Daimler and Benz Foundation

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daimler and Benz Foundation
logo
legal form Foundation under civil law
founding August 8, 1986
founder Daimler AG
(formerly Daimler-Benz AG)
Seat Stuttgart
Office Ladenburg
precursor Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation
purpose Promotion of science and research
Chair Eckard Minx
Lutz Gade
Managing directors Jörg Klein
Foundation capital approx. 125 million euros (2019)
Website www.daimler-benz-stiftung.de

The Daimler and Benz Foundation (formerly Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation) is a legal foundation under civil law and was founded in 1986 by Daimler-Benz AG (today Daimler AG ). As a scientific and operational foundation , it promotes science and research in the field of people, the environment and technology. A particular concern of the foundation is the promotion of young scientists.

The former home of the Benz family in Ladenburg near Heidelberg is now the headquarters of the foundation's office.

The seat is in Stuttgart, the office of the foundation is located in the former home of the Benz family in Ladenburg near Heidelberg. There is also an office in the capital in Berlin's Haus Huth on Potsdamer Platz.

History and task

Bertha and Carl Benz

The foundation was established in 1986 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the invention of the automobile ( Carl Benz registered a patent for his “ vehicle with gas engine operation ” on January 29, 1886 ) as the “Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation” by Daimler-Benz AG (today Daimler AG) founded. It is named after the two company founders Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz. In March 2010, the Foundation's Board of Trustees changed its name to “Daimler and Benz Foundation”. By providing scientific results, the foundation tries to make contributions to the future development of society free of political attributions. It sees itself as a driving force behind the knowledge society and strives to create public awareness of the importance of science and research.

organization

The organs of the foundation are the board of directors and the foundation council. These are intended to ensure the implementation of the foundation's mandate by designing or deciding on the funding program. The board of directors consists of a chairman - currently Eckard Minx - and at least one other member - currently Lutz Gade - and is elected for a term of five years. According to the Articles of Association, the Board of Trustees has seven members, three of which are appointed by the Board of Management of Daimler AG and one member by the General Works Council of Daimler AG. Three other members are co-opted. They are also appointed for a five-year term. The Board of Trustees currently consists of:

Werner Breitschwerdt is the honorary chairman of the board of trustees .

Discussion and research

The foundation is breaking new ground in interdisciplinary research in different formats. In the funding projects, the search for solutions to socially relevant questions is combined with new research methods integrated into networks. As an actively operating foundation, the Daimler and Benz Foundation develops the research topics in a constant discourse process with scientists and experts from practice.

The forum for this are the “Ladenburg Discourses”, in which the suitability of proposed topics for further funding in “Ladenburger Kollegs” is discussed. In colleges, scientists from various institutes and disciplines work on a jointly developed research program for three to five years.

"AVENUE21 - Autonomous Traffic: Developments in Urban Europe in the 21st Century"

Current funding priorities of the foundation:

  1. With the funding project "AVENUE21 - Autonomous Traffic: Developments in Urban Europe in the 21st Century", the Daimler and Benz Foundation is supporting an interdisciplinary research team at the Technical University of Vienna , which is investigating how cities and urban societies could develop through autonomous driving how existing urban structures affect the development of automated road traffic. In addition, international pioneering regions in which autonomous driving is already intensively promoted will be considered over the entire duration of the project. With a view to the future scenarios to be expected, the scientists are interested, for example, in the way in which the quality of locations can be reassessed if it is possible to use the driving time in the autonomously operating car for other productive purposes. Further research is to be carried out into whether urban areas that have become free through more efficient vehicle and infrastructure use could provide new and valuable design potential in urban development.
  2. The introduction of the Internet not only changed people's private and professional lives significantly, but also their perceptions, feelings and the way they communicate. The impact this technological revolution has on mental health has been the subject of intense discussion ever since. Psychiatry should actually take on an expert role in this discussion, but due to the lack of empirical data, psychiatric knowledge of the causal links between Internet use and mental health is still insufficient. The “Internet and Mental Health” funding project, initiated in 2016, examines the question of whether the “Internet” technology causes or has a negative impact on mental illness. The interdisciplinary team of scientists also researches whether far-reaching technical developments are associated with certain stress reactions in the population and how these can be countered.
  3. The interdisciplinary research project "Determining language proficiency in children with a migration background" (Scientific director: Jörg Roche), which has been funded since October 2014, aims to develop a method for measuring the language proficiency of children with a migration background between the ages of four and five. Since around a third of all children currently enrolled in Germany have a migration background, it is important for society as a whole to provide optimal support. Most of the language tests that exist today are not designed for children with a migration background. So these children - due to a deficient diagnosis - can suffer disadvantages for their life. The language test should be carried out as a game on a tablet computer. The aim is to create a relaxed play environment for the children, the data is recorded digitally and evaluated in a semi-automated manner. The test should not only deliver precise results, it should also be easy to use in practice.
  4. "Pleistocene Hominin Migration of Java"
    Together with the Werner Reimers Foundation and the Johanna Quandt University Foundation, the Daimler and Benz Foundation has been promoting the interdisciplinary research project "Pleistocene Hominin Migration of Java: Multi-Scale Agent-Based Model Simulation" as an individual project since 2019. Its aim is to gain new knowledge about the spread of early human forms in Southeast Asia. The research project is scientifically supervised by the paleoanthropology department at the Senckenberg Nature Museum under the direction of Friedemann Schrenk . The Indonesian geologist Mika Rizki Puspaningrum examines the migration movements of early hominids using a so-called agent-based model simulated on the computer. It not only describes the environmental conditions in which people lived, but also the scope for decision-making that they found under the given environmental conditions. With the help of computer-aided modeling, the migration movements at that time should be virtually reproduced.

Scholarship program

Scholarship program

The focus of the scholarship program is on promoting excellent postdocs and junior professors from various disciplines in order to support their academic career during the usually particularly productive phase after their doctorate. The annual funding amount is 20,000 euros per scholarship, which is granted for a period of two years. Above all, it serves to unbureaucratic financing of the scientific assistants and technical equipment, research trips and conferences required in the context of the respective research project. Twelve scholarships are awarded each year, two of which are financed by the Reinhard Frank Foundation.

Events and price

Bertha Benz lecture
Haus Huth on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin

The foundation strives to bring science and scientific results to the public through various event formats:

  1. At the "Berlin Colloquium" since 1997, experts from science, business and politics have come together for an interdisciplinary discussion. The spectrum of questions from the field of tension between humans, the environment and technology ranges from the interface between humans and machines, molecular medicine, neurosciences and cultural sciences through psychology, ecology, urbanism and computer science to communication and management developments.
  2. With the “Bertha Benz Lecture” series of lectures, the foundation commemorates the pioneering work of Bertha Benz (1849–1944), who energetically supported her husband Carl Benz in the invention of the automobile. At the same time, the foundation recognizes the importance of women in science, business and politics. Speakers in recent years were:
    • Christiane Woopen (Managing Director Cologne Center for Ethics, Rights, Economics, and Social Siences of Health, 2017)
    • Tanja C. Vollmer (Scientific Director of the architecture and research office kopvol architecture & psychology in Rotterdam and Berlin, visiting professor for architectural psychology and health construction at the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Munich )
    • Mechtild Rössler (Director UNESCO World Heritage Center)
  3. Since the summer of 2009, the foundation has been awarding the “Bertha Benz Prize” for an outstanding engineering doctorate following the lecture. The prize is endowed with 10,000 euros. Prize winners in recent years were:
  4. In 2008, the foundation launched the “Innovationsforum”, which is aimed specifically at the next generation from business, science and associations. Current organizational theories and management concepts are put to the test here. The main focus is currently on the subject of “Organized Creativity”.
  5. In cooperation with Daimler AG and the Mercedes-Benz Museum , the foundation organizes the lecture series "Dialogue in the Museum". In the futuristic building of the Stuttgart Museum, scientists from the projects and programs of the foundation present their findings to an interested public and enter into discussion with them. Each lecture focuses on a special topic with which specific social implications or economic effects are linked. Speakers included:
    • Miriam Haidle: "The awakening of the spirit - A new view of the incarnation"
    • Johannes Vogel : “Threatened biodiversity? What has to happen so that we do not lose the diversity of life "
    • Rohini Kuner : "When a guardian angel becomes a tyrant: New findings in pain research"
    • Vincent Heuveline: "Algorithms & Artificial Intelligence: Real Progress or Just Digital Alchemy?"
    • Dirk Haller: “We are not alone. How microbes in the gut affect our lives "
  6. The Daimler and Benz Foundation regularly hosts academic debates at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. The content portfolio of this open series of events in the historic Haus Huth is broad and offers scientists the opportunity to express their point of view with commitment and to justify them with the latest findings from their research. Speakers included:
  7. Together with the Mercedes-Benz plant in Bremen, the foundation has been organizing the lecture series "People, Environment, Technology" since 2016, in which scientists and science journalists provide information on current research findings on the interrelationships between people, the environment and technology and take a position on socially relevant issues. Speakers in 2019 were:
    • Günther Ortmann : "Parasites of doubt - 'Merchants of Doubt' and the longing for certainty"
    • Kristin Shi-Kupfer : “What about the 'China Model'? - Current controversies within the Chinese elite "
    • Ernst Osterkamp : "The Triviality of Everyday Life - Economy and Industry in the German Zeitroman of the 19th Century"

Many of these lectures can be found as audio-video podcasts on the Foundation's homepage and on its YouTube channel.

literature

  • Rainer Dietrich / Kateri Jochum (eds.): Teaming up: Components of Safety under High Risk . Ashgate, Aldershot, 2004; ISBN 0-7546-3435-3 .
  • Meinolf Dierkes / Ariane Berthoin Antal / John Child / Ikujiro Nonaka (eds.): Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge . Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001; ISBN 0-19-829583-9 . (in Chinese at Shanghai's People Publishing House, 2001; ISBN 7-208-03795-7 ; since 2003 also as a paperback at Oxford University Press)
  • Axel Michaels: Rituals - What holds our life together . Spectrum of Science Special, 1/11, Heidelberg, 2011; ISSN  0943-7096 , ISBN 978-3-941205-64-2 .
  • Arnim Falk: How do we decide? In the conflict between reason and gut feeling . Spectrum of Science Special, 1/12, Heidelberg, 2012; ISSN  2193-4452 , ISBN 978-3-941205-90-1 .
  • Bernhard Kegel / Rainer Riemann / Frank M. Spinath: Genes and Environment. How we become what we are . Spectrum of Science Special, 2/13, Heidelberg, 2013; ISSN  2193-4452 , ISBN 978-3-943702-27-9 .
  • Daimler and Benz Foundation (ed.): Power. Are we fed up with it? Edition UNIVERSITAS, Heidelberg, 2013; ISBN 978-3-943137-32-3 .
  • Daimler and Benz Foundation (eds.): Gret Haller: The roots of freedom in the interaction of law and politics , 2013; ISSN  0938-0159
  • Markus Maurer / Chris Gerdes / Barbara Lenz / Hermann Winner (eds.): Autonomous driving: technical, legal and social aspects. Berlin and Heidelberg 2015; ISBN 978-3-662-45853-2 .
  • Daimler and Benz Foundation (eds.): Eckard Minx / Rainer Dietrich: Autonomous Driving - Where we are today and what still needs to be done. Munich and Berlin 2015; ISBN 978-3-492-05780-6
  • Spectrum of Science Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (ed.): Man, machine, visions. How biology and technology merge (= 18th Berlin Colloquium). Spectrum of Science Special 2/15 , Heidelberg 2015.
  • Spectrum of Science Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (Hrsg.): Burnout. The stressed society (= 19th Berlin Colloquium). Brain & mind. Dossier 1/16 , Heidelberg 2016.
  • Oliver Bendel (Ed.): Care robots. Wiesbaden 2018; ISBN 978-3-658-22698-5 .
  • Alexander Roßnagel / Gerrit Hornung (eds.): Protection of fundamental rights in the smart car. Communication, security and data protection in the connected vehicle . Wiesbaden 2019; ISBN 978-3-658-26944-9 .
  • Johannes Schnurr / Alexander Mäder (eds.): Science and society: a trustful dialogue. Positions and perspectives in science communication today . Berlin and Heidelberg 2020; ISBN 978-3-662-59465-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Daimler and Benz Foundation - people. Retrieved April 1, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Daimler and Benz Foundation - Youtube Channel. Retrieved April 1, 2020 .