Abstract No. 15 Transforming Transport

We live in the age of mobility. Being on the go is part of the way we perceive ourselves in modern life, and a basic condition for human evolution. However, the mounting volume of traffic is reaching limits: transport systems in urban areas are congested, climate-related risks and the pressure on hypermobile humans are increasing. Technological progress now promises a transition to a new era of intelligent mobility, characterised by clean drive technologies and autonomous vehicles that herald more efficiency, safety and time. But more efficiency will lead to more mobility, which will make even more demands on our living environment instead of easing the strain. And some in-depth exploration is needed of the hype surrounding the mobility revolution, self-driving cars and electric mobility. The fact is that the future of mobility comprises far more than innovation in our vehicles. It will affect the way we live and how we communicate, and will ultimately change our economic system and the whole of society. What, then, would a truly intelligent vision of mobility look like? Where are more efficiency and new transport technologies needed? Where should we challenge our basic understanding of mobility and declare immobility to be the real luxury? And what does that mean to the goals of innovation and the development of existing and new markets? Abstrakt N°15 goes in search of answers and ideas about the mobility of the future. In addition to contributions from Richard Branson, Bjarke Ingels, Kim Stanley Robinson and other thought leaders and different thinkers, this handbook presents its own hypotheses, visions and ideas on the transformation of the transport system.

Auteur
Stephan Sigrist, Dr. sc. ETH Zürich, the founder and head of the W.I.R.E. think tank has spent many years analysing interdisciplinary developments in business and society, focusing on trends in the healthcare system and life sciences as well as such topics as digitisation, urbanisation and new forms of production including 3D printing. He is the publisher of the ABSTRAKT book series, author of a number of publications and a keynote speaker at international conferences. With W.I.R.E., he advises companies and institutions in the political and scientific spheres on the development of long-term strategies and innovation projects. After studying biochemistry at the ETH Zurich, he initially joined Hoffman-La Roche's medical research team. He subsequently went on to work at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants as a management consultant and at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute. Stephan is a member of the Governing Board of the aha! Swiss Allergy Centre and the Foundation Board of Science et Cité. Simone Achermann, MA European Culture, looks at developments and trends in society, business and cultural sciences and is responsible for the ABSTRAKT book series. The is the author and editor of a variety of publications, including «Mind the Future compendium for contemporary trends» and the Suhrkamp series «What counts». Before taking up her role at W.I.R.E. she worked for several years as a communications consultant, focusing on the area of corporate social responsibility and writing texts and speeches for top managers in business and social fields. Simone Achermann studied cultural sciences at the University College London (UCL). The work of Stefan Pabst, MA Philosophie & Physik, at W.I.R.E. centres around social and cultural transformations caused by technological progress as well as innovation management in the context of shifts in social values. He designs and leads interdisciplinary workshops for W.I.R.E. and also works as a freelance copywriter focusing on art and product design. He was previously employed as the manager of an innovation network for the HPI School of Design Thinking and acted as a freelance innovation consultant. He holds a Master's degree in philosophy and physics from the University of Potsdam.