We live in a technological age, surrounded by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Intercontinental telecommunication, worldwide social networking, interactive cars and smart things represent the basis of our daily life. New robots, such as autonomous vacuum cleaners and humanoid service robots, will soon take over household chores.

Even though all these technologies intend to increase our quality of life, they may also affect our world leading to major sustainability problems – increasing energy consumption and CO2 emissions, waste of resources. Yet, there is a possibility to act differently and minimize the side effects. Proper use of ICT can also enable a better and more sustainable world. 

In this workshop five major technology issues of the next decade will be addressed and creative solutions for sustainable living conditions on our planet will be discussed.

Interactivity

After a short introduction to the six selected ICT topics, the participants will take a first person approach to responsability and focus on shaping the future of new technologies and how these should be used in a sustainable way. The interactivity will take the following forms:

• Idea generation in small teams, with the assistance of sustainability experts
• Creative visualisation by means of the provided aids
• Short team speeches to present the achieved results