Hello,

we are very happy that the fourth Work Hackathon takes place in Stuttgart. The state of Baden-Württemberg is considered to be the land of inventors, innovators and patents. There is no better place to think about how innovation will emerge in ten years.

So what will be the innovation in ecosystems in the coming years and what will be the set of beliefs, capabilities, and practices that enable people to identify problems and create solutions in 2028 throughout an organization?

The most successful companies of tomorrow are driven by curiosity and creativity. It´s the turn for everything from how we learn, to how we work, where we live. By leading to a shift away from efficiency, doing the same thing over and over, only a little bit better to a brighter future. Curiosity is the fuel leading to some of the most innovative and game-changing ideas and products of the time. We live in a phase where individual talent, creativity and continuous innovation are essential. We should be thinking in terms of return on inspiration and create new economy models. Disruptive changes to business models will have a profound impact on the workplace landscape over the coming years.

The will to innovate requires communication, experience and transparency in further space patterns. Creative innovation needs agility and performance of both product and space. The blueprint of this space typology is the Arena2036 where we host the workhackathon.

In upcoming markets established corporations will be challenged by dynamic newcomers and startups. They need to change the way they create, collaborate and make decisions. The goal is to empower the employees more and more, that they’ll be able to accelerate the speed of their business. The task of the Work Hackathon is to hack the status quo far away from existing workplace strategy and working styles. To work on ideas how established engineers, hackers, makers, coworkers and developers thrive, will establish an orchestrated and design based understanding to create the products and services of tomorrow. We invite you to discover something new by breaking out of an ordinary workday and promise untold opportunities. Be part of it!

Raphael Gielgen
(Head of Research & Trendscouting, Vitra)

»How innovation happens in 10 years«

This is about you, about your future to be exact. Let us not treat innovation as a buzzword: Improving the status quo, creating and implementing something new – whether technology, concepts or artistic expression – is what humans do. This is how we develop, both as persons and as a community. Put us in the right environment – safe to a certain degree – and we will flourish. We will adapt, create, think and do: This propels us further and it feels good to achieve.

You are an innovator. How does your mind react to that thought? With a »yes, but … «, a »I wish I was …« or a »I have no idea how to even start«? With a »sometimes, if only this and that and this …«? With an enthusiastic »of course!«? You have and you are all the potential for innovation. This is about identifying and thinking up what you need from your work environment to realize it. Let’s find out which factors enable you to spend more time in that zone. How can we support our minds to make the leap to something truly new?

In the future, all of us will be innovators, no matter what your area of expertise or the subject of your work will be.

The way we work now is a legacy of other eras with different challenges and different requirements so why don’t we take this opportunity to shake off that baggage and think about new ways of working. Let’s leave behind what’s considered to be normal and think about what we as wholesome human beings truly need in the process of innovating.

This hackathon is about tackling the opportunity of designing a desirable future of innovation work together: Giving you a frame and tools to develop and contribute great ideas; as organizers to realize how we can provide the right environment for our colleagues to perform at their best.

In the ARENA2036, we are in a unique position to challenge assumptions, to imagine new solutions seemingly far away from today’s reality and to try them out right here to create success that all partners can carry back into their organizations and cultures. Via this hackathon, you can figure out improvements for your own personal future and at the same time have an influence on how we will work together in the ARENA2036. We’re moving towards a new world and it is ours to create.

Do you want to decide how your work as an innovator looks like in 10 years?

Johanna Kleinen
(Doktorantin, Daimler AG)



»2028«

In 2028 innovation will be the new normal. We will not think about scaling a product, or service, we will just prototype and implement, apply, or sell it. Innovation will be democratized and freed, as Eric von Hippel says. It will no longer be driven by market shares and competitive advantages. User themselves will hack, adapt and change existing solutions, according their needs, requirements and for the social good.

What does that mean for us? Stress, of course, uncertainty, for sure, the risk to fail, absolutely. But it also means opportunity, it means optimism, and freedom to create better futures, and better services. It means empathy for every single project we are going to undertake. Products will vanish to n=1. And we can’t do it alone. We will need other perspectives to tackle complexities and reduce the uncertainties. We will need technology to interact, to communicate, to model, test, iterate and handle the risk. We will act and research in studio environments, lab areas, virtual and augmented spaces to socialize, foster our creativity and transform the stress.

Boundaries between disciplines will blur, and disciplines will be arranged around fields of interest. Headquarters will disappear, along with the distinction between university, office or cultural institutions. Our office will be our university will be our stage. By 2028 we will play at work, while all repetitive tasks and commodities will be executed and supplied automatically. Artificial intelligence will do accounting, customization, production and maintenance, and you will be finally deliberated from an industrial mindset of optimization, efficiency and scalability. You will be lost, or not. The stage is yours, and for your digital twin, to tackle the world’s challenges. Imagine it, design it, re-define organizations and their purpose.

Christos Chantzaras
(Lecturer & Research Associate,
Technical University Munich)

You will get the opportunity to work in teams on your ideas and concepts and create a prototype within two days. The best results will be awarded by the Hackathon Jury with exclusive Vitra products.

To be a part of the Work Hackathon event in Stuttgart, submit why you and your team
(4 – 5 persons) want to attend.

To participate in the event, please send a PDF file in English (1x DIN A4 page, max. 10MB) to raphael.gielgen@vitra.com. The PDF file should describe your team, mindset and why you want to be part of it. You can add pictures and graphics to illustrate your application. The submission is due until June 11th. You will receive our feedback at June 15th.

For further questions contact Raphael Gielgen.

We take care to ensure completeness, corectness and being up-to-date, we can not guarantee this. Each Hackathon participant is responsible for his or her submitted ideas. This includes also any copyright violations affecting third parties resulting from these ideas.

Vitra International AG
Klünenfeldstrasse 22
4127 Birsfelden, Switzerland
T: +41 61 377 00 00
F: +41 61 377 15 20

For further information contact Raphael Gielgen