New format: First Future Conference NRW brings state politics and science together to implement the sustainability goals

North Rhine-Westphalia is facing major social, ecological and economic challenges in the areas of climate change, the energy, heating and mobility transition, the transformation of industry, digitalisation, social participation and justice. Science and research play a central role when it comes to identifying viable solutions and implementing them together with politics, business and society. Against this backdrop, the first Future Conference NRW took place on 12 and 13 November 2025 at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

16 universities, 20 universities of applied sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia - including Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H) - and non-university research institutions, in particular the Wuppertal Institute, pooled their expertise in a joint conference for the first time on these two days, making it clear that science is committed to the major transformation tasks of the state and is committed to driving forward the implementation of the sustainability goals of the 2030 Agenda and actively shaping the transformation process in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Ina Brandes, Minister of Science and patron of the Future Conference NRW: "The density and excellence of our research landscape with its outstanding universities, universities of applied sciences and research institutes is unique in Europe. The Future Conference pools this outstanding expertise and brings politics, science and business together. The close cooperation between universities and universities of applied sciences is particularly beneficial: it combines excellent research with practical teaching and direct transfer to industry and society. Only by working closely together will we succeed in achieving our sustainability goals."

About the conference programme

The conference brought together top researchers from North Rhine-Westphalia and pooled the expertise of leading minds from research and transfer in the state to drive forward the sustainable transformation.

The actual technical work at the conference took place in so-called future workshops. These were largely thematically orientated towards the recommendation of the NRW Sustainability Advisory Board for the state government on transformation areas specific to North Rhine-Westphalia.

A working group on the topic of "Climate Change and Health" took place under the leadership of Prof Dr Petra Thürmann, Vice President for Research and holder of the Chair of Clinical Pharmacology at UW/H. The critical guiding question was: How do we move society towards understanding planetary health and our own health together and wanting to improve it together?

UW/H political and conflict researcher Prof Dr Nils-Christian Bormann was the co-topic sponsor of the "Societal cooperation" workshop. The participants discussed how participation, dialogue and representation can succeed in a digitally, socially and ecologically transforming society - including the opportunities of digitalisation and AI for participation as well as challenges posed by social inequality, political violence and intergenerational conflicts.

The innovative workshop format enabled an intensive, focussed academic exchange on the respective topics: The participants were able to develop research questions, provide impetus for concrete implementation ideas and explore potential for future research collaborations.

Further information on the topic patrons of the individual future workshops can befound at www.zukunftskonferenz.nrw. They will also be available after the Future Conference as contact persons and mediators for science-based policy advice in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The first Future Conference was the starting point for further activities by the partners involved. Various follow-up formats will ensure that the state's scientific community continues to invest its expertise in achieving the sustainability goals beyond the initial conference. The ideas for this and for involving the next generation of scholars from 2026 onwards will be further specified at the conference.

Further information:

The Future Conference NRW was launched by the Sustainability Initiative of the Humboldtⁿ Universities and the Sustainability Alliance NAW.NRW of the universities of applied sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The first Future Conference NRW is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Detailed (press) information on the Future Conference can be found at www.zukunftskonferenz.nrw.