Visitors knew in advance that this year's EMPOWER Transfer event was taking place in a former swimming pool. Nevertheless, some were surprised on Monday afternoon that the pool was actually still filled to the brim with water and even had art installed on it. The former indoor swimming pool north, which is now run by the operator of the Ludwigshafen community waste-to-energy plant (GML) and used as a fire-fighting water reservoir, is a very unusual place. As GML Managing Director Jochen Schütz explained, it is opened to the public a few times a year for special events - including the EMPOWER Transfer Splash on September 23.
In order to introduce the audience to the idea of EMPOWER, moderator Prof. Dr. Peter Mudra had brought a guest from each of the five universities involved in the network into his small panel at the edge of the pool at the beginning of the event: Prof. Dr. Anett Mehler-Bicher (Mainz University of Applied Sciences), Prof. Dr. Sandra Bensch (Catholic University of Applied Sciences Mainz), Prof. Dr. Bruno Grimm (Bingen University of Applied Sciences), Prof. Dr. Henning Kehr (Worms University of Applied Sciences) and Prof. Dr. Jutta Rump (Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society). Some of them were already involved in the application phase of the BMBF-funded project and were able to report that the Zukunftsinstitut defined megatrend topics at around the same time and that all five EMPOWER universities were each involved in one of them. The aim of EMPOWER was and is to bring together this excellence in connectivity, health, cyber security, sustainability and new work so that the participating universities can work together on an interdisciplinary basis and benefit from each other. The example of the midwifery scientists from Ludwigshafen, who are enriching the health focus at Mainz Catholic University of Applied Sciences through EMPOWER, shows that the underlying concept has paid off after a good year and a half of the project.
Science transfer as a basic element
Part of the EMPOWER vision was also that the findings from the network and the resulting pilot projects should benefit the economy and society in the region. It was therefore fitting that GML Managing Director Schütz brought the perspective of business to the otherwise professorial Transfer Splash panel and emphasized the importance of cooperation between the various stakeholders.
After the discussion round, Jutta Rump placed an emphasis at the Transfer Splash on New Work - the key topic that HWG LU is contributing to the EMPOWER network. In her keynote speech "New Work spills over into the world of work", the head of the Ludwigshafen Institute for Employment and Employability (IBE) first outlined the prevailing conditions on the labor market, such as a shortage of workers, young talent and skilled workers, before venturing an outlook based on demographic developments: "Theoretically, the next generation must be able to do and achieve almost twice as much to compensate for the demographic gap. A considerable increase in skills and productivity is required." How can we counteract this and what core skills are required? What does the concept of New Work actually entail and what can it achieve in a working environment characterized by scarcity and constant change? Rump, a sought-after expert on the modern world of work, gave those present interesting insights into her specialist field.
Concluding with networking and saxophone music
Afterwards, visitors were able to find out more about the five EMPOWER megatrends at themed islands installed at various points in the indoor pool and take the opportunity to talk to the EMPOWER team and other guests. As with the warm-up and during the breaks, a saxophonist provided the appropriate background music from the gallery.
A BIG THANK YOU GOES TO GML, OUR HOST FOR THE TRANSFER SPLASH
Further information on the EMPOWER joint project:https://empower-rlp.de/
Download presentation "New Work spills over into the world of work" by Prof. Dr. Jutta Rump: seafile.rlp.net/f/3bffc426cc704608a73a/
More about the history of the former Hallenbad Nord at https://www.gml-ludwigshafen.de/geschichte-ehemaliges-hallenbad-nord#:~:text=Das%20Ehemalige%20Hallenbad%20Nord%20war,eine%20Sportanlage%20mit%20Schwimmhalle%20vor.
