­arch Cam­pus the oppor­tu­ni­ty to share the approa­ches of our work with the Ber­lin public, to pre­sent rese­arch fin­dings and to enga­ge in con­s­truc­ti­ve dis­cus­sions. Over 200 peo­p­le took part in the (free) con­fe­rence. On the second day, 4 Novem­ber, a spe­cial alum­ni pro­gram­me was also offe­red for gra­dua­tes of the EUREF MBA programmes.

On the first day, the con­fe­rence focus­sed on the key chal­lenges and trends in the tran­si­ti­on to zero-emis­si­on infra­struc­tures, high­light­ing in par­ti­cu­lar the are­as of ener­gy, mobi­li­ty and buil­dings from a Ger­man and Euro­pean plan­ning per­spec­ti­ve. Decis­i­on-makers from poli­tics and admi­nis­tra­ti­on as well as indus­try pio­neers and rese­ar­chers from dif­fe­rent disci­pli­nes were able to pre­sent their exper­ti­se, latest solu­ti­ons and inno­va­ti­ve ide­as to tack­le today’s sus­taina­bi­li­ty chal­lenges. The con­fe­rence also ser­ved as a uni­que plat­form for dis­cus­sion, net­wor­king and in-depth col­la­bo­ra­ti­on bet­ween sci­ence, poli­tics and indus­try. The shared visi­on for a zero-emis­si­on future took cent­re stage.

The Mobility2Grid rese­arch cam­pus addres­sed transfer ques­ti­ons. First­ly at an urban level: How should cross-city and cross-natio­nal lear­ning be orga­nis­ed so that plan­ners and city plan­ners have fas­ter and more effec­ti­ve trans­port plan­ning tools at their dis­po­sal? And vice ver­sa: What obs­ta­cles (bes­i­des bureau­cra­cy) do cities have to over­co­me within their infle­xi­ble admi­nis­tra­ti­ve struc­tures in order to absorb know­ledge and imple­ment mobi­li­ty inno­va­tions? Jonas Fahl­busch (M2G), Bir­git Detig (Arca­dis), Micha­el Glotz-Rich­ter (Bre­men Sena­te Depart­ment) and Owen Way­good (Poly­tech­ni­que Mon­tré­al) pre­sen­ted various tech­no­lo­gi­cal and orga­ni­sa­tio­nal-plan­ning stra­te­gies and approa­ches to impro­ve and acce­le­ra­te lear­ning pro­ces­ses bet­ween cities on a glo­bal level. 

In our second panel on “Trans­fers, Think Big Visi­ons and Deve­lop Small: Which Stra­tegy for Suc­cess?”, we focus­sed on cur­rent rese­arch topics in our transfer are­as. The aim of the rese­arch are­as is to pro­mo­te know­ledge and inno­va­ti­on for the net­work­ed ener­gy and trans­port tran­si­ti­on at neigh­bour­hood level. In this panel, Nina Weber (M2G), Lilia­ne Smit­mans (M2G) and Richa Sri­vas­ta­va (M2G) pre­sen­ted stra­te­gies for know­ledge transfer bet­ween rese­arch and indus­tri­al neigh­bour­hoods on the path to cli­ma­te neu­tra­li­ty. The panel was accom­pa­nied by a key note from Prof. Sören Salo­mo (TU Ber­lin), who high­ligh­ted the inter­play bet­ween rese­arch and the deve­lo­p­ment of new pro­ducts and ser­vices on glo­bal markets.

The last panel then addres­sed the diver­se uses of hydro­gen in the urban ener­gy and trans­port tran­si­ti­on. Ms Uta Küh­ne (Bre­mer­ha­ven Uni­ver­si­ty of Appli­ed Sci­en­ces) pre­sen­ted rese­arch work by the Smart Mobi­li­ty Insti­tu­te based at the uni­ver­si­ty — for exam­p­le on the deve­lo­p­ment of sta­tio­na­ry and mobi­le H2 refuel­ling sta­ti­ons in the mari­ti­me logi­stics sec­tor. The panel was com­ple­men­ted by M2G indus­try part­ner WILO and col­le­ague Richard Schmidt, who show­ed in his pre­sen­ta­ti­on how the com­pa­ny has set up a com­ple­te H2 sys­tem on its pre­mi­ses and uses it to sup­p­ly local companies.

We would like to thank all spea­k­ers, par­ti­ci­pan­ts and partners for the extre­me­ly infor­ma­ti­ve and insightful exch­an­ge on transfer pro­ces­ses. Through your valuable con­tri­bu­ti­ons, you were able to fos­ter a fruitful dia­lo­gue and fur­ther advan­ce our under­stan­ding of the deve­lo­p­ment of transfer work in the field of a con­nec­ted ener­gy and trans­port tran­si­ti­on. We great­ly app­re­cia­te your com­mit­ment and par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on and look for­ward to next year’s symposium.

Images:

©nexus, Pho­to Cre­dit: Tobi­as Rücker

Day 1:

09:30	Wel­co­me and Cof­fee (at Was­ser­turm)
10:00	Ope­ning (at Was­ser­turm) Chair: Hans-Liud­ger Die­nel, TU Ber­lin Diet­mar Göh­lich, Mobility2Grid Joa­chim Mül­ler-Kir­chen­bau­er, TU Ber­lin Karin Teich­mann, EUREF AG   Wel­co­me: Micha­el Biel, Staats­se­kre­tär­für Wirt­schaft, Ener­gie und Betrie­be, Ber­lin Senate
10:30	Key­note: Mar­tin Faul­stich, TU Dortmund
11:30	Par­al­lel ses­si­on A1 (at Was­ser­turm) Skil­led Labor Shorta­ge (or Not)?   Chair: Hans-Liud­ger Die­nel, TU Ber­lin   Iris Bruck­haus, Schnei­der Elec­tric Alex­an­der Rein­hold, Con­vex Ener­gy Bian­ca Stoehr, SPIE     This ses­si­on will out­line the main issues faced in the labor mar­ket, addres­sing the lack of com­pe­ten­ci­es in the sus­taina­bi­li­ty field. It will dis­cuss the expec­ta­ti­ons of the indus­try and the task of aca­de­mia in offe­ring both soft and hard skills. The speech will focus on Ger­ma­ny from a Euro­pean perspective.	Par­al­lel ses­si­on B1 (at Grüns)  (Know­ledge) Trans­fers City to City, Regi­on to Regi­on   Chair: Jonas Fahl­busch, Mobility2Grid   Bir­git Detig, Arca­dis Micha­el Glotz-Rich­ter, Muni­ci­pa­li­ty of Bre­men Owen Way­good, Poly­tech­ni­que Mon­tré­al     In this panel we explo­re how cities and regi­ons can enhan­ce their orga­niza­tio­nal and poli­cy effec­ti­ve­ness through lear­ning from other cities. How should cross-regio­nal and cross-natio­nal lear­ning be desi­gned that it helps cities on their pathway to zero-car­bon trans­por­ta­ti­on? And, vice ver­sa, what bar­riers (bes­i­des bureau­cra­cy) do cities have to over­co­me within their infle­xi­ble admi­nis­tra­ti­ve struc­tures in order to absorb know­ledge and imple­ment mobi­li­ty innovations?
13:00	Lunch
13:50	Gree­ting Geral­di­ne Rauch, Pre­si­dent TU Berlin
14:00	Par­al­lel ses­si­on A2 (at Was­ser­turm) Navi­ga­ting Sus­tainable Tran­si­ti­on: Embra­cing Hope in an Era of Uncer­tain­ty   Chair:  Juli­an Wékel, TU Ber­lin Mar­ta Doeh­ler-Behz­adi, IBA GmbH Bar­ba­ra Engel, Karls­ru­her Insti­tut für Tech­no­lo­gie Ange­la Mil­li­on, TU Ber­lin Andre­as Schul­ten, bul­wi­en­ge­sa AG The panel will dis­cuss the sus­tainable tran­si­ti­on in the Ger­man con­text, empha­si­zing housing, urban plan­ning, social fac­tors, and poli­cy. Experts will explo­re envi­ron­men­tal­ly-fri­end­ly housing, inclu­si­ve urban plan­ning, and social equi­ty. They will high­light poli­ci­es sup­port­ing sus­tainable deve­lo­p­ment and aim to inspi­re hope amid uncertainty.	Par­al­lel ses­si­on B2 (Grüns)  Trans­fers, Think Big Visi­ons and Deve­lop Small: Which Stra­tegy for Suc­cess?   Chair: Nina Weber, Mobility2Grid   Key­note: Sören Salo­mo, TU Ber­lin   Max Brahms, HTW Lilia­ne Smit­mans, Inno2Grid Richa Sri­vas­ta­va, HTW   In this panel, we del­ve into the dyna­mic world of know­ledge trans­fers bet­ween indus­try and sci­ence. We aim to explo­re the stra­te­gies and best prac­ti­ces for suc­cessful­ly imple­men­ting trans­fers and bridging the gap bet­ween the­se realms, and dis­co­ver how visi­ons can be trans­la­ted into actionable steps, fos­te­ring inno­va­ti­on and dri­ving progress.
15:30	Cof­fee break
16:00	Par­al­lel ses­si­on A3 (at Was­ser­turm)  The Gre­at Tran­si­ti­on as Gover­nan­ce and Manage­ment Chal­lenges   Chair: Joa­chim Mül­ler-Kir­chen­bau­er, TU Ber­lin   Simon Schä­fer-Stra­dowsky, IKEM Jens Diet­rich, Sie­mens Ener­gy Mev­li­da Vela­gic, Schnei­der Elec­tric   This ses­si­on will focus on the con­se­quen­ces of govern­ment objec­ti­ves and decis­i­ons for the indus­tries and the peo­p­le enga­ged in the tran­si­ti­on. It will out­line how new gene­ra­ti­ons of young experts are best trained.	Par­al­lel ses­si­on B3 (at Grüns)  H2 – Com­pe­ti­ti­on or Com­ple­ti­on to Elec­tri­fi­ca­ti­on     Chair: Anne Syré, TU  Ber­lin   Uta Küh­ne, Hoch­schu­le Bre­mer­ha­ven Hamid Mos­to­fi, TU Ber­lin (CCC Pro­ject) Richard Schmidt, WILO   In this panel, we explo­re the poten­ti­al role of hydro­gen in rela­ti­on to sus­tainable mobi­li­ty. Via a thought-pro­vo­king deba­te, we aim to trig­ger a dyna­mic dis­cus­sion on syn­er­gies, chal­lenges, and oppor­tu­ni­ties, sha­ping a sus­tainable ener­gy and mobi­li­ty landscape.
18:00	Final remarks  Hans-Liud­ger Die­nel, TU Berlin
18:30	Mas­ter The­ses Awards
19:00	Din­ner, music, net­wor­king

Day 2 (Alum­ni Event):

10:00	Wel­co­me and Cof­fee (at Was­ser­turm)
10:30	Ope­ning (at Was­ser­turm) Joa­chim Mül­ler-Kir­chen­bau­er, TU Berlin
11:00	Keep the Bond — TU Ber­lin Alum­ni Network  Julia­ne Wil­helm, TU Berlin
11:30	Navi­ga­ting a Sus­tainable Care­er Land­scape: Ampli­fy­ing Suc­cess through Trans­fera­ble Skills Klaus G. Kam­mer­mei­er, TU Berlin	Stra­te­gies for Business Acce­le­ra­ti­on: Unleas­hing Your Entre­pre­neu­ri­al Poten­ti­al Mar­tin Kern, TU Ber­lin — Cent­re for Entrepreneurship
12:30	Cof­fee Break
12:45	Alums Slots
13:45	Lunch
14:45	Navi­ga­ting Doc­to­ral Aspi­ra­ti­ons: Pro­vi­ding Gui­dance for Inter­na­tio­nal Can­di­da­tes at TU Ber­lin Sophie Mül­ler-Moe­wes, TU Ber­lin — Cen­ter for Juni­or Scholars	Ele­va­te Your Care­er: Navi­ga­ting Ger­many’s Indus­try Job Mar­ket as a Mas­ter’s Alum Hei­di Störr, Push your Career	Char­ting Your Cour­se: Explo­ring Your Pas­si­ons and Talents for Aca­de­mic and Post-Aca­de­mic Care­er Pro­gres­si­on Bir­te Sef­fert, Ger­man Scho­lars Orga­niza­ti­on e.V
15:45	Alums Slots
16:45	Cof­fee Break
17:00	Sus­taina­bi­li­ty Chal­lenges in 2023 Time for net­wor­king and working tog­e­ther — Round table with experts
19:00	Din­ner, Music, and Network (with the Experts)