The charter provided by our founder, Dr. Hans Riegel, establishes a clear framework. Among other things, it lays down the four charter objectives, while our four key topics help focus the foundation's nonprofit work.
The living and working world of tomorrow is facing dynamic changes that are characterized by technological innovations, demographic developments and social trends. As a charitable foundation, we see the need to tackle these changes proactively in order to help shape a positive future. Our program aims to prepare young people in particular for the challenges and opportunities associated with the changing world of work and life.
Actively shaping the living and working environment of tomorrow is not only an economic necessity, but also our social responsibility. Through our education initiatives, we want to help promote educational equality and strengthen the cohesion of our society. We also want to contribute to a sustainable working world by counteracting the shortage of skilled workers and supporting talent development and lifelong learning.
The education system in Germany is still waiting for a reform and has to react ever faster to changes. The digital transformation brings with it immense challenges and opportunities for future learning and teaching. At the same time, the shortage of skilled workers is exacerbating this situation.
STEM education in particular can counteract the global challenges that today's children and young people are growing up with. Companies have shown that STEM skills contribute significantly to innovative strength and crisis resilience and are also linked to great opportunities for educational advancement. As a foundation, we want to use this program to show how STEM education can be successful and inspiring.
The "Economy in Transformation" program of the Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation is a central component of its mission to promote education as well as research and development in this area.
In view of the constantly advancing global changes and the increasing complexity of economic interrelationships, it is crucial to develop and implement innovative approaches in order to master the challenges of tomorrow.
Early childhood education has been the subject of public debate for a number of years and the institution of daycare has grown enormously in importance in recent decades . 92% of children from the age of 3 are accompanied in daycare facilities until they start school and the number of children under the age of three has also risen sharply. In recent years, a process of recognizing daycare facilities as educational institutions has begun: What happens in kindergarten lays the foundation for the rest of the educational biography and should also provide educational opportunities for children from socially disadvantaged families. The process is still under development and the frequently manifested image that daycare facilities are merely for the supervision of children, where they are entertained with a "shallow educational program", persists.
Recognizing the valuable work of educational professionals and their work as educational facilitators is therefore a major concern for us in the "Early Childhood Education" programme area. In terms of content, we are guided by the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, which recognized early on that the work in childcare facilities and elementary school cannot be separated and that successful transitions can only be achieved through close integration. For this reason, we consider both daycare facilities and elementary school in the "Early Childhood Education" program area and strive for close cooperation for successful transitions.
Dr. Hans Riegel was known for his creativity and his passion for art. In the statutes of his charitable foundation, he stipulated, among other things, the promotion of fine art and historical culture. The foundation is intended to provide long-term support for the care and preservation of art and cultural assets as well as the development of art and cultural assets for the public.
It was particularly important to Dr. Hans Riegel that art should not only be reserved for a small circle of people, but should reach as many people as possible. Accordingly, the programme area focuses on implementing measures that make art and culture accessible to the widest possible audience free of charge. The visual arts in public spaces offer very good conditions for this.
