Hello Clara!

After more than three successful years in the innovation team of the ENO Structural Change Task Force, you have decided to take a new career step and will take a new position at the TU Dresden as “Lead Coordinator of the Lausitz Campus” in Görlitz. . Congratulations on your new leadership position - and although we will miss you, we are pleased that you are joining us as a “connection member”/partner? just around the corner from ENO HQ.

You are from Berlin, lived in Saarland, observed the structural change there and studied “International Management” with a focus on regional economics at the IHI Zittau and defended your master’s degree as a project manager at ENO. You contributed your knowledge in many areas to the reorientation of the Görlitz district “after coal” – as well as in the Innovation Challenges, where you also worked as a coach. You were also involved in the deliberations and workshops for the Jonsdorf ice rink, as well as in numerous other citizen participation formats. Please explain to us how you found working as an innovation manager/project manager in the Inno team, and also why innovation is so important, especially for our changing LK (?)

My topics were primarily research and development; I designed, organized and implemented the Hall of Science, Innovation and Research at the Insider Meeting 2023. The hall was extremely successful. There I was able to successfully present the extremely extensive and diverse research landscape and the associated future prospects on the job market to students in the district. And that will continue to be my topic, but I am expanding my work to include the entire Lusatia. I will focus on this area and actively shape the research activities in Lusatia and, above all, the implementation of the activities in the region so that it can also benefit from them.

“The German Center for Astrophysics would like to come to the region and would be happy to receive support with the XYZ application – Clara Hartung, would that be a project for you?” asked our managing director Sven Mimus in one of our team meetings around two years ago. The DZA is now an integral part of the noticeable structural development in the region with international appeal. The federal ideas competition “ Knowledge creates perspectives for the region ” wanted to support structural change in the Lusatian and Central German regions with two large research centers. You supported the respective project sponsors in developing the concepts and regional adaptation so that the future large-scale research center can also provide added value for the region and the people living here. Please tell us a little about the history of the project – and the successful settlement:

The DZA is also a project from the TU Dresden and is part of the Lausitz campus. I supported this project in its early days and will now also support it in the difficult and important part of building and gaining acceptance in society. Even if it is not obvious at first glance, many examples show that astronomical research can have a lasting impact on regions. With its unique combination of research and development in digital science, sensor technology and materials research and the need for manufacturing facilities, the DZA will provide economic stimulus in Lusatia and create at least 3,000 sustainable jobs at the center and in its surroundings.

An important topic that you have worked on intensively recently is local supply (which will also be covered by the upcoming Lausitz Café on September 9th...), which is particularly important in a large but not densely populated district like ours challenges. Can you tell us something about your research results and solutions for the sometimes sparse local supplies in the more remote areas of the district? For example, will there be a manual for this?

The local supply problem is a very important and incredibly exciting topic because when you think of a local supply problem you usually immediately think of the fact that there are places where people cannot get enough food. Thats not right. There are large supermarkets everywhere in the Görlitz district and every resident has a full refrigerator. But the fact is that more and more smaller shops are closing, unable to find successors or unable to sustain themselves financially. The local supply offering is concentrated in a few large offerings, predominantly in the medium-sized centers. People prefer to travel a little further away by car and therefore have a greater variety of options.

The local supply problem is more of a social problem that we want to solve. Local amenities such as grocery stores, markets or cafés often serve as meeting places for members of a community. People meet while shopping or enjoying food and drinks. These regular meetings promote social exchange and enable residents to get to know each other better. Establish social bonds within a community. In addition, a town with local amenities is more attractive as a place to live and could have a positive influence on immigration.

The handbook is a first step for regional actors to deal with the issue of local supply and will hopefully lead to greater awareness of regional offers and, in the best case, to action.

Can you tell us something about your new activities or how you will bring your previous experiences into your new position (the topics (in the TU brochure) are partly the same as those you worked on at ENO) – such as social change, digitalization (in relation to the DZA), circular economy, energy and mobility... I have been in contact with so many actors from the Görlitz district who have repeatedly communicated their various needs to us To do justice to my position, to ensure that the research activities also benefit the local region, and to involve local companies.

I would like to continue to work on issues such as local supply and give them the necessary attention.

I would like to continue to work with ENO and TaFo on these topics and many other topics and would like to continue to supervise projects as a project partner.

Dear Clara, thank you very much for the conversation - we wish you all the best and will stay in touch (and are also very happy about one or two guest author blogs from you ;-) here on the UBL blog.