Aspen Institute Germany

The Aspen Institute Germany e. V. is a German think tank that has been operating in Berlin since 1974 . It organizes conferences and meetings for executives and socially relevant actors on current topics in business, politics and culture. The institute has set itself the goal of promoting “the transatlantic community and the ideal of a free and open society”. The Aspen Institute Germany is an independent branch of the US Aspen Institute in Washington, DC, and part of a global network with partner institutions in the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Romania, Spain, India, Japan, Mexico and the Ukraine. It is funded by a Circle of Friends, the Shepard Stone Foundation, and a number of public and private sources. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Eckart von Klaeden , the Executive Director is Rüdiger Lentz . From January 2021 Stormy-Annika Mildner will take over the post of director.

history

The Aspen Institute Germany e. V. was founded in October 1974 - as the first in Europe - by Shepard "Shep" Stone , whose director he was until 1988. Under Stone, the institute made a significant contribution to understanding between East and West during the Cold War . Under Shepard Stone's leadership, the institute also played a key role in founding the Free University of Berlin and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin .

Under the leadership of Stone's successors David Anderson and Catherine McArdle Kelleher , the institute has devoted itself to finding solutions to the Balkan conflict. In this area, too, the institute was able to make a significant, positive contribution by bringing executives from all sides together for trusting discussions.

In 2001 Jeffrey Gedmin took over the management of the Aspen Institute Germany e. V. During Gedmin's term of office, the government of the State of Berlin essentially stopped its 30-year financial support for the institute for economic reasons. However, Gedmin was able to win new grants from public and private sources both in Germany and in the USA for the institute. However, he was better known in the German public for his support for US Iraq policy and his criticism of the foreign policy of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder . Gedmin's clear political positioning was a clear break with the non-partisan positioning of the institute among its predecessors. The director and the institute therefore fell out of favor for some time in German government circles.

In August 2007, Charles King Mallory IV, a five-year advisor to the Middle East Head of the US Department of State, took over the reins of the institute. Under Mallory's leadership, the institute resumed its non-partisan mediating role. Nevertheless, the Berlin Senate cut the grants from the Aspen Institute by around 500,000 euros, and ultimately completely.

Rüdiger Lentz has been the director since September 2013, and he is the first German to hold this position. He declared it his aim to maintain the transatlantic dialogue even in times of foreign policy uncertainty. The institute currently has 16 employees (as of 2018). The Association of Friends of the Aspen Institute Germany e. V. belong as company members u. a. the German Bank AG , the Egon Zehnder International GmbH, Robert Bosch GmbH , the Daimler AG and more than 100 private members. Public institutions that supported the institute according to the 2015/2016 annual report during the period included a. the Foreign Office , the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Embassy of the United States in Berlin .

program

The work of the institute is divided into three programs: In the “Leadership Program”, seminars for managers are held several times a year, which use the Socratic method to convey the basics of “value-based leadership”. The “Public Program” is aimed at a larger audience, but is also only open to an invited public. In the “Policy Program”, discussions with relevant actors from politics, business and science take place on political issues. The events that take place regularly include an annual conference on artificial intelligence that has been held since 2018. At the first conference, speakers and a. Nicola Beer , Renata Jungo Brüngger , Dileep George and Frank Kirchner took part.

In addition, the institute has been presenting the “Shepard Stone Award for Outstanding Transatlantic Leadership” since 2014. The previous winners are Mathias Döpfner (2014), Leonard Lauder (2015), Guido Goldman and Wolf Biermann (both 2017).

Individual evidence

[1] ttp://www.aspeninstitute.de/aspen-germany/

[2] ttps://www.aspeninstitute.org/partners/

[3] ttp://www.aspeninstitute.de/gremien/

[4] Stormy-Annika Mildner becomes director of the Aspen Institute. Retrieved June 17, 2020 .

[5] ttp://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/berlin/article394115/Senat_streicht_500_000_Euro_Zuschuss_fuer_Aspen_Institut.html?print=yes&print=yes

[6] ttps://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendung/zeitgenossen/swr2-zeitgenossen-ruediger-lentz-leiter-des-aspen-institute-berlin/-/id=660664/did=19740208/nid=660664 /14f56hs/index.html

[7] ttps://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/aspen-institut-von-berlin-aus-eine-bruecke-nach- Amerika-lösungen/ 22888648.html

[8] ttp://www.aspeninstitute.de/team/

[9] PDF

[10] ttp://www.aspeninstitute.de/wp-content/uploads/Aspen_Institute_Germany_Annual_Report_15-16.pdf

[11] ttp://www.aspeninstitute.de/leadership-program/

[12] ttp://www.aspeninstitute.de/public-program/

[13] ttp://www.aspeninstitute.de/policy-program/

[14] ttp://www.aspeninstitute.de/event/194/

[15] ttp://www.aspeninstitute.de/archive/