Grand Challenges – An overview of WISTA’s future and innovation projects
WISTA Management GmbH is a state-run company in Berlin dedicated to a wide range of technological and social tasks for the future. On the one hand, this involves solutions for the so-called “Grand Challenges”, with a particular focus on the topics of energy, efficiency, mobility, digitalisation, climate protection and the circular economy.
On the other hand, WISTA is dedicated to the future topics of promoting start-ups, new working environments, further training, sustainability, diversity and occupational health.
Below you will find a brief overview of our diverse projects with further links for in-depth information on the respective topics.
By the way: In addition to the Adlershof Technology Park, WISTA is now developing technology and innovation centres at several locations in and outside Berlin. An overview of the future locations we support in Berlin and Brandenburg can be found here…
New Collaborative Spaces: ST3AM / Coworking
Where and how do we want to work? What does the new world of work look like?
At the WISTA innovation centres, we offer workplaces and spaces for creative and collaborative work in close proximity to science and business. At the Adlershof Technology Park and the Charlottenburg Innovation Centre (CHIC), we have plenty of space for start-ups, students, project groups from research institutes and companies - both for individuals and entire teams. Whether you want to work completely on site, on a daily basis or more remotely, WISTA offers flexible solutions with variable booking options and furnishings and an innovative rental concept for creative meetings.
Diversity
Talent, tolerance, technology: Why is diversity an economic success factor?
Diversity and inclusion promote creativity and innovation and are therefore crucial for economic success. However, an open and diverse environment does not just happen by itself. At WISTA, we understand diversity in the team as an important value of our corporate philosophy. We promote diversity in the personal attitudes of all managers and employees. Living diversity forms the basis of our cooperation, both in our personal behaviour towards each other and in our external activities. We also explore the topic of diversity in greater depth through collaborations with partners and regular, open events at our locations, such as the Adlershof Diversity Festival. We are convinced that the challenges of our time can only be solved in diverse teams, because different perspectives and different horizons of experience of diverse personalities help us to develop innovative solutions and open up new opportunities to reflect on our teamwork in order to work together on openness, respect, equality and tolerance. We want to create an atmosphere in which everyone can contribute their skills and potential to the company's goals in the best possible way.
Knowledge Transfer / Qualification / Recruitment / STEM
How can recruiting, training and development and the promotion of young talent be successful?
WISTA Management GmbH offers a wide range of professional development opportunities. We promote independent work in a dynamic team – inclusive, barrier-free, sustainable and family-friendly, because access to well-trained people is essential.
Employee development, including further training and skills development, plays an important role for all companies in attracting new talent. With the WISTA Academy, WISTA offers other companies and institutions modern personnel development in cooperation with the Steinbeis Center of Management and Technology and the Federal Employment Agency. As part of the Fachkräftenetzwerk Adlershof (skilled labor network), we support site partners in recruiting employees and their training and further education, including the promotion of pupils ans students. In the area of promoting young talent in the natural sciences (STEM), we are a partner company of the young talent competition “Jugend forscht”.
Promoting Start-ups / Founder’s Lab (Gründungswerkstatt)
What kind of environment do young founders and growing companies need?
WISTA operates modern start-up centres at several locations with special offers tailored to the needs of start-ups. We offer an ideal environment for young and innovative companies with affordable office rents, targeted support programmes and cooperation opportunities.
As part of the Gründungswerkstatt Adlershof (Adlershof Founders’ Lab), start-up teams receive an attractive monthly grant for one year. During this time, participants are supported by experienced mentors and trained in start-up-related workshops. The programme also includes free coworking space.
Occupational Health Management
How do we stay healthy in times of increasing physical and mental stress?
The Health Network responds to all questions about physical and mental health in the workplace and facilitates access to a diverse range of health services. The Health Network is open to all managers and staff at companies, non-university and university research facilities at the Technology Park Adlershof and at CHIC. It also explicitly addresses small and medium-sized companies (SMUs).
www.adlershof.de/gesund/ (in German)
Energy / Efficiency / Heating / Photovoltaics
How can locations with energy-intensive infrastructure become efficient?
To meet this challenge, WISTA is developing integrated energy concepts at various locations. The Adlershof Science Park, the only large residential, technology and science quarter in Germany with such a project to date, is leading the way. Experts at Adlershof have been working intensively on the topics of energy and efficiency since 2010 and are developing models for other large technology and commercial sites at national and international level.
The current focus here is on projects to identify and utilise building surfaces for photovoltaics, as well as measures to reduce heat consumption through web-based single room controls. Another of WISTA's pioneering energy projects is the FUBIC all-electric quarter in south-west Berlin.
Climate Change Adaptation / Sustainability / Circular Economy
How will we operate in a climate-neutral and sustainable way?
The impact of man-made climate change is already being felt.The social responsibility for the rapid implementation of the agreed climate protection targets is high. In order to make Berlin climate-neutral by 2050, potential energy savings must be identified, energy used more efficiently and the expansion of renewable energies driven forward. At the WISTA sites, these factors are taken into account in planning and development.
Climate-friendly construction and efficient electricity and heat supply are just as much a part of WISTA's corporate strategy as the three dimensions of sustainability. Based on this, we are striving for an ecological, economic and socio-cultural transformation of the company and all the sites it develops. For this purpose, WISTA has set up a team that is primarily responsible for developing the strategy, management system and programme and regularly reports on it in accordance with the German Sustainability Code (DNK). We have set ourselves the goal of embedding the existing processes and all projects and initiatives in a systematic sustainability management system and reporting on them as part of the DNK declaration.
Digitalisation / High-Speed Internet / 5G / Industry 4.0
What opportunities and challenges arise from digitalisation?
WISTA offers an ideal telecommunications infrastructure at the Adlershof Technology Park. In addition to public Wi-Fi, LoRaWAN and a 100 Gbit fibre optic network, the 5G campus network provides first-class conditions for Adlershof institutions. 5G offers the potential to improve existing products and services and develop completely new business models. In addition, the a:head area is a 5G lab as an innovation hub and showroom for 5G technologies. This is where interested parties can experience new 5G technologies live and test their own use cases.
With the digitalisation of infrastructure, we unlock the potential to manage energy flows and optimise consumption. The digital replication of buildings and areas in 3D models provides an insight into the consumption of electricity, heating and operating materials as well as carbon emissions. Simulations can be used to identify and control optimisation measures.
New Mobility / Shared Mobility
What will mobility look like in 2030?
Economic growth causes an increase in the volume of traffic on roads and railways with increasing problems and restrictions on mobility. This particularly affects urban areas and metropolitan regions. WISTA is therefore developing integrated mobility concepts for all its sites. Examples include the Adlershof Technology Park and the Berlin-Lausitz Innovation Corridor, where concepts and measures are to be trialled that focus on flexibility, efficiency and sustainability. Monitoring and the establishment of sustainable systems are intended to improve the coordination and management of traffic and passenger flows. In order to achieve this, WISTA is cooperating with competent project partners, including the German Aerospace Centre DLR.
Innovation Corridor Berlin-Lausitz / Regional Development
How can Berlin and Brandenburg strengthen their ties to become the leading science and knowledge transfer region in Europe?
The capital region stands for tolerance and diversity, with Berlin having a particular attraction. In order to reduce the resulting traffic flows and facilitate future growth, incentives must be offered to locate along the railway lines and thus the innovation corridors. Projects such as the coworking space in Lübben can serve as flagship projects. Production can take place in the vicinity of the coworking space, as both the space and the contact to the Adlershof knowledge hub are available. This enables the further growth of a technology park like Adlershof and is also a building block for structural change in Lusatia.
At the same time, the innovation corridors offer the opportunity to set key areas of focus. For example, the stakeholders have set themselves the goal of contributing to solving the “Grand Challenges” of global importance. Cooperation with Brandenburg’s scientific institutions increases the chances of success. One example of this is the innovation corridor from the Adlershof Technology Park to the Lausitz Science Park. Considering both technology parks together offers enormous potential for success, as companies here and there are working on technologies relating to renewable energies, the decomposition of plastics in the oceans, new materials for the circular economy and key technologies such as quantum technology.