Zarah Bruhn
Zarah Bruhn, Commissioner for Social Innovation at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Zarah, you’ve been the Commissioner for Social Innovation at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research since April 2022. What are your tasks in this newly created role and what is your personal mission statement?
I want social innovations and their great potential for politics, business, science and society to become much more visible. It's about inspiring more people to implement their innovative ideas and scale them up so that they can achieve their full impact. To support them in this, we at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) want to provide the right incentives and bring innovative minds together.
Germany is a country with a high average age of the population, which will continue to rise in the foreseeable future. Is the topic of "ageing" already on your agenda?
Our increasingly ageing population presents our society with major challenges. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) explicitly addresses these issues of ageing and senior citizens in its health research. For example, with the Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute, or with specific funding measures such as the "Strengthening research in geriatrics and gerontology". In addition, the BMBF supports research into the major common age-related diseases, such as diabetes and cancer, but also increasingly into diseases with previously inadequate treatment options, such as Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease. And with the "Together through Innovation" program, we are promoting research into modern care technologies. The aim is to support caregivers in their important work and enable older people in need of care to live in their own homes for longer. With various funding programs, we are therefore not only aiming for the best possible health in old age, but also for independent living and social participation.
If you look at the entire spectrum of social innovations in Germany, what significance, what proportion do topics relating to demographic change have?
Certainly a very large proportion. There are very active communities and numerous social innovation projects in this area. Many of them are implementing innovative ideas to promote more young skilled workers, one of the key challenges of demographic change. There are also numerous projects on the topic of an ageing society and participation in old age (Silber Salon, Media4Care, etc.). I would particularly like to highlight three projects that emerged from the first round of the BMBF's "Society of Ideas" competition:
1. „ZUSAMMENHÖREN - HÖREN FÜR ALLE PFLEGEBEDÜRFTIGEN“ – as a joint project between ENT practices, health insurance companies, hearing care professionals, geriatric nurses and others.
2. „GeneRobot“: This is where assisted living meets modern robotics and brings generations together.
3. „ViVerA“, which is about virtual events in elderly care for a low-threshold entry into volunteering in favor of the exchange between young and older people and at the same time digital skills for residents of elderly care facilities.
When it comes to social innovation and older people, we see two major areas: The "known", in which older people need support, e.g. in care or when it comes to loneliness and poverty in old age. However, less attention is paid to the potential of older people as social innovators. How do you assess the topic of social innovation by and not for older people?
Senior citizens in particular are already doing a great deal of voluntary work, for example when it comes to refugees. They do an impressive amount for our society. There is a lot of creative potential for social innovation here, shaped by experience and commitment. This senior social entrepreneurship could be leveraged even more. According to a Forsa survey, three quarters of 50 to 75-year-olds can imagine social engagement in old age. For 48%, founding a social enterprise is a conceivable way to get involved in society. The challenges are similar to those faced by younger founders; the aim is to establish and run a sustainably functioning company. However, it would still need to be investigated how willing senior citizens are to transfer to social innovation options, in contrast to traditional, mostly local volunteering, is about spreading and scaling innovation.
Older founders are very often active in the field of social innovation. Are there considerations in the House/the government to promote the topic of older founders? Many older people do not (yet) dare to start a business..
The demographic development that we are currently facing and will increasingly face in the future will require long-term and far-reaching transformation processes. In order to achieve this, we are dependent, among other things, on founders with a wealth of experience who are already making substantial contributions to the performance of the German innovation system with their know-how. These developments and opportunities are also addressed in the current annual report of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation. The BMBF is also providing support here, for example with the Go-Bio and Go Bio initial programs in the life sciences. Both measures are also aimed at people in a professional reorientation phase and, in addition to younger researchers, at people with many years of experience in science or clinics. This explicitly and in particular includes older founders with professional experience.