This year's symposium takes place virtually again. Today's Welcome Session from the Haus der Wirtschaft in Stuttgart, moderated by Dr.-Ing. Lea Schwarz, Project Engineer Powertrain Strategy at AUDI AG, kicked off the event. As the first guest, Lea Schwarz welcomed the host of the event: Prof. Dr. Michael Bargende, Board of Management of FKFS. He spoke about the decision to hold the symposium virtually again and the special nature of the Stuttgart location, where industry and science work together incomparably closely.
Subsequently, Lea Schwarz welcomed Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, Minister for Economic Affairs, Labor and Tourism of Baden-Württemberg. The minister spoke about her ministry's various efforts for the mobility of the future. In doing so, she also explained that the current challenges and the resulting accelerated transformation represented opportunities for the state.
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Ressel, Rector of the University of Stuttgart joined in as the third guest via video. He listed various successful projects related to the mobility of the future in which FKFS is currently involved. Finally, he invited the participants of the 22nd Stuttgart International Symposium to “exchange ideas during these two days, to get to know new things and to develop ideas further”.
Immediately afterwards, Dr. Martin Berger, Vice President Corporate Research and Advanced Engineering of MAHLE International GmbH, gave a keynote speech. In his presentation, Dr. Berger spoke on the topic of "Shaping the future as a supplier in a changing (mobility) world". This is characterized by sustainability and by a very diverse mobility of the future, for whose powertrain types MAHLE has just as diverse solutions ready.