The WIR alliance “ZukunfTAlter” is committed to making Upper Lusatia a place worth living in!

Upper Lusatia will face many challenges in the future. These include demographic changes, the departure of the younger population to urban centres, the phase-out of coal and the associated problems with regard to employment and income. Nevertheless, Upper Lusatia as a region is characterised by a high degree of heterogeneity and diversity. Not least as "Land of Many Opportunities" declared, Upper Lusatia offers potential and breeding ground for innovations.

The WIR alliance “ZukunfTAlter – Future technologies for successful aging” of the BMBF project in the area of “Innovation and structural change” is convinced that social and technological innovations can support the individual participation of local people and strengthen the attractiveness of our homeland.

The consortium with AWO Lausitz gGmbH, the Association of Saxon Housing Cooperatives and the Media Center of the TU Dresden has set itself the goal of establishing Upper Lusatia as a model region for housing, (care) provision and living environment together with the alliance partners and of developing needs-based solutions with the involvement of business, civil society and science. Innovative and sustainable projects are to be initiated and implemented jointly - for successful aging and good coexistence between young and old in a region worth living in - for Upper Lusatia!

Together with currently 50 alliance partners, the joint mission statement and strategic direction were developed in two strategy workshops. Ms. Schifferdecker, as Saxony's senior citizen representative and advisory board member of the WIR! initiative, is confident about the alliance's chances, but also urged speed in the first workshop: "Saxony was and is a technology state and Upper Lusatia is an ideal laboratory for social and technical innovations."

Prof. Klemm, Managing Director of the Saxon Adult Education Association, also underlined the importance of the WIR alliance "ZukunfTAlter" at the 2nd workshop. He stressed that transformation processes must be designed not only from a technological perspective, but also from the perspective of people. Participation, new learning approaches and learning spaces are in demand in the future.

The first possible projects for the implementation phase will be discussed at the upcoming online workshops in March and April. If you are interested in participating, please find out more at our website and please contact Dr. Kristina Barczik, junior scientist at the Media Center of the TU Dresden: kristina.barczik@tu-dresden.de.

Authors: Kristna Barczik, Niklas Weinhold