Science Forum 2020: Focus on sustainability The OFFIS Science Forum was created to provide a place for scientific exchange among all staff of the institute and neighboring groups of the University of Oldenburg. This year, the topic sustainability was the focus of the event, which, due to corona, was digitally realized for the first time.
Climate change and the associated transition to a new energy system present us all with a variety of challenges. Targeted research is therefore one of the fundamental driving forces for sustainable digitization. Clever strategies for the use of digital technology for environmental and health protection play just as important a role as the general increase in efficiency of existing and future technologies. In order to bring together the social, economic and ecological aspects for collective action, the member states of the United Nations (UN) have set themselves 17 goals for sustainable development.
OFFIS also aligns its research with these 17 sustainability goals. Thus, various research and development projects of the institute deal directly or indirectly with the goals of the UN. The purpose of this year's Science Forum was therefore to make the sustainability effects of the projects even more visible and to discuss them together with colleagues from different research areas.
"Sustainability concerns us all. As a driver of digitization, computer science can make an important contribution to achieving the sustainability goals of the United Nations. With our OFFIS Science Forum we show which diverse digital solutions can contribute to our common sustainable future".
- Prof. Dr. Susanne Boll-Westermann on the goal of the digital event
The event, which was led by OFFIS board member Prof. Dr. Susanne Boll-Westermann and Dr. André Bolles ( Director of the Institute's Traffic Department), proved to be a complete success. In spite of the digital execution, there were lively discussions among the more than 70 participating scientists. Ten research groups from all four areas of OFFIS took the opportunity to introduce themselves and their projects. For this purpose, the speakers had prepared a poster as well as an accompanying short presentation, which summarized the core topics of their respective research contents in a pointed way.
Topics such as autonomous driving for safe and sustainable urban transport or the digitization of agriculture for greater animal welfare were discussed just as lively as concepts for resource-saving production and innovative developments for the medicine and care of the future. The content was uploaded to a virtual platform in the run-up to the forum, where it was already possible to ask questions and discuss the individual posters. During the science forum itself, there was a digital room for each of the posters to be presented and discussed.
We would like to thank all attendees for a great event and are pleased about the numerous sustainability aspects that could be focused by the Science Forum. These will continue to play a major role for the work at OFFIS and serve as inspiration for current and future projects.
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