Sustainability or sustainable development means satisfying the needs of the present in such a way that the opportunities of future generations are not restricted.
As we in Germany are using nature three times faster than ecosystems can regenerate, there is an urgent need for people and organizations to rethink their approach.
Sustainable change requires competent and motivated people. In the lecture, we reflected together on the personal skills and framework conditions required for employees to be able to solve social and ecological challenges as change makers or sustainable intrapreneurs and at the same time generate economic benefits for their company or institution.
Engineers and computer scientists in particular can make a very important contribution to greater sustainability together with experts from other disciplines. This applies, for example, to the field of intelligent technical systems, where we are pursuing the Industry.Zero strategy in the OWL region.
The lecture took place as part of the "Talks on Future World Empowerment" format of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering in the Speakers Corner specially set up for this purpose at the Centrum Industrial IT on the Innovation Campus Lemgo. "Our international Master IT students should develop a holistic understanding of science, business and society and be able to take on more social responsibility. The aim is for the students, as future engineers and computer scientists, to actively work on solutions for the major issues facing our world and humanity," says initiator Jürgen Jasperneite, Professor at the TH-OWL and Director of the Fraunhofer Institute in Lemgo.