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What is the fair balance between individual and collective interests?

Vicente Fox

An appeal against sexual violence and human rights violations

Nadia Murad

What do we do when there is nothing left to do?

Muhammad Yunus

Urban Angst and Stamina. What are the promising concepts to handle the rise and fall of the cities?

Rem Koolhaas

Imagine yourself as the other self. How do we embrace tolerance and difference?

Cao Fei

What is the fair balance between individual and collective interests?

Melanie Rieback

Revolutionary revelations in climate studies

Dr. Friederike Otto

What is the moral balance between innovation and human interests?

Juan Enriquez

Culture and AI - Creatives can never be replaced by AI - or can they?

Florian Illies

The Fight against Plastic Waste

Eugenia Chow

A humane world of work - in the age of intelligent machines

Dr. Max Neufeind

The Quest for Stability and Dignity in Society

Heather Brown

Sustainability as a principle of city planning

Jeffrey Inaba

Women’s empowerment through volunteer work

Suhani Jalota

Where is the ethical line in the development and use of AI?

Thomas Metzinger

Stress and the City: Why cities drive us crazy – and how to make them liveable

Mazda Adli

Revolt against liberal democracy in Europe – Where do populist right-wing movements come from?

Goran Buldioski

How quickly does the world have to change? A worst-case scenario of climate change and proposed solutions

Nathaniel Rich

Beyond big men, big empires and borders – African women reclaiming their voice and reimagining the future

Rosebell Kagumire

What is the moral balance between innovation and human interests?

Nighat Dad

What is the personal balance between thinking differently and mutual understanding?

Chad Sanders

What is the moral balance between innovation and human interests?

Bruce Sterling

Q BERLIN 2021

Berlin questions 2021 – Metropolis: The New Now, was dedicated to local solutions to global challenges, with a special focus on the future of the city after the Covid-19 pandemic. Hosted by the Governing Mayor of Berlin, the conference took place in a hybrid format for the first time: both in person at six locations in Berlin and online, via livestream and in the 3D virtual environment The Virtual Now.

Sumi Somaskanda

Q BERLIN 2019

„We need sheltered spaces to exchange ideas freely and impartially. Berlin questions is such a space“. It was with these words that BBC presenter Tristana Moore opened the third Berlin questions Conference on 7 November 2019 at Station Berlin. For two days, 15 national and international experts discussed the big questions of our time together with some 800 guests. Topics included climate protection, civil responsibility, artificial intelligence, new work and urban life. An emotional highlight was the moving keynote speech by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad who spoke of the fate of her people, the Yazidi, under the „Islamic State“.

„The positive response to Berlin questions 2019 has been overwhelming and very encouraging. The conference format we employed to inspire interested people about the urgent questions of the time has clearly won them over.“ said Burkhard Kieker, Managing Director of visitBerlin.

At Berlin questions 2019, the top-class panel of experts included, among others, the Berlin stress researcher Dr. Mazda Adli, who spoke about the effects of life in the big city on the mental health of its inhabitants. Dr. Friederike Otto, Director of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University, presented alarming findings on climate change. Florian Illies, best-selling author and Rowohlt publisher, raised the question of whether creativity can be replaced by artificial intelligence. The so-called Q Immersions led the participants on the second day of the conference to special places, companies and institutions around the city to deepen the topics of the conference in talks, exhibitions and workshops.

Berlin questions 2019, Photo: Kevin McElvaney

Q BERLIN 2018

A positive future will require individual freedom, global cooperation, room for new ideas, lifelong curiosity and courage. That was the conclusion of the second edition of Berlin questions. At the E-Werk, more than 500 guests from Germany and abroad discussed the key issues of our times with thirteen speakers from the worlds of business, politics and civil society.

How little we can take freedom for granted became all too clear at the beginning of the conference: Joshua Wong, the student leader from Hong Kong who had been scheduled as a speaker, was not allowed to leave his country and could only address the guests by video message. He stressed the importance of fundamental democratic rights. Nighat Dad, director of the Digital Rights Foundation Pakistan, told how verbal attacks on the Internet lead to assaults on women in real life. She proposes new social media guidelines that are not defined solely by the major Internet companies. Styli Charalambous, co-founder and publisher of the independent South African news platform Daily Maverick, spoke out for free and challenging journalism. Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico, criticised the move towards the nation state that is currently evident in many countries as a regressive step after four decades of positive development. The questions of the future can, he said, only be solved by cooperation and a collective global effort.

Vicente Fox, Former President of Mexico at Berlin questions 2018, Photo: Sebastian Gabsch

Q BERLIN 2017

On 19 and 20 October 2017, 400 participants from more than 60 nations as well as 25 speakers discussed issues in the areas of work, governance, social justice, cultural identity and urbanisation. About 500 international guests as well as Berliners came to the Schiller Theatre for the Q Marathon, the grand finale of the conference.

„Q Berlin Questions has used Berlin for what it is. An ideal platform for a tolerant discourse about relevant topics. The conference should provide orientation to the guests,“ said Burkhard Kieker, Managing Director of visitBerlin. „Strategic thinkers, policy-makers, scientists and artists have inspired with their contributions and discussed central issues of the present day.“

As a supplement to the conference program, the participants had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the life of Berlin: they met over dinner at 22 private locations of Berlin personalities from society, business and science. Furthermore, on eleven excursions to the neighbourhood of the city, participants were connected thematically to Berlin questions. The gallery scene at Potsdamer Straße, Berlin’s new centre around the Humboldt Forum as well as the former Lichtenberg industrial and commercial area, which today houses the largest Asian market in Europe, the Dong Xuan Centre, were all visited among other locations. The recycling of the future was presented at Berliner Stadtreinigung BSR – Berlin City Cleaning.

The conference ended with a large, public talk festival, opened by „BÄM – Berliner Äcademy for Marching Drums“, a music project by German hip-hop musician, Peter Fox. In addition to international speakers this Q Marathon was presented by Berliners. Also spontaneous speakers presented their topics and ideas in four minutes.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus at Berlin questions 2017, Photo: Sebastian Gabsch

Franziska Giffey • Anne Hidalgo • Tawakkol Karman • Düzen Tekkal • ICC BERLIN AND ONLINE • 15 - 16 September 2022 • Francesca Bria • Cathryn Clüver-Ashbrook • Niklas Maak • Parag Khanna • Christian Stöcker • ICC BERLIN AND ONLINE • 15 - 16 September 2022 • Franziska Giffey • Anne Hidalgo • Tawakkol Karman • Düzen Tekkal • ICC BERLIN AND ONLINE • 15 - 16 September 2022 • Francesca Bria • Cathryn Clüver-Ashbrook • Niklas Maak • Parag Khanna • Christian Stöcker • ICC BERLIN AND ONLINE • 15 - 16 September 2022 •
Q BERLIN 2022 • The New Unknown - Navigating Zeitenwende