Helmut Schmidt Future Festival

Helmut Schmidt Future Festival

13 - 15 May 2024 at Leuphana University Lüneburg

How can I participate?

The Helmut Schmidt Future Festival is looking for 75 young shapers of the future to come together from May 13th to 15th, 2024, on the campus of Leuphana University to explore responsible change and bring new ideas into the world.

Are you in? Apply now!

Guests of the festival

Porträt von Luisa Neubauer — This year, Luisa Neubauer opens the Helmut Schmidt Future Festival. She will be discussing power and powerlessness in times of authoritarian temptations. Together with her, the festival explores the future of democracy, climate protection, and artificial intelligence.

Porträt von Meredith Whittaker — Meredith Whittaker, President of the non-profit Signal Foundation, is awarded this year's Helmut Schmidt Future Prize for her dedication to fostering a humane and public-interest-oriented development of artificial intelligence.

Fotoportrait von Philipp von der Wippel — Philipp von der Wippel is a co-founder and CEO of ProjectTogether. He has previously worked for the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt and for the G20 Taskforce of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin. Philipp von der Wippel studied Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics at the University of Oxford.

Foto von Markus Beckedahl — Markus Beckedahl is the founder of netzpolitik.org and served as its editor-in-chief for 19 years. The blog is known as a platform for digital civil liberties. He is a co-founder of re:publica, Europe's leading conference on the digital society. Markus Beckedahl was an expert witness in the German Bundestag's Enquete Commission on "Internet and Digital Society" from 2010 to 2013 and has been a member of the Media Council of the Berlin-Brandenburg State Media Authority since 2010.

Date and registration

The Future Festival will take place from May 13th to May 15th, 2024, at the Libeskind Building of Leuphana University, directly preceding the awarding of the Helmut Schmidt Future Prize at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg on the evening of May 15th.

Do you want to be part of the Helmut Schmidt Future Festival 2024?

Then apply with a 5,000-character short essay or a two-minute video addressing one of the three festival questions. We look forward to your own ideas and projects with which you aim to inspire or move others:

1. Protecting the climate - without dividing society?

2. Defending democracy - without forgetting the visionary?

3. Using artificial intelligence - without sacrificing fairness?

The deadline for submissions is April 7, 2024. Shortly thereafter, you will find out if you have been invited to the Future Festival in Lüneburg and the award ceremony at the Thalia Theater.

For all participants who do not come from the Hamburg metropolitan region, the festival will cover train expenses. We also provide accommodation.

The festival language this year is German. However, individual sessions may feature English-speaking guests.

You can apply here.

The Helmut Schmidt Future Festival is a joint initiative of the Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt Foundation, DIE ZEIT and Leuphana University Lüneburg.