From the country to the city or from the city to the village – how our society is changing its structure through digitalization. It is called digitalization or digital revolution. Many people also call it Industry 4.0, a term that was coined by the German government. And so many terms are now being used in this direction: Economy 4.0, Education 4.0 or even Village 4.0. Does digitalisation offer the possibility of a renaissance of villages? For decades we have been learning that people are being drawn from the village to the city – until a few years ago, all studies and forecasts were based on the assumption that life and work will continue to be in the urban area – even in the future. Village means narrowness and dwindling opportunities the longer you stay there. So many villages are abandoned today, only “the old” are still there. In return, the cities are bursting at the seams. Does digitalisation reverse the trend “from the village to the city”? First of all, it is important to understand …

The Real Estate Innovation Summit 2018 of Feldhoff & Cie in Frankfurt shows how mobile the best in the real estate industry already think. Actually, it is quite clear: A property is an investment in the future – for 20, 50, 80, 100 and more years. And not only in real estate, but also in the structure of our society, how we live, work and keep ourselves healthy. Real estate forms the framework of the society into which we define our quality of life. At this summit in Frankfurt I asked the following question: What are the 1-3 burning issues of the future? A good 50% of the proposed topics are in the direction of sustainability, social peace and general quality of life. Around 25% focus on concrete topics such as work, everyday life and education. A further 25% put forward concrete topics on the development of the real estate industry. Which is logical, of course. But here, too, a very mobile, open-minded way of thinking can be seen, which is oriented towards the basic …

What always excites me in South Westphalia is the openness and curiosity with which people approach the topic of digitisation – they look at the opportunities and try to eliminate the risks together. That is great! And right, very important: Digitization WITH THE PEOPLE. Here you try to take everyone along, explain it and look for opportunities, may build your own networks from time to time. Really an example region for digitization. Here is a short contribution by Prof. Dr. Ewald Mittelstädt – at the Fachhochschule Südwestfalen in Meschede he is one of the most innovative teachers in Germany – for entrepreneurship: Digital competence landscape Olsberg & region Yesterday the cities of Brilon and Olsberg invited to Olsberg to forge the future of the region together with the futurologist Max Thinius. Digitisation offers new opportunities for South Westphalia and due to its excellent structure, the region was chosen as the digital example region for Europe. Since the topic of digitisation is of great importance, observations are no longer sufficient. Companies must integrate themselves, because only …

When we talk about digitalisation today, we are talking about technology first and foremost. There is a lot of talk about artificial intelligence. Before that it was Blockchain. The 3-D printer’s been around a while. But algorithms that are actually found everywhere in the digital world are currently repositioning themselves. Nobody talks about hipsters! Hipsters in particular, like the hippies of yore, are the drivers of change. Totally nonconformist they show us how it works differently. They take us into the future. They try things out, take no account of existing structures. No matter if they have a beard or not – and yes, they have reinvented coffee (you know, a little more sour, more aromatic, handbrew and not quite so hot, but guaranteed by sustainable plantations). And that’s exactly why we need them! To bring digital “solutions” into our society that fit the new structures made possible by digitalization. Because the hipsters turn technology into solutions. Applications that we humans need (or sometimes don’t need), but which are in any case tangible – they …

For my dear colleagues Friedrich & Weik, I have written an important chapter in their new bestseller as a guest author. – and made a lecture out of it. We live here on this planet for thousands of years and all of a sudden machines come, say they have artificial intelligence and take over! Is that so? Or are machines perhaps even necessary so that we humans can continue to live on this planet for thousands of years? Can we even do without machines? The new complexity of the world. Can we still absorb it without support? We use algorithms from Facebook, Amazon, Google and others as a matter of course. But no one is asking themselves the question: shouldn’t we actually have a right to our own personal algorithm? An algorithm that advises us in everyday life? An algorithm that at least reads our intentions and can therefore advise us better than an algorithm that only wants to sell? Should politicians perhaps be replaced by machines? Perhaps because they no longer have an overview …