S... in the City? Or is it U..?

Following OttoScharmer a professor of MIT Sloan School of Management for some two years now. The initial spark to get interested was buying the book Presence during the System Dynamics Conference 2007 in Boston. Form the first page it hit me like a striking bold - it resembled my own life. A year earlier I attended a workshop, sponsored by BMW, to grow my personality (quite a still thinker not as outgoing and furiously fighting for my points - so my boss back then thought), and had come back from the year earlier SD Conference. This caused me to tell my life story (which was done by every participant of the workshop) in causal loops - which I must admit looked messy, or at least not linear!

Isn't it that new things often emerge out of chaos? Where nothing is the same as yesterday and surprises interchange?

2002 the sheer chaos overcame Dresden when the waters of the River Elbe spread across it. New connections, friendships, ways of seeing the things emerged. The physical help back then was the main driver for change, the use of Web 2.0 was not yet really up, only rough databases run over a web interface enabled the helpers and help seekers to communicate.

Eight years have passed now. It was 2008 when I sensed that something profound was boiling under the surface of this area of Germany. Some events, like the closing of the Henkel plant in Genthin, some German car manufactures got in trouble (and with them their suppliers), in a way were the first signs of something bigger emerging.

Again it became quite obvious that everything is coupled with everything and the people, US, are just entrenched in the middle. Because of the pressure and urge to earn a living we often don't have a chance to see the larger picture. The result was that the old and formerly successful strategies for the organizations to get out of trouble re-surfaced in 2009. Cutting personal, close their channels to the public and customers to a minimum, only to work on what their leaders on the C-levels perceived perhaps as the one and only cure.

However in eight years quite a lot has happened and the social net, also embedded in the Web 2.0, plays a more relevant role than ever in the growing interconnectivity. Today it is no problem to chat with somebody from South Africa, and in the meantime get Facebook messages from friends in Italy or Australia.

Whilst the business organizations are still struggling to keep their problem solving knowledge to themselves initiatives like CoWorking, DesignThinking, PresencingInstitute, TeamAcademy, or LockSchuppen, CoOrpheum, NeonWorx (the three latter ones from Dresden), and more are springing up all across the globe. Their aim is to make the ground fertile to enable the large-scale shift of how we will live and work tomorrow.

Something however is different here in the city, which has a rich heritage of culture and industry alike. Bombed and burned to the bone in the last days of the war 1945, they city's collective memory is still focusing on the days that most of us haven't seen and experienced personally. Could it be that this is has a major impact on keeping just in a more or less "closed circle" and seeing inwards?

I guess not, even though the change is small and during my study time of economics you would call this "weak signs".

Looking deeper there happen things that no one would have seen a year ago. The director of the University of Leipzig for example will be for the first time a woman and here in Dresden the first intendant of the Saxonian Opera Semperoper is for the first time, after several hundred years of male dominance on the top, also a woman, Dr. UlrikeHessler.

Not only the outfit on the website has changed for Semperoper but their various ensembles are moving into a space where lots of other organizations don't dare to step in. On Facebook the SemperBallett and the JungeSzene are moving into the sphere that is not common for artists. It is great to see the flourishing conversations, and upcoming dialogue on their fanpages.

Congratulations to the whole team and a courageous leader on top who was willing to step into new areas of doing - Dr. UlrikeHessler !!!

May it be the starting point for something bigger that is piling up in the beautiful city of Dresden? I am quite positive especially as I get some surprising events concerning my own vision about the place where I now live again :-)

So long and just think next time when you get a tweet or Facebook invite from somebody you may have not even seen or talked to, take the present of surprise for granted and be happy :-)

Cheers, and so thankful for my "Australian Sparks" (Marigo, whom I know already through meeting twice by syncronicity in Boston, and Valda whose tweet on the OpenDay at Semperoper after enjoying the ballet team in the training room for quite some while has initiated my own action)

Ralf

PS.: It all started with a furious discussion about the new website design of the Semperoper - and as always this kind of action and energy driven into it made me curious to understand the underlying currents and mental models.

Higher Purpose of own Action - What is driving us like devil?

It is one of these mornings, grey in grey on sky, a lousy Saturday with late start. I scroll at XING looking for people who are in "CoWorking". Oh gosh, over 150 (!) - I just can't believe it. CoWorking still is pretty unknown in Germany and so I am getting even more curious. Digging deeper. Serendipity is coming up;-)

I step across TaraHunt, founder of CitizenAgency and creator of the WhuffieFactor. And with yesterday's experience and intensive talks on how the LockSchuppen, an "Intelligent CoWorking Space" as one friend framed it, is supposed to run in a more formalized form, some further digging in the "knowledge mud" is due.

Two other words grab my focus "Elevator" & "Pitch" - memories race back to February, when I was on stage with SoerenRogoll and ConstanceWolter for pitching of our social innovation projects in front of a 200-person audience. In those days, even we were dedicated to the bone and know pretty well why we do what we do, we could not ignite the audience's fire of interest, not even a VC.

There is a saying, "You can't see what you don't know!" and definitely the audience couldn't see what we already knew and still are working on with drawbacks and positive experiences.

So the question in the room is, "How to put one's own higher purpose in words others can understand and connect?"

What has been your contribution to fulfill your deeper calling?

Was bringt CoWorking für mein Unternehmen?

Diese Frage bekomme ich immer wieder gestellt. Und immer wieder denke ich darüber nach, wie ich das Phänomen und den Nutzen für Unternehmen und auch die Gesellschaft im weiteren Sinne darstellen kann.

Ehrlich gesagt tue ich mich jedes Mal schwer - was man nicht kennt kann man auch kaum verstehen. Ich verstehe auch nicht, warum manche Menschen Bungee-Jumping machen oder Fallschirmspringen. Das bedeutet jedoch nicht, dass es diesen Menschen nicht auch Nutzen stiftet und Freude macht. Mir machen andere Dinge Spaß. Dazu gehört z.B. Ultimate Frisbee, ein sich selbst-organisierendes Mannschaftsspiel mit der Frisbeescheibe - ohne Schiedsrichter (!). Oder auch die Neugier, Dinge einfacher zu machen. Zumeist in der Rolle des Kunden, wenn irgendwas nicht funktioniert.

Vor Jahren habe ich festgestellt, dass es nicht sehr effektiv ist, alles selbst wissen zu wollen. Stets gibt es jemanden im näheren oder weiteren Umfeld, der bestimmte Dinge besser kann. Warum also nicht diese Aufgaben abgeben? Während des Studiums der Volkswirtschaftslehre an der Uni Mainz und Uni Bamberg lernte ich von komparativen Kostenvorteilen zwischen Ländern. Diese führen dazu, dass das eine Land ein Gut X produziert und ein anderes Gut Y. Würden beide X und Y wäre der gesamtwirtschaftliche Nutzen geringer, als wenn sich jedes auf sein Kernprodukt konzentriert bei dem es kosten- und produktionstechnische Vorteile hat.

Konzentration auf die Stärken!

Dieser Ansatz auf die Arbeitsform übertragen - was bedeutet dies? Geht das denn in etablierten Unternehmen mit festen Stellenbeschreibungen?

Im Extremfall würde dies bedeuten, dass jeder Mitarbeiter zwar eine Kernaufgabe erfüllt (ein lockerer Rahmen: z.B. verantwortlich für die Produktionsqualität) jedoch bei Fragestellungen, die er nicht alleine lösen kann jederzeit auf andere Wissensquellen in Form anderer Mitarbeiter und Gruppen (eventuell auch außerhalb der Firma) zurückgreifen darf. Dies ohne vorherige Rückfrage bei seinem Vorgesetzten. Würde das gehen, oder doch im Chaos enden? Was müsste vorliegen, dass dieses Konstrukt neuen Arbeitens auch tatsächlich Mehrwert gegenüber dem Status-Quo bringt?

Was ist nun das Besondere am CoWorking?

Das Wissen kann frei fließen und die meist vorhandene OpenSpace Architektur ermöglicht einen einfachen Wissensaustausch zwischen den Wissensträgern. Moderne Web-Technologien ermöglichen zudem den Radius außerhalb des physischen Ortes zu verlagern, um Informationen zu erhalten. Was früher nur in fester Büroinfrastruktur möglich war (Büro mit fester Verkabelung) ist nun dank WLAN und Laptop ohne räumliche Beschränkung möglich.

Was kann CoWorking und CoCreating wirklich bringen in einer Stadt/Region?

Simple Containers into Awesome Design Objects

People working in the CoWorking area always need inspiring spaces - don't they? For me at this applies fully. Places of historic touch, crazy stuff, that is mind-blowing or unusual spaces like a tree-house have a positive impact on human thinking.
CoWorking seen as the first step for CoDesigning & CoCreating the future we want to be part of needs at first a space. Often it started in coffee houses then moved into housing spaces and then refurbished industrial heritage buildings. There always is a need of low-cost space.
So you would ask, "What are other alternatives?"
Containers? Oh, no. Too dull and dark. Crappy and worn down.
Not quite so as you can clearly see here. 

(Copyright: Bridgette)

What is your ultimate place for working in the future? What is constraining to make it reality?

Big Dreams Start Small - like life :-)

"Most big dreams originate in someone's living room with a small group of people, regardless of where they come from or how they are dressed."

Jacqueline Novogratz

What  has been your BIG DREAM that has become true?

Home Exchange - swapping homes for new opportunities to see

CoWorking, CoLiving, CoConsulting, Co.... you name it;-)

What is the glue that connects all these -partly innovative- concepts? It is people. In 1981 we started with our family the first home exchanges as we realized that staying in hotels and later in holiday flats wasn't that what really gave us value during a holiday.

So the idea of home exchange (swapping our house with some people who live somewhere else in the world, we didn't really know and we had no idea what we could expect). Crazy, you probably think or even say aloud while reading these lines.

Not quite. It is all about building a trustful relationship beforehand in order to do a successful home exchange. Actually this is pretty much like doing a consulting job (with sustainable positive long-term results for the client, and the client learning to solve internal problem himself with his workforce).

The first initial home exchange was the "ice breaker" for the 50 other ones in the 30 years that followed to the present day. We actually arranged a meeting with the interested family. The husband of this family from England happened to work near Frankfurt (just a short 30 min trip from Mainz, where we lived back then) and he wished to have his family around in the summer holiday time. So we got to know each other arranged the stay. From this moment on my parents always arranged intensive letter correspondence and a pre-home exchange visit to the forthcoming home exchangers while being closely locacted to next year's destination.

What have we learned from that time alltogether: changing your position in living (doing a home exchange to Australia for example) opens totally new experiences. You get to know new things that your fellow exchangers have in the house (neat appliances you could also well use at home;-)), new culture, new climate, new friends.

Over the years a home exchange community builds up and one has friends all over the globe. Any place you go you have to chance to meet old friends and new friends.

... and it's an ongoing learning journey giving much of joy to the participants :-)

I really liked the time and will do it myself in the future (when the flat or house is available for home exchanging ;-)). In the meanwhile the local way of experiencing the same is CoWorking. In Dresden there is a space where you can check out what it means and what benefit it can bring to you and your business.


Further links:

HomeLink
Your New Home from Home (Times UK)

Innovation - the driver of future city prosperity

Have you ever thought of what makes one city or region different from another? Why are some cities or region striving ahead whereas others stay economically behind?

Is it the big organizations that are visible in media and daily life (when passing by on your way to the office)? Perhaps the smaller shops and SME (Small & Medium Enterprises) with up to a few hundred people, sometimes even the "Hidden Champions" that rule the business in their field? Or the other thousands of "invisible" entrepreneurs and startups that bring new innovations into daily life (which then will be also adapted to by the larger ones)?

What has been the start of the prosperity around Silicon Valley back starting in the 60s?

It certainly was the kind of off-standard kind of living and community. Hippies and people doing things differently to the mainstream kick-started (mostly unseen first by the larger crowd) what now call a truly creative and innovative space. Boston is surely another accumulation point where entrepreneurial and innovative mind gather and CoCreating the future.

Cool new stuff and shifts in present ways of working and living often come from the small pockets within your community, that you are often not really aware of.

MassInnoNights is such a small pocket (at least it started as such about a year ago with just a few bucks on water and some name tags) - innovators around the area of Boston. They meat once a month to share what they have to provide to potential customers and guess what? This has grown into a well respected event where even the big shots in the business of innovation come along (e.g. IBM, SUN, ...).

Based in Dresden, BTW a city you should visit once in your lifetime, there happens to be something that could have happened in the Bay Area some forty years back. You got a bit curious?

These folks don't really fit the common picture of Dresden with baroque, Frauenkirche and even the high-tech SiliconSaxony - no it is definitely DIFFERENT!

The event is once per month (similar to MassInnoNights), it lasts from around 7 pm till (more or less) open end (is that still comparable?), you will meet people with all different background (process designers, product designers, graphic designer, sociologists, Dresden fans, ......).

The concept that UndSonstSo (to present time it is just in German, would there be an innovator creating a tool that directly translates tweets into English or enable this by dedicated people around the world? That would be cool and a story of its own) fosters is new to the City of Dresden and so the ideas that spread from there. If you haven't checked it out, next Thursday, 04.02.2010, there is the next chance (every first Thursday of the month).

undsonstso #5 - see you there;-)

Entrepreneurial Intelligence

MartinZwilling coined this "Multiple Intelligences" on his blog. Just read through the following and imagine what it means for YOU as an entrepreneur:

"word smart"

"people smart"

"self smart"

"body smart"

"reasoning smart"

"nature smart"

"musical smart"

"picture smart"

Robert L Schwarz once said “The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and an actualizer. He can visualize something, and when he visualizes it he sees exactly how to make it happen.”


A nice approach to make you aware what capabilities you really need (and have) to become a successful entrepreneur. What if you lack some of these?


What are the ways you could think of to get the complementary strengths?

Google's Project 10ToThe100

One could think there are different independent streams of activities and your activity is merely connected to the rest. People would glance at your idea and think, "This is crazy. We never had that in the past. That won't work in our country or our business."

You still believe in your dream and vision. You keep the creative tension despite you get "negative" feedback from your peers, potential investors and also your possible clients.

You in the meanwhile look for possible possibilities to make the dream reality.

A year goes past and you slightly have forgotten about reading the following from
Finnish friends:

Google 10 Years! Monkey Business Congratulates!

From there the idea of establishing Team Lea(r)ning Experience emerged.

Entering the businss plan competition FutureSAX in 2008 emerged into what is now called LockSchuppen (after having met RainerWasserfuhr during a XING networking event in March)

LockSchuppen - wie alles begann

Es war der 1. April 2009 als LockSchuppen in die offenen Weiten des Geschäftslebens startete (und es war kein Aprilscherz;-))

ZukunftsLaboratorium2056 - PeerAcademy - CoWorkingSpace

..... was soll das? Wie lässt sich damit Geld verdienen (das ist ja wohl bekanntlich das, wonach wir streben, oder?)

Es war einmal .... so fangen Märchen an (und auch wahre Geschichten:-))

1999, ein junger Mann war in eine spannende Tätigkeit, dem Aufbau eines großen Industriekomplexes, integriert. Je tiefer er in die Prozesse eindrang desto mehr verschlangen diese ihn und er fühlte sich wohl wie ein Fisch im Wasser. Im Sommer desselben Jahres begannen die Vorbereitungen für die Installation des neuartigen Steuerungssystems, für das er federführend die Projektleitung vor Ort übernehmen sollte. Er fühlte sich gut und vor allem die Kooperation mit Partnern und das Aufspüren von künftigen Prozessvereinfachungen machten ihm mächtig Spaß!

Damals lernte er das erste Mal diese kleinen elektronischen Helfer, genannt PDA (damals noch Palm!), kennen. Ein Partner aus der Schweiz nutzte einen solchen, um Mitschriften von Besprechungen mittels Touchscreen und Stift in diesen einzugeben, abends mit einer Tastatur die Mitschriften zu ergänzen, an seine Assistentin über eine Handy-GPRS-Verbindung zu versenden und am nächsten Tag das fertige Protokoll zu haben.

Der junge Mann kam aus dem Staunen nicht heraus und hätte liebend gerne solch ein Gerät ebenfalls gehabt (damals kosteten diese noch 700,- DM!). Obwohl er der wichtigste Verbindungsmann auf dem Umschlagbahnhof war, konnte er seinen Chef nicht von der Sinnhaftigkeit eines solchen Gerätes überzeugen (Handys waren damals übrigens noch eher selten und überwiegend beruflich genutzt, das änderte sich über die Jahre).

.... er hatte fortan einen Traum: mit dem nächsten überschüssigen Geld wird ein Palm angeschafft (und das Arbeiten einfacher:-))

Es sollte noch eine Weile dauern. Bis dahin erlebte er auch noch wie er bei einem Besuch bei einem Geschäftspartner von diesem stolz lange Reihe von Zeitplanern gezeigt bekam. Sein Kommentar, "Sehen Sie Herr ...., das ist mein gesammeltes Wissen über die letzten 10 Jahre. Da ist alles drin, Besprechungsnotizen, Telefonnummern,... einfach alles. Ist das nicht phantastisch?"

Der junge Mann konnte nicht anders als nicken (innerlich dachte er, "Was ist denn das für eine Verschwendung? Da würde ich (und er wahrscheinlich auch) nie wieder was finden, geschweige denn jemand anderes! Ein Palm wäre da schon das Richtige")

..... es vergingen noch einige Monate, er wechselte die Firma und mit neuer Wohnung, neuem Arbeitgeber machte er Nägel mit Köpfen und legte sich einen Palm zu (ein Schnäppchen bei Saturn damals;-))

Von da an pflegte er Adressen, Mitschriften von Besprechungen, Notizen, Ideen, .... in dieses elektronische Wunderteil ein.

Zunächst änderte sich nicht viel in seinem Leben und auf Arbeit. Doch mit zunehmender Zeit fiel auch den Kollegen auf, dass er stets auf die drängenden Fragen flugs die Ansprechpartner parat hatte (dank Palm!). Man rief ihn nun auch an, um ihn um Rat zu fragen, wer denn für das eine oder andere Problem der richtige Ansprechpartner sein könne.

Die Namen in dem Palm nahmen zu und überschritten bald die 5.000er Grenze (Outlook im Büro spielte da schon lange nicht mehr, auch der IT-Support schickte inzwischen Kollegen zu ihm). Da der junge Mann bemerkte, dass langsam seine eigene Zeit immer knapper wurde (aufgrund der vielen Anfragen von Kollegen, die sein Wissen schätzten) suchte er nach Vereinfachung:

Ließe sich nicht das Wissen mit den anderen Kollegen teilen und -vielleicht- sogar ausweiten, indem man gegenseitig Ansprechpartner über das vernetzte PC-Netzwerk austauschte?

Hm, er sprach mit einigen Kollegen, die er gut kannte und von denen er wusste, dass sie neben seinen Kontakten auch eigene geschäftliche hatten. Man tauschte diese Daten über die Freischaltungsfunktion von Outlook aus und markierte (heute nennt man dies Taggen) mit entsprechenden Kennworten, um entsprechende Namen auch schnell finden zu können.

...und so begann 2001/2002 was man heute Web 2.0 nennt in einer Vorstufe (dem Datenaustausch zwischen Kollegen auf standardisierten Plattformen, wie Outlook und Palm-Geräten).

Nur hatte man nicht mit dem Widerstand einiger einflussreicher Personen gerechnet, deren Wissensmonopol sich zu verflüchtigen im Begriff war. Durch die Transparenz der Information innerhalb der Kollegenschaft, gab es kein Herrschaftswissen mehr (in der bekannten Form).

Wenn Macht sich auf Wissen begründet (das anderen nicht zur Verfügung steht), dann bedeutete diese beschriebene Veränderung eine tiefgreifende Angst, dieser Personen, die exklusives Wissen (früher) hatten.

Was passierte? Hunde beißen, wenn sie Angst haben (andere Tiere auch!). Bei Menschen sieht es etwas anders aus.

...und so kam es, dass die von oberster Stelle die Nutzung dieser Geräte argwöhnisch betrachtet wurde. Langsam wurde flächendeckend wieder Papier eingeführt und auch die Kollegen hatten keine elektronischen Helferlein, lediglich die Führungskräfte besaßen und nutzten diese, denn sie waren als Insignien der Macht frei zur Verfügung gestellt. Wissen wurde erneut exklusiv und wertvoll (für einige, um ihre Positionen auszubauen und zu verbessern). Dem Zuarbeiten zwischen den Kollegen und über Abteilungen hinweg machte diese Entscheidung selbstverständlich wie man sich denken konnte einen -dicken- Strich durch die Rechnung.

So kam es, dass der junge Mann zu neuen Ufern aufbrach, da er erkannte, dass dieses Unternehmen mit den kleinen versteckten und äußerst innovativen Nestern des Wissens sich weder mit seinen Idealen, dem einfacheren und gemeinschaftlichen Arbeiten und dem Lernen über Grenzen (innerhalb von Organisationen, geographisch und auch über Wissensgebiete) hinweg deckte noch die zukünftigen Chancen für die Organisation und deren Mitarbeiter eröffnete.......

.... und so kam es zu dem Unternehmen der Zukunft:

dem LockSchuppen

What is catching my interest?

Hello everybody,

As you may have noticed by now I am writing about quite diverse-looking topics (that in my head all combine into a larger frame/context).

The following topics are triggering my interest in order to weave a solid carpet for future vision:

System Dynamics, Lean Thinking, Goleman, SemperoperBallett, Jay W. Forrester, Dennis Meadows, Dana Meadows, Sustainability Institute, IDEO, BMW, #mcdd11, Innovation, Edgar Schein, John D. Sterman, Overburden, Firefighting, Organizational Culture, SemperOper, Industrial Heritage, UrbanSplash, Team Academy, Team Lea(r)ning Experience, Dresden, Leadership, Abundance, Management, Theory U, Facilitation, Deutsche Bahn, ID-Ideal, Tipping Point, SoL, Singularity, networking, knowledge worker, sharing, process improvement, camellias, outside-the-box, Shigeo Shingo, Jim Womack, HTW Dresden, Ultimate Frisbee, Systems Thinking, Macintosh, Emotional Intelligence, Process Consulting, Otto Scharmer, SLUB, Genius Hellerau, MIT Sloan, Twitter, LockSchuppen, Synchronicity, RayKurzweil,  Nanotechnology .....

A Trip Around the World and .....?

before and while doing so learn to help client

organizations for sustainably coping with com-

plex and dynamic challenges?

Team Academy in Jyväskylä has a similar slogan

"...learn some marketing on the way".

If you are interested to join the learning community,

then send me a note stating answers to the following:

Where have I been?

Where am I now?

Where am I going?

How do I get there?

How do I know that I have reached my goals?

Team Academy Dresden - the future begins today

See you around if the above appeals to you.

Best regards

Ralf

PS.: The base will be Dresden and yet there is already a net-

work of Team Academies, Team Factories, in Spain, Nether-

lands, France, Finland (the starting point 16 years ago).

Please give me a notice if you would like to join, even though

you are not based in Dresden - we will make the undoable reality

Team Action Lea(r)ning - A Journey into the Future

A DREAM for DRESDEN (to be) Made REALITY

sparked by Google Project 10^100 & Monkey Business
by the end of the year 2015, it has emerged into System Dynamics in Dresden
#GreenTechAccelerator (2014) via #StartupAccelerator (2012) via InnoBay (2011)

[Text below is the originally handed in concept to the Google Project 10^100 announcement]

What one sentence best describes your idea? (maximum of 150 characters)

Leading the region around Dresden and Saxony back to former economic strength: the people are the most precious asset in an economy.

Describe your idea in more depth. (maximum 300 words)

Giving Saxony back the former power of creativity and innovation (Odol, Melitta, Audi, BMW, all have started from that precious soil) the system has to change - most preferably at the grass-root level and this means in education. The current business world in the region has to be changed from inside. How to do that? We have to connect actively education to the local businesses, organizations, and communities in Saxony despite the (present) lower income level as in other areas of Germany.

Starting a process consulting entrepreneurship and through personal networks at the local universities of Dresden and companies establish the groundwork for setting up an education institute. This will involve education institutions and the work world through the steady establishment of team entrepreneurship companies (very much like Team Academy in Finland. The members of the team companies will undertake real-world projects in areas (establish new ways of working together to create a higher and sustainable life level in the local communities) where at present no consultants are present (due to money constraints of clients).

Through active cooperation with universities, private and public businesses this will generate growth, profit (the team companies will be paid by hourly consulting and %-part of the future expected additional profits) and value for the region, driven with a vision towards a sustainable society and economy (also in the business context, as closing and reopening of companies is not sustainable in the sense of using resources, people, machinery, financials, etc.).

As Saxony is not the only region in the world with creative and innovative people the concept will be spread through various already established social network communities (SoL network, Lean Thinking Network, System Dynamics Network, Presencing Community) crossing present boundaries.

The ultimate vision is to grow people inside their area of living towards their strengths so they can build up an economy that is sustainable and much more resistant to the crisis that we face right now.

What problem or issue does your idea address? (maximum 150 words)

The recent and seen problem in Saxony is that jobs have been cut in the past (GDR cooperations closed and very little manpower has been needed to run newly established ones funded in great parts of the state). After the time bound for subsidies has run out and economic turmoil is all around companies close their plants in Eastern Germany moving back “home” to West. This leads to the further drain of highly educated people (either in the working world or the universities, as jobs are much easier to be found in Western Germany).

Intervening into the system in order to change the dynamics that -always- ends in a vicious cycle (money infusions into the region will be necessary to keep up normal life - even with closing companies) will be the mission.

If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how? (maximum 150 words)

Benefit will the students and people actively working in the team company(ies) as they will learn team entrepreneurship, which will enable them to actively take business opportunities (which actually lie all around - we just have to grab them) in the future not being dependant on large employers. The local business will grow into stable business networks that weave a solid ground for the future growth of the region making people proud of what they have achieved on their own. Establishing to extend networks outside the region and connect with other regions in the world will generate wealth in knowledge, problem-solving capabilities and the ability to generate a future one really wants to become true in exchanging stories. In the end, striving businesses will pull future prosperity in the region.

What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground? (maximum 150 words)

Starting as a single entrepreneur by the end of 2008 getting first projects going, that will give real sustainable benefit to the partners and clients involved. In the meanwhile grounding the already in place networks to act as a fertile ground for founding the “Saxony Team Entrepreneurship”. Scanning the area of Dresden for an appropriate building that would suit the needs of a team learning organization that will be evolving through the future team entrepreneur company(ies).

Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it? (maximum 150 words)

The optimal outcome will be that “Team Academy“-projects like the one described will spread slowly around the world and will be the seeds for future sustainable economic wealth and growth especially in regions that are in economic struggle - there are many around the world.

In times where oil and logistics will become more expensive as it is at present stated through prices the idea of web-based knowledge communities will become more important especially as we face more complex issues in our communities and societies as ever before.

The described education-work model will enable communities (of every size and remoteness) to grow on their people’s personal strengths – and what you don’t know somebody around the globe knows already, you just have to find and connect with him/her.

A timeline since 10/2008 (newest on top)

[UPDATE 2018-11-12] all updates since 2016 can now be found on MEDIUM

---------------

[STEP TWENTYFOUR] [2016-08-15] Participating in "U.Lab - Awareness Based Systems Change with u.lab - How to Sense and Actualize the Future" (introductory course, 1 week, 90 min) & "U.Lab - Leading from the Emerging Future" (8 weeks, full program)

Anybody based in Dresden or Saxoy please feel free to join our public Twitter account @DresdenULabHub or our private Facebook-group DresdenULabHub

For more general background check on Presencing Institute, Otto Scharmer's blog, Otto's profile at Huffington Post, oder für deutsche Leser dieser Artikel "Entdecke die Möglichkeiten" in brandeins wissen (2007), der das Konzept von U.Lab bzw. Theorie U anschaulich und knapp verdeutlicht.

The prototype we are working on (since the last U.Lab last September) will be CitizenScienceLab

[STEP TWENTYTHREE] [2016-06-06] taking part with HTxA - HighTech x Agency in the Idea Showcase (p.33) at the futureSAX Innovation Conference 2016

[STEP TWENTYTWO] 3rd participation in one of the MIT ClimateCoLab competitions (look for Ralf Lippold, and you'll find the proposals)

[STEP TWENTYONE] After 2014 now the 2nd time taking part in the MOOC #ScalingUp by Stanford professors Huggy Rao and Bob Sutton where I was able to form an awesome international team around the scaling of CitizenScienceLab to produce the final team project CSL Team Project (please excuse the sometimes rough sound)

[STEP TWENTY] Twice attended the MOOC #ULab in February (2016) and September (2015), from which the prototype CitizenScienceLab has evolved, for the time being, pulling together civil society, research community through system dynamics and presencing.

[STEP NINETEEN] Being official Vanguard for the recent XPRIZE Global Learning Prize #LearningPrize, helping to grow awareness about the competition in Germany, and global networks, as well as supporting the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise $500k (2014-09-28 $156k raised so far)

[STEP NINETEEN] Getting invited to become Ambassador of the Networked Society Project for Germany - I can't say how honoured, and humbled I am!

[STEP EIGHTEEN] Social media partner of Dresdner Lichtjahr #LichtjahrDD in order to grow the awareness about the technology advancements, and activities in the light-based technologies as an active part of the International Year of Light 2015, #IYL2015

[STEP SEVENTEEN] A Mission to Bring World Changing Ideas from Singularity University to the World by & via Eventifier

[STEP SIXTEEN] Entering MIT Climate CoLab Global Competition with a proposal on a Green Tech Accelerator in Dresden, From Railway Hub to Tech Hub - your ideas are welcomed here

[STEP FIFTEEN] Crowdfunding of [STEP FOURTEEN] has been successfully achieved, Tweets from Singularity University GSP14 now captured (with blogs, pictures) at http://bit.ly/SingularityUniversityGSP14

[STEP FOURTEEN] #GSP14Eventifier - an ad-hoc nano-scale crowdfunding campaign to capture the Twitter conversations from Singularity University (June 14 - August 24, 2014). If you are INTERESTED feel free to check and support the project. We have been kindly supported by Eventifier who allowed us to combine the crowdfunding with their social media content aggregator

[STEP THIRTEEN] #AppliedResearchAccelerator - after Prof. Gianaurelio Cuniberti's panel discussion at #TechForum14 organized by The European House Ambrosetti together with Singularity University's VP of Innovation, Vivek Wadhwa, and his short interview "Linking fundamental and applied research"

[STEP TWELVE] #FoundersAccelerating as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2013 & Gründerwoche 2013 with Boston-based entrepreneur & author Halley Suitt Tucker & Athens-based, entrepreneur and founder of soundmap.co Stathis Kassios (see his crowdfunding campaign to make the trip to Dresden one of the most underrated entrepreneurial hotspots (currently) in Germany, possible)

[STEP ELEVEN] Supporting Prof. Manfred Buchroithner and the Institute for Cartography of the Technical University Dresden, bringing the 26th International Cartographic Conference (Angela Incampo & myself created the official hashtag #iccDD2013, also on the conference website) into the global community via digital real-time communication. See here the tweets that came in only during the conference between August 25-30, 2013 on Eventifier. On the sideline a crowdfunded scholarship could be put to action as part of a Stanford Design Thinking MOOC - @mapmakerin has been of the most active participants on Twitter during the conference.

[STEP TEN] .... creating a digital communication agency, HTxA [High Tech x Agency], to enable companies, institutions, and conference organizers to spread the word about their work, services, and research facilitating digital information technology. The origin of it goes back to 2011 while sitting in an interview with the head of Semperoper, Dr. Ulrike Hessler (she died July 30, 2012), http://www.ideaswatch.com/startup-idea/htxa--hightech-x-agency

[STEP NINE] Running workshops on Lean Startup and Opernnachmittagkaffee with Soprano Jessica Muirhead within the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2012 (Gründerwoche 2012)

[STEP EIGHT] [2012-10-28] Bringing Lean Startup Machine to Dresden (500 people needed leaving  their email address by 1st of December, HALF OF IT we already have)

[STEP SEVEN] Applying for the Graduate Studies Program 2012 at Singularity University; more about it on BlueFuture2012 and on TED.

[STEP SIX] Connecting [STEP TWO] with local stakeholders, and putting it to operate in a LeanStartup approach (small steps a time, using resources at hand, getting quick feedback on what works, and what doesn't, improving the MVP (minimal viable product) or MVA (minimal viable action).

[STEP FIVE] Further action research prototypes (done and in the making): #InnoBay (2011), Dresden Innovation Nights (in cooperation with Bobbie Carlton, MassInno) (2010), HTxA at ideaswatch (since 2011), blogging about Semperoper performances (connecting with my personal past work, and group dynamics experience; since 2010), keynote speaker at forthcoming Symposium Change To Kaizen (2012), tech blogger at various technology conferences in Dresden, Brussels, Sydney, and Melbourne

[STEP FOUR] DresdenOpenCoffeeClub, (a formerly weekly, now monthly meetup on creating the future of Dresden, also on Twitter #occDD)

[STEP THREE] Prototyping of CoOrpheum, Dresden's first official coworking space (revitalization of a for 10 years practically unused ballroom in Dresden's creative hot spot Neustadt, and building ground to its use by move:elevator with 5-year contract) together with Marco Dziallas who provided the business plan

[STEP TWO] LockSchuppen - FutureLab2056 - SingularAcademy - CollabSpace (also mentioned in BRANDEINS 12/2011 - "Der Mann ohne Geheimnisse" ("The Man without Secrets", page 108-112)

[STEP ONE] Team Lea(r)ning Experience Dresden (as sent into Google-Projects in October 2008 and for FutureSAX Business Plan Competition in January 2009) all sparked by two visits to my friends at Team Academy 2008/2009 .... already evolved into the project and two visits to Dresden in September 2008 and June 2012

[IGNITION] Surprise visit to Team Academy in August 2008 after an Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Amsterdam, straight from Amsterdam-Schiphol to Helsinki. The greatest experience was the start of the new semester and learning that the students of Team Academy are teamed into so-called team companies at the first day, and on the second day, they have registered their company.