Educational Initiatives

Innovative ideas for traffic systems of the future
How will we move about in the future? How will changes in society affect mobility? What concrete demands will we make of the cars and driver assistance systems of the future? These were only a few of the questions investigated by students from the  Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium in Wolfsburg together with Volkswagen AG in February and March 2007. They were participants in “Jugend denkt Zukunft” (Young People Thinking of the Future), a joint initiative of German industry aiming to bring young people in years nine to twelve from all types of schools together for an innovation dialogue. In the project, companies act as sponsors for schools and provide support for their individual innovation games.

Over a period of five days, the young people passed through a sample innovation process at Volkswagen. A facilitator provided information on social megatrends and trends in the automobile industry. Using this knowledge, the young participants, working together in future workshops, developed creative ideas of their own for the driver assistance systems of the future.

Students become entrepreneurs
Practical checks were then made to assess the results of the project, the extent to which they could be implemented under realistic market conditions. Various questions were raised. Would it be technically feasible to implement the project and commercially viable to finance it? How could the products or services be marketed? The young people discussed these questions both among themselves and with the experts from Volkswagen. They simulated real conditions in a role play, presenting their products as entrepreneurs or critically scrutinizing the innovations as journalists, research workers or members of the public.

UNESCO has declared “Jugend denkt Zukunft” an official project of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. In May 2006, Volkswagen had already held a project week on “Lifestyle and Mobility in 2020”. The results showed how students imagined the car of the future: a multifunctional vehicle, networked, versatile, individual and also capable of automatic driving, if required.