500 experts from the fields of research, business, politics and culture attend the international conress on "Our Common Future"

From 2 to 6 November, one of the year's biggest congresses focusing on the future will be taking place in Hannover and Essen in Germany. Leading researchers and young academics from around the world will be conducting an intergenerational and cross-disciplinary debate about global challenges and pre-senting their ideas for tomorrow?s society.

The following will be among the speakers: Nobel Prize winners Elizabeth Blackburn and Carlo Rubbia, the economist Paul Collier, President of the Federal Constitutional Court Andreas Voßkuhle, brain researcher Baroness Susan Greenfield, former director of the UN Environment Programme Klaus Töpfer, post-colonial theorist Homi K. Bhabha, artificial intelligence researcher Wolfgang Wahlster, the President of the International Academy for Production Engineering Fred van Houten, integration researchers Klaus J. Bade and Steven Vertovec, stem cell pioneer Irving Weissman, the Indian-American writer Suketu Mehta, the religious scientists Philip Jenkins and Pippa Norris, Joseph Kardinal Zen from Hong Kong, the climate researchers Hans Joachim Schellnhuber and Reinhard Hüttl and Norbert Lammert, President of the German Bundestag.

"Our Common Future" is being staged by Deutsche Messe AG, the Volkswagen Foundation and Stiftung Mercator in cooperation with the State Capital of Hannover and RUHR.2010, the European Capital of Culture.

This congress with its focus on the future is focusing on the following issues:

Climate change and energy, including climate justice and sustainable use of natural resources
Future technologies, including man-machine communication, mobility in the post-fossil age and the future of work
Economic development and structural change, including development policy and the future of mega-cities
Global health and molecular medicine, including infectious diseases and stem cell research
Human rights and global values, including the future of international law, rural to urban migration and religious conflicts

How will we communicate with one another in the future? Can hu-man beings live forever? How can migrants be integrated success-fully into society? What is the future for Christianity? How will the factory of tomorrow look? Who will bear the costs of the conse-quences of climate change? How can the protection of human rights be ensured worldwide? These and other questions will be explored by the speakers at ?Our Common Future?.

Event date and venue
The congress will be taking place from 2 to 4 November at the Convention Center at the Hannover trade fair grounds. In Essen, the experts will be meeting at the Philharmonie Essen (Huyssenallee 53) from 5 to 6 November.

Obtain accreditation now
As a member of the press, please re-quest the accreditation link by sending an e-mail to: presse@stiftung-mercator.de. For reasons of security, advance accreditation is re-quired.

Interview information
Please note that the majority of speakers will not be attending the entire congress. It is expected that the speakers will only be available for interviews for a short period of time following their respective presentations. Please indicate any in-terview requests in advance by e-mail (for Hannover: rehlaender@volkswagenstiftung.de; for Essen: klasen@stiftung-mercator.de). We will then do our best to arrange an interview for you.

Programme
The congress programme and the latest information can be found on the Internet at: www.ourcommonfuture.de

If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Jens Rehländer
VolkswagenStiftung
Leiter Kommunikation
Tel.: +49 (0)511-8381-380
rehlaender@volkswagenstiftung.de

Anja Brokjans
Deutsche Messe
Pressesprecherin Unternehmens-PR
Tel.: +49 (0)511-89316-02
Anja.Brokjans@messe.de

Marisa Klasen
Stiftung Mercator
Kommunikationsmanagerin
Tel.: +49 (0)201-24522-53
klasen@stiftung-mercator.de

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