Business and academia discuss the skills of the future
2026-04-29 At the fifth Campus Expert Talk organized by the Lüneburg-Wolfsburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce and Leuphana University Lüneburg, companies and researchers discussed skilled workers, AI, international markets, and digital business models.
The fifth Campus Expert Talk, organized by the Lüneburg-Wolfsburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHKLW) and Leuphana University Lüneburg on Tuesday evening, April 28, focused on a central question: What skills do companies need to successfully navigate transformation, securing a skilled workforce, and digitalization? Representatives from business and academia discussed future skills, AI, international markets, and digital business models.
At five discussion tables, participants discussed future skills for digitalization and artificial intelligence, mental health in the workplace, AI in production organization and quality, international economic relations in uncertain times, as well as entrepreneurship and digital business models. The discussions highlighted how closely securing a skilled workforce, innovation capacity, and regional development are interconnected.
“We are faced with the task of initiating a comprehensive transformation—technological, economic, and social. This is a challenging process that also raises the question: Where do we stand today, and what will enable us to succeed in a rapidly changing world?” explains IHKLW President Andreas Kirschenmann. “To remain internationally competitive in the long term, we need forward-looking skills and innovative ideas, as well as reliable framework conditions to implement them.”
“Direct exchange with companies shows us where scientific expertise can have a practical impact. In this way, scientific findings can find their way into business innovations through dialogue with practitioners. At the same time, business challenges give rise to new questions for research, teaching, and joint transfer projects,” says Prof. Dr. Markus Reihlen, Vice President for Entrepreneurship, Transfer, and Internationalization at Leuphana University Lüneburg.
The format combines professional exchange with personal interaction: Following opening remarks by Prof. Dr. Markus Reihlen and Andreas Kirschenmann, guests discussed topics in small groups with expert table mentors. At the end, key insights from the discussions were summarized before the evening concluded with open exchange and networking.
Through this joint initiative, IHKLW and Leuphana aim to strengthen the transfer between academia and industry. The goal is to identify corporate needs at an early stage, integrate academic perspectives, and use these to initiate new collaborations, research, and development initiatives for Lüneburg as a hub for business and science.
