Americans and Chinese are struggling for predominance in the field of artificial intelligence. What opportunities are left for Europe and Germany? The Zukunftsbrücke 2018 focuses on this century’s key technology from a German-Chinese perspective. In Hangzhou, the stronghold of the Chinese AI industry, 30 young German and Chinese leaders will visit companies such as Alibaba and NetEase and extensively discuss the opportunities and consequences of artificial intelligence among each other and with experts. Besides political and economic aspects, social issues will also be addressed.

The Zukunftsbrücke 2018 takes place on October 14–20, 2018, in Hangzhou and Shanghai. It is a project of Stiftung Mercator and the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt in cooperation with the All-China Youth Federation.

The Zukunftsbrücke – Chinese-German Young Professional Campus aims to build an active, cross-sector network of young leaders from China and Germany. This personal and professional network is to make a key contribution to a future-oriented and sustainable partnership between the two countries.

Public confidence in the European project has dramatically fallen. A widespread gap between citizens’ expectations and the perceived or real shortcomings of the EU’s political performance has given rise to populist movements across the EU. These movements seek to block the path to further European unification, challenging its core values of freedom, democracy, rule of law, tolerance, and solidarity. With the elections to the European Parliament in May 2019 just around the corner, the European Union is facing a make or break situation.

Therefore, the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt is taking a clear stance for the principles and goals of a united and strengthened Europe. As a foundation with German roots and a global orientation, we strongly believe in and advocate the values of the European community. The Munich European Forum assembles some 200 European leaders from politics, business, and civil society to send a clear pro-European message: We need to strengthen the EU and bring it closer to its citizens.

The Forum is not a solitary event. It concludes and puts into a larger perspective the results and ideas of the first cycle of a dialogue process conducted over the last 18 months: Under the title “Refocusing Europe,” three European Tables dealt with key issues related to Europe’s economy, security, and identity. They will serve as starting-points for the discussions at the Munich European Forum.

As the global population is growing faster and faster, resources are becoming increasingly scarce and the gap between the rich and poor is widening. These developments pose enormous challenges for the global economy. How can we achieve a just and sustainable society? And what role does the financial system play?

Both the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt and Toniic consider responsible leadership and positive social change to be of central importance. And both organizations see the need to make the existing financial system fit for the global challenges of the future. The key question is: What helps people and our planet most?

How could such a transformation succeed? This is what the BMW Foundation & Toniic Retreat in Paretz is about. With a view to the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), up to 40 international leaders from the finance sector will discuss ideas and alliances and swap experiences and expertise.

Because of their limited mobility and socially assigned roles, women are more vulnerable than men in disasters. At the same time, women’s intimate, frontline knowledge of their local environment gives them the capacity to be leaders and transformational agents.

The United Nations 2030 Agenda recognizes that without gender equality and the empowerment of women sustainable development will be unattainable. One central element of sustainable development is resilience, understood as the ability to recognize and address transformative forces such us climate change, globalization, urbanization, technological progress, and demographic patterns.

So far, women’s leadership in building resilient and inclusive communities across the world has not yet been adequately highlighted. Therefore, the 13th BMW Foundation Global Table in Udaipur, India, wants to develop solutions on how to counter social inequalities and empower female leadership. Participants from around the globe will share their experiences, discuss success stories and challenges, and develop forward-looking strategies.