The Focus of Our Nonprofit Work

"The German economy needs well-trained and interdisciplinary-minded specialists more than ever to remain competitive on an international level. Education is key for progress and prosperity. This is where the foundation for the future is laid – and this is how our founder had already seen it and what we continuously focus the efforts of the Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation on. But we can only overcome the challenges of the future if all active players join forces and see themselves as part of a chain of effects.

In our projects, we try to lead by example and consistently promote networking: With the Dr. Hans Riegel Awards, we collaborate with 15 German universities to support around 200 promising talents in the STEM fields in their transition from school to university. We then continue to assist them through our MINT TANK program. The competition supports the exchange of information between schools and universities as educational institutions and forsters talent. The program for former prize winners focuses on interdisciplinary learning and activities using a variety of formats. In the TouchTomorrow Truck project, we work hand in hand with regional divisions of the Federal Employment Office to directly connect forward-looking ideas with the best possible career guidance. The field of early childhood education is not left out either: Our Scientist Foxes project supports kindergartens throughout their region, enabling them to benefit from sharing concepts and experiences and hosting free training courses for the day care personnel of nearby institutions as “Lighthouses”. You find numerous other examples of our foundation's networking endeavors in our annual report."

"There is no future without a past. In times of ever-accelerating progress and change, we have to pay special attention to values. Dr. Hans Riegel clearly established the conservation and preservation of artistic and cultural values in our foundation's charter. This is a path we are happy to follow, for example in projects such as the visualization of Zick’s frescos in collaboration with the Middle Rhine Museum in Koblenz. Just like our founder though, we believe that our mission in terms of values is by no means limited to the narrower sense. To the contrary: Global values like being close to nature, public discourse, and a sense of cohesion are very important to us and play a key role in our commitment. In the painting contest Inspired by Nature, elementary school kids explore nature in an artistic manner. The intergenerational approach of the Deutsche Museum Bonn is an important aspect for the financial support we provide them with. Children and grandparents frequently visit the museum together to find access to technology and explore the beginnings and the roads that have brought us the high tech we have today. We believe that this approach of learning together and from each other is absolutely worth supporting and building on. Because of the rapid pace of development though, we unfortunately often miss out on these types of interpersonal experiences. The same applies to public discourse. That is why we intend to initiate reflection and discourse wherever we can - for example through technical sociology with TouchTomorrow, addressing the question how the presented future technologies will impact our society. Our financial support for the Elenoide project is also based on this: We want to help ensure that human-machine interaction with humanoid robots is explored at an early stage to create a suitable discussion platform that does justice to both the fascination as well as the fears and concerns."