In response to a joint invitation from the Leadership Excellence Institute Zeppelin | LEIZ and the Societas Futura foundation, speakers from various disciplines discussed the future of civil society in a conference held on 26 and 27 April 2018 in the Klimt Villa in Vienna. The main focus was on the development of social innovations requiring better cooperation between state institutions, companies and stakeholders from civil society.
Eminent speakers included the economist Josef Wieland, sociologist Michael N. Ebertz, the leader of the parliamentary group of the Austrian political party ‘NEOS -- The New Austria and Liberal Forum’, Beate Meindl-Reisinger, as well as the President of Caritas Austria, Michael Landau. The issues addressed included the personal responsibility of citizens and companies to find solutions to current social challenges. Examples of best practice were provided by Marie Ringler from the Austrian chapter of Ashoka and Emil Diaconu from Social City Wien. Fittingly for the theme of civil society, works by the artists Maximilian and Henriette Florian were exhibited at the event.
The founders of Societas Futura, business-ethics expert Ramona Maria Kordesch and Werner Lexen – who endowed the Florian collection to the Foundation – are looking forward to further successful conferences over the next few years.
The conference proceedings will be published in the Autumn by Velbrück Wissenschaft.
Contact: ramona.kordesch@zu.de