I was at COP29 in Baku at the invitation of the Just Transition Center at Martin Luther University Halle. I was able to attend an exciting session on radical innovation - an important part of the transformation to a climate-neutral economy. On the subject of innovation, I really like the approach "The art of interessment" by Michael Callon, Bruno Latour and Madeleine Attrich from 2002, which I would like to translate as "The art of interessment". Also because it is ultimately an art form. I took my Trawos view with me and titled the lecture "How do we bring the UFO to the ground?". Why? Leap innovations or disruptive companies are brought to structurally weak regions with a lot of funding because it is hoped that this growth spurt will bring the region forward. However, such investments often fizzle out because the local population does not accept, integrate or take an interest in these developments. A clever culture of innovation is able to prepare the ground for this and identify those innovations that have a local impact, whether in terms of qualifications or, above all, acceptance. IF this succeeds, I have expressed a thesis, then it may, can and possibly should become visionary. Hope is an important turbo for the big hit, but it becomes a freak show if you hope for the wrong thing, if you hope for the wrong thing, if you are offered the wrong hope. And this is where our Innova.GEIST project, for which I work, comes full circle. As a person, I have also taken hope with me, by the way: because a lot of good things are already happening in terms of the climate away from the rhetoric, but off the beaten track. Listening, looking and learning without prejudice generally seems to be good advice to me right now.
Anja Mutschler