Social Research Center Dortmund Awarded Dortmund Dialog Prize
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At the end of August, the Social Research Center Dortmund of TU Dortmund University was honored for 75 years of social science research in Dortmund and its interaction with and in Dortmund’s urban community. The Dortmund Dialog Prize 2022 was presented to Professor Jürgen Howaldt, director of the Social Research Center Dortmund, before an audience of over 100 guests, including Thomas Westphal, Mayor of Dortmund, and Professor Manfred Bayer, President of TU Dortmund University.
Mayor Thomas Westphal gave the laudatory speech at the award ceremony. Among others, he traced the history of the Social Research Center Dortmund, which was founded back in 1946, and highlighted how it delivers important input for answering urgent questions in the context of the digital working society. Afterwards, Thomas Westphal, together with Dr. Bettina Horster, CEO of the GFS (Gesellschaft zur Förderung des Strukturwandels in der Arbeitsgesellschaft (Society for the Promotion of Structural Change in the Working Society)), presented the award – a sculpture – to Professor Jürgen Howaldt, director of the Social Research Center Dortmund.
Talk and panel discussion
In his talk “Rethinking innovation – the growing significance of social innovation”, which he gave after the award ceremony, Professor Jürgen Howaldt outlined how social innovations can contribute to solving sustainability problems and also drew attention to the important role of universities in this process. In a panel discussion afterwards, the participants had the opportunity to exchange views on social innovations from different perspectives.
About the Social Research Center Dortmund
The Social Research Center Dortmund is a research institute working in the area of social science innovation and labor research. The former state institute became a research facility of TU Dortmund University in 2007 and has been part of the newly founded Department of Social Sciences since 2020. Since its foundation, the institute has worked on several hundred research projects. Apart from national and international collaborative projects, the institute also works together with numerous companies and public institutions in Dortmund and the surrounding area, with a focus on shaping social, technological and ecological change and innovation processes.