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Initiative

Werkstatt des Wandels

An Initiative of Challenge 1 – International collaboration to accelerate the energy transition

Where Change Becomes the Future 
 

Germany is changing. At a pace and with an intensity not seen for decades. Industry is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by decarbonisation, digitalisation and the need to adapt to a world shaped by growing crises and geopolitical tensions. Factories must make their production more climate-friendly, reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and remain competitive in global markets. But the pressure to change extends far beyond industry. In agriculture, for example, climate change and major political projects such as the energy transition are reshaping entire regions. Landscapes are changing. Regions are searching for new paths, new identities and new forms of value creation. This creates concern, but also determination. And it raises a question that concerns us all: How can this profound transformation succeed? What might a new model look like, one that is economically viable while also strengthening social cohesion? The Werkstatt des Wandels is a format that brings people to the places where the future is taking shape. Places where responsibility is assumed, solutions are tested and bridges are built between politics, business, science and civil society. At the centre lies the question on which so much else depends today: How can we secure a clean, affordable and reliable energy supply? Without it, there can be no competitive industry, no secure jobs and therefore no renewed prosperity. Without a strong economy, open democratic societies lose their foundation.

Our approach

A Series That Inspires Confidence

The Workshop for Transformation was launched in 2023 at the initiative of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, together with the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, the Carl Zeiss Foundation and Fraunhofer IAO/CeRRI. Across five locations throughout Germany, from Erlangen and Jena to Müncheberg, Stade and Renningen, one thing became clear: transformation is not an abstract mega-project. It happens locally, through people. In hospitals and laboratories, on farms and factory floors. And it succeeds where technology, political frameworks and public trust come together. 

From Visibility to Action
Since 2025, the BMW Foundation has continued the format with a stronger focus on industrial transformation and practical solutions. In Hamburg, people from industry, city administration and politics gathered at Aurubis to discuss how energy systems can be meaningfully connected between industrial sites and urban neighbourhoods. In Burghausen, the focus was on Bavaria’s chemical triangle, a region with around 20,000 industrial jobs and a key test case for whether energy-intensive industry has a future in Germany. The ideas and proposals developed during these workshops feed directly into political dialogue, most recently in exchanges with Bavarian Minister for Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger.
2026: New Places,
New Solutions
This year, the Workshop for Transformation travels to places where the energy question takes very different forms. To the Alpine foothills, where agriculture is becoming two things at once: a producer of renewable energy through biogas, agrivoltaics and renewable raw materials, while also serving as a natural carbon sink as wetlands and peatlands are restored. To one of Europe’s emerging hubs for artificial intelligence, where the question is whether digital sovereignty can grow on the basis of clean and reliable energy. And to Schwedt, where geopolitical pressure reveals what energy security truly means and how the transition from Russian oil to green hydrogen might succeed in a structurally weak border region.
Outlook
At the end of every workshop, more remains than a final paper with recommendations for action. Trusting and resilient connections endure. Ideas create impact and can be scaled. And people leave with an important experience: transformation is not simply something to endure, but something that can be shaped together. So that Germany remains future-proof. And democracy alive. 

Contact us

Florian Nitzinger
E-Mail Werkstatt-des-Wandels@bmw-foundation.org

Florian Nitzinger is the project lead for the Werkstatt des Wandels and he is part of our Solutions, Investments & Partnerships Team. You can contact Florian with all questions regarding our Werkstatt des Wandels activities.