Welcome to the Ideas Lab 2022!>

Here, small and large ideas for the future of our coexistence are examined, tested, and further developed. They are intended not only to make our future more sustainable and more livable for everyone, but also to incorporate aesthetics—very much in the spirit of the New European Bauhaus (NEB). Because to reach the center of society and be truly inclusive, they must be attractive and accessible to all. The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, as a historical role model for the NEB, is the ideal location for the Ideas Lab 2022. Here, ideas are questioned and renewed, inspired by history and curious about the future. A diverse, international group of idea developers who want to make a difference in terms of sustainability and social responsibility. For the NEB, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is an important network node between the region of Thuringia with its actors and non-regional and international partners. A diversity of perspectives, interdisciplinarity, openness to unconventional approaches, the courage to think big, and a healthy pragmatism work together here to turn ideas into actual innovation. Thus, the Ideas Lab 2022 is intended to help bring the Green New Deal to life as a contribution to the NEB. The Ideas Lab 2022 takes place as a side event within the framework of the NEB Festival. Participation is free of charge; registration is requested.

NEB FESTIVAL Shaping a Sustainable Future Together

1. Form Follows Environment The Ideas Lab 2022 is inspired by two symbols from nature: cycles and rhizomes. Cycles as the most sustainable form of resource use, which offer promising approaches for challenges such as energy and waste management, particularly in the form of the circular economy. Rhizomes—root networks—that create horizontal networking, exchange essentials, and develop new shoots through vertical growth. Specifically, this is about showcasing and networking initiatives and projects that make the transition to a sustainable, fair, and diverse Europe more likely, both today and in the future.
2. Glo-cal Field of Tension The Ideas Lab 2022 zooms from cross-border European projects in to regional and local initiatives to make change visible in the everyday lives of people on the ground. In this way, global challenges such as climate change or social injustice become more tangible and can be implemented faster with local solutions on-site. At the same time, the visibility of local problems is increased at the EU level.
3. Sustainable, Attractive, for Everyone Here, it is particularly important to focus on a wide range of solutions that, alongside the goal of a more sustainable future, also pay attention to aesthetics—meaning sensory perception. Because to reach the center of society and be truly inclusive, these must be attractive and accessible to all. We seek this exchange through participatory, low-threshold formats in which ideas are discussed, tested, and further developed.
4. Multidisciplinary Thinking Space The Ideas Lab 2022 is not only a creative workshop, but also a multidisciplinary network node that reflects our society in all its diversity. It functions as a door opener between science, culture, business, and civil society—because it is only through their genuinely interdisciplinary connection that relevant solutions grow out of ideas.