From 21 to 23 April 2021, a cross-faculty ideas conference for the collaborative development of research ideas and joint project initiatives took place for the second time at TU Berlin. The conference was initiated and hosted by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christine Ahrend, Vice President for Research, Appointment Strategy and Transfer, together with the TU Dialogue Platform.

The topic of the Ideas Conference 2021 was perspectives on health from the nano to the macro level - from bio-pharmaceuticals in the laboratory, technological innovations in care, urban and housing construction and environmental and transport planning to climate research for global sustainability, all these areas and their interfaces were addressed with regard to health, its promotion and improvement. In a total of eight idea workshops, scientists from all seven faculties of the TU Berlin came together with partly international colleagues and experts from clinical research, politics, business and civil society to jointly concretise research ideas or develop completely new impulses.

The keynote speeches were given by Professor Sabine Gabrysch (PIK) and Professor Maja Göpel (The New Institute).

Participants of the conference summed up that the conference had made it possible to "establish new networks and initiate project ideas across institutes". It was a "good incubator for relationships"; many scientists from the TU Berlin came together for the first time, so the networking effect - also beyond the TU - was very great.

A lively inter- and transdisciplinary exchange took place in the workshops, which gave rise to many nuclei, fruitful associations and larger collaborative initiatives. Among the various activities planned after the conference is the establishment of a TU-wide research network on health. Further development will be accompanied and supported by the dialogue platform.

Two follow-up workshops are planned for the winter semester 2021/22:

1. Healthy indoor spaces - aspects of multifunctional room use (Prof. Dr. André Fiebig, FAK V, Technical Acoustics), Tuesday, 08.02.2022 (online)

2. Sustainable use of technology in the operating theatre (Prof. Dr. Markus Feufel, FAK V, Occupational Science).

Further information will be announced here shortly.

If you are interested in participating, please contact directly:

mail@dialogplattform.tu-berlin.de [4]

A review of the conference as well as a detailed announcement of the planned follow-up workshops can be found in the TU Berlin university newspaper, TU intern issue October/November 2021 [5].

Our review of the conference is available for download as a pdf file [6].

Click here to go to the website of the Ideas Conference:

https://ideenkonferenz-tu-berlin.de/ [7]

Download the program overview as pdf [8]

Coronavirus:  The ideas conference will be held as a digital conference in light of the regulations in place to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background information: Dialogue Platform is an instrument of TU- internal research funding. It assists researchers, joint research initiatives and projects in their efforts to identify ideas and helps them organize processes. Further information is available at www.dialogplattform.tu-berlin.de [11].

You can find a review of the 2018 ideation conference “Digitalization and sustainability: win/win or win/lose?” at: www.dialogplattform.tu-berlin.de/aktuelles/ideenkonferenz/ [12].

Contact: The Dialogue Platform team will be happy to answer any questions you have:

• Dr. Stefanie Retzlaff: +49 (0)30 314-25389, stefanie.retzlaff[at]tu-berlin.de
• Dr. Sören Stange: +49 (0)30 314-23864, stange[at]tu-berlin.de

Click here for registration [13]

Registration for TU Berlin employees only. Please authenticate with regular TUBIT ID to receive the link for registration (as pdf document). If you have been invited and are not a TU Berlin staff member, please contact Dr. Stefanie Retzlaff (see contact).