In cooperation with the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS), the center for Digital Work (ZdA) held the virtual event on October 27th, 2020. In total 250 virtual participants followed the online event of the ZdA via a live stream.
The focus of the first Annual Labor Policy Conference was on supporting eastern German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and employees in managing the digital and demographic transformation. To kick things off, the moderator, Dr. Julia Kropf, welcomed the event's roughly 250 virtual participants and quickly began the discussion with Federal Minister Hubertus Heil. The Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs explained the challenges facing companies and their employees as a result of demographic change and advancing digitization. In the eastern German states, he said, this challenge was particularly explosive, which is why his ministry had launched the "Future Centers" program funded by the European Social Fund (ESF). The importance of digital work processes has been made all the more apparent in recent months by the COVID 19 pandemic, he said. Some of the players in the "Future Centers" program, the Regional Future Centers (RZ) in five eastern German states, were then presented in detail in a video interlude by the Center for Digital Work (ZdA).
The keynote address at the annual labor policy conference was given by Prof. Kerstin Jürgens, Professor of Micro-Sociology at the University of Kassel, who was, among other things, a member of the advisory group on the BMAS's draft white paper "Working 4.0 (in German)." She devoted herself to "Work in dynamic times" and was then available to answer participants' questions.
Despite the event occuring via an online platform, there was no need to do without a lively exchange of ideas: During the coffee break, participants were able to talk to each other at "virtual bar tables". Alternatively, everyone was called upon to submit their wishes for the "working world of the future" for the quick-draw artist Daniel Stieglitz, who composed a graphic recording during the course of the conference and thus translated the process and the results of the digital event into a visual language.
The focus then shifted to practical solutions and consulting services for SMEs. First of all, a video introduction used two companies from Saxony and Thuringia as examples to showcase the support provided by the Regional Future Centers on site. Enrico Jakusch, managing director of Drehtechnik Jakusch GmbH, which was featured in the video, also took part in the subsequent panel discussion. Dr. Julia Kropf moderated the exchange between him and Dr. Julia Borggräfe (BMAS), Prof. Michael Uhlmann (ATB Chemnitz/Zukunftszentrum Sachsen) and Prof. Kerstin Jürgens. The participants were also asked to become active again and direct their questions to the discussants.
Finally, moderator Julia Kropf concluded that the event had shown the willingness and the need of all participants to share knowledge and to enable exchange. She thanked everyone for the committed discussion and offered the outlook that there would also be plenty of scope in the future for a fruitful exchange between program actors and companies, experts and employees - not least through the second annual labor policy conference in 2021.
The “Center for Digital Work” project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the European Social Fund as part of the “Future Centers” program and is additionally co-financed by the Free State of Saxony, represented by the Saxon State Ministry of Economics, Labor and Transport.
Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW