Newsletter | BMW Stiftung Herbert Quandt

Newsletter #12

03/2012

Dear Young Leaders and Friends of the BMW Foundation,

March 6 was a busy day at the Foundation. Our office was filled with tension – and with people belonging to a high class jury, a film crew, and our Young Leaders network. Not just any Young Leaders, but the ones we had chosen as finalists of our 2012 Young Leaders Awards. Read about the outcome of the competition below.

We also recommend that you take a look at a unique event that took place in January in Berlin-Neukölln. The Foundation took part in the moving inauguration of the Neukölln "Bürgerplattform," a platform run by citizens who comply with the principles of "community organizing."
Finally, you can find a movie about our Foundation`s work and aspiration. Enjoy eight minutes of insights from around the world – as well as all the other news we’ve got for you!

Your BMW Foundation Team

A Special Selection:

Young Leaders Awardees Now and Then.

On March 6, the finalists of our 2012 Young Leaders Awards – Gergana Aneva, Ciprian Ciucu, Horst Krumbach, Alejandro Litovsky, Peggy Liu, and Andreas Nørlem Christensen – presented themselves and their initiatives to the jury at our Berlin office.

After long hours of deliberation, the jury decided to award three ideas. The project by Horst Krumbach, one of the three winners (with Gergana Aneva and Alejandro Litovsky), has a long history with our Foundation. After taking early and important steps at the 15th Transatlantic Forum in New York in 2010, Horst Krumbach's initiative is now about to spread nationally. Find out more about his and the other participating projects here.

Would you like to know what the winners of our last contests have been up to? As part of our long-term commitment, we want to help the awardees to succeed with their endeavors – as in the case, for example, of Frauke Godat. Her goal is to introduce future as a school subject. In the last few years, her idea has developed into two concrete projects that are currently in the process of being implemented: Find out more about “Future@School” and “ZukunftsLernraum” (The Classroom of the Future) here.

Foundations and the Public. Different Perspectives.

When we talk about “Re-thinking Society,” we want to figure out innovative ways of how societies can meet their current and future needs. In order to share our insights and findings, the BMW Foundation is participating in the "Berliner Stiftungswoche" (Berlin Foundations Week), a ten-day event that allows foundations to present their work to the public.

The BMW Foundation contributes to the program with three events (check the “Stiftungswoche” website for additional information): On April 18th, we will organize a debate on the topic of “Collaborative Democracy? What Foundations Should Do and Should Not Do In the Political Arena." In addition, we support a network of young professionals working in foundations by hosting a day-long workshop on “Young People and Foundations” at our Berlin office. The third event will be a workshop on the role of foundations in the context of journalism and democracy.

Looking Back... and
Forward. Lessons Learned from Different Events.

A controversial topic and a heated debate: the 10th Expert Conference on International Relations on Europe's apathy in the current financial crisis. Read what our speakers had to say by downloading our brochure.

The 17th European Forum Berlin dealt with the topic of “Europe in the Global Arena – New Challenges for the Economy and Politics”. Please find the comprehensive conference report, fresh off the printer, here.

We would also like to provide you with a summary of our 4th Summit Lecture on the topic of “Improving Educational Opportunities, Promoting Talents – How can we develop our human resources to increase competitiveness?

Upcoming Events

March 20, 2012, 2nd Social Business Meets Angel event in Munich. more

March 26, 2012, Start of 5th Lecture Series on Social Innovation in Munich. more

March 29-April 1, 2012, 10th Europe Asia Young Leaders Forum in Jakarta. more

April 18, 2012, Panel Discussion on "Collaborative Democracy?" in Berlin. more

April 26, 2012, Panel Discussion on Social Policy in Munich. more

May 3-4, 2012, Munich Economic Summit (more information soon)

Young Leaders Community

News From and About Our Young Leaders

On February 9, Ali Aslan took over as host of "Quadriga," a political talkshow on Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany's most prestigious radio station. The show brings together experts from around the world to discuss world politics (in English). More...

The German-language blog Deutschlands Agenda launched by our Young Leaders Dr. Johannes Bohnen and Jan-Friedrich Kallmorgen in November, is the Atlantic Initiative's most recent project. Like atlantic-community.org, this platform concentrates on foreign policy; its main aim, however, is to raise awareness, and strengthen the debate, on German foreign policy issues. More...

For some years now, Kai Hattendorf has been conducting a regular survey among German business leaders around the issue of values as a leadership principle. The fourth survey has just been released by the "Wertekommission," a small initiative where Kai is a member of the board. You can find a short summary here (German only). More...

Read an article by Jonathan Laurence on the French presidential elections and the rhetoric about Islam on foreignpolicy.com.

Young Leader Tamer Makary and his team from Arqaam Capital just returned from a visit to Uganda, where they helped the Masooli Primary School in Kampala by raising approximately US$ 20,000. Read more about the project here. Moreover, the Arqaam team raised over US$ 4,000 for Impact International, the London-based sports charity that works closely with disadvantaged youth, implementing football-oriented programs to provide training and development opportunities that we discussed at the 9th Europe Asia Young Leaders Forum in London.

Get involved: If you would like to share any news about your current activities or engagement for the common good with the Young Leaders Community, if you need expertise for your NGO or project or if you are willing to share your expertise, please contact Sven Stegemann (sven.stegemann@bmw-stiftung.de).

Upcoming Events

Ulf Dörner will continue to organize the Young Leaders Meeting in Munich at Falk's Bar/Hotel Bayerischer Hof in 2012. The dates in 2012 are June 14, Sepxember 20, and December 13 , all at 7:30 p.m. If you plan to attend, please contact him in January (ulfdoe@aol.com).

Get involved: If you have any events you would like to share with the Young Leaders Network, please contact Sven Stegemann (sven.stegemann@bmw-stiftung.de).

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