Press

When culture and business come together, it's not just about money and sponsorship per se. This was made abundantly clear at the 49th meeting of the Karlsruhe TechnologyRegion's regional conference. Rather, cooperation at eye level was the wish of all participants.

"We wanted to create something new within the regional conference with the format of a discussion round with the most important cultural players in the region," explains its Chairman and IHK President Wolfgang Grenke. "We offered a platform in the IHK Haus der Wirtschaft to network the worlds. We should realize that we have an exceptional cultural landscape by international standards, which is far too often taken for granted." Everyone agreed that culture means quality of life. "It is also an important location factor. If we want to keep people in our region or attract them to our region, this is an asset that we can use to our advantage. In the competition between regions, our exceptional range of cultural facilities and events is a clear unique selling point. It is not without reason that the Karlsruhe TechnologyRegion has the slogan "High-tech meets lifestyle", because culture in its many forms is an important location factor, also from an economic point of view. This will play an increasingly important role, especially against the background of the shortage of skilled workers." In this context, Grenke highlighted the cooperation between the Welcome Center of the TechnologyRegion (TRK) and the Badisches Staatstheater.

Karlsruhe's Lord Mayor Dr. Frank Mentrup also emphasized: "With the start of new eras in some venues, we are looking forward to exciting times in our regional cultural scene, which may even have an impact on the whole country. Everyone involved is aware that cultural institutions are increasingly becoming places of discussion that must also be attractive to the younger generations."

Wolf E. Rahlfs, artistic director of the Badische Landesbühne Bruchsal, wants the aforementioned dialog at eye level. "We are not supplicants," explains the former actor and director firmly. Johannes Graf-Hauber, Director of the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, takes a similar view. "We seek out and use collaborations with the business world. For example, in the area of 3D printing for our stage sets. Or, with regard to the TRK hydrogen offensive, I ask myself the question: why can't we as a theater test a hydrogen truck for our fleet?" Efficient and sustainable theater renovation would also be impossible without cooperation with the private sector.

Incidentally, sustainability is also a topic close to the heart of Nicola May, director of the Stadttheater Baden-Baden. Her wish for the region in response to the question posed by moderator Dr. Volkmar Baumgärtner, Managing Director of KulturRegion Karlsruhe: better public transport connections to the theater. Not least in terms of sustainability. She also made it clear that theater is timeless and (almost) crisis-proof. Ultimately, it only needs one person on stage and one person in the audience. An art of the moment.

A second important topic came into play here: for May and Rahlfs, theater and culture are above all analog, not in the sense of opposing digital, but as places of encounter between people in the audience or, ideally, with the people on stage. Perhaps also as places of encounter in the middle of the city. Prof. Dr. Frédéric Bußmann, Director of the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, for example, has to make a virtue out of necessity. Baumgärtner calls it closed but open. "We are a nomadic museum," explains Bußmann, "dependent on cooperation, for example with the ZKM, which has given the exhibitions a new home, a strategy for the future born out of necessity. This shows that a museum is more than just a place. Here, too, there are opportunities for cooperation with industry, namely in partnership for a sustainable expansion of the Kunsthalle.

Prof. Dr. Eckart Köhne, Director of the Baden State Museum, whose home, Karlsruhe Palace, is to be renovated from autumn 2025, is facing a similar situation. He is hoping for asylum in the city center. "After all, culture is an important location factor for tourism and a component of a liveable city center."

Alistair Hudson, who has been director of the ZKM for one year and two days, wants to lead the museum into its third era, into the "Post-Digital Bauhaus" chapter. How could it be otherwise, the Englishman is focusing on international digital collaborations that make time and space unimportant and no longer direct the focus of the cultural world exclusively on the world's cultural capitals. Karlsruhe can also score points here with extraordinary innovations, not least thanks to the cooperation between culture, business and technology.

All those involved saw the subsidies for the cultural facilities as justified. "The investment in a society worth living in is definitely worth the money.

View into the TRK

Managing Director Jochen Ehlgötz provided the traditional look at the activities of TechnologieRegion Karlsruhe GmbH. As already mentioned, the region is focusing heavily on H2 hydrogen as a very important energy source for the region's future energy supply and as a contribution to CO2 neutrality. "We have enormous expertise in this area. Within our project, "Climate protection and value creation through hydrogen - KWH2", we want to show ways, define framework conditions and are planning an initial modeling by the H2iPortKAMod project consortium in the Rhine port."

In this context, Ehlgötz announces the Hydrogen Week from June 17 to 21, 2024 at the IHK Karlsruhe.

Other key topics at TRK include national and possibly international networking in the field of bioeconomy. Work is currently underway on a bioeconomy strategy for the region, which will be presented at the IHK on April 22. The NEO 2024 Innovation Award also deals with the topic of sustainability. It is looking for innovations in the circular economy.

Finally, the Baden-Baden Film and Series Festival was presented, which is considered one of the most important industry gatherings.