We are pleased to share a short film about our recent Africapitalism Conference. Representatives from the African Union, Nigeria, Kenya, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and the private sector joined us to discuss how Africapitalism can generate new opportunities for sustainable, inclusive growth.

We are pleased to share The Elephant at the Table: Policy Pathways to Confront Power in Food Systems. This report, shaped by an international group of researchers and fellows at THE NEW INSTITUTE, calls out what’s often overlooked: power. It shows how control over land, labor, markets, and stories keeps food systems stuck in inequality, and offers clear, urgent policy ideas for change. The report moves past critique to concrete proposals: redistributing resources, rethinking governance, and expanding who has real access to food. It highlights often ignored areas – from agroecology to seed sovereignty and informal markets – arguing that true change requires shifting power itself.

We are pleased to announce that Franciso Sagasti has been appointed Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Knowledge and Innovation for Social Transformations at Universidad del Pacífico.

The two artists are being honored for reimagining boundaries between the individual and the collective through installation and choreography

In a series of landmark events held prior to and during the Hamburg Sustainability Conference (HSC), the Climate Governance Commission, under the auspices of our Planetary Governance program, convened leading scientists, policymakers, and governance experts. The goal was to address the mounting challenges posed by Earth system destabilization.

And who gets to imagine them? In a series of five dinners, The Imagination Agency, founded by our alumna Kübra Gümüșay, explores the politics of imagination

Join us on May 22 at Thalia Theater Hamburg when Sasha Waltz and Olafur Eliasson are awarded with the Helmut Schmidt Future Prize 2025.

We are pleased to announce that Sabine Kunst, member of the Board of Trustees at THE NEW INSTITUTE, has been elected as the new President of the Turkish-German University Consortium.

Get ready, book lovers! We're thrilled to announce the launch of a Reading Club at Felix Jud Bookstore.

Please join us for a book launch for the second book in our book series THE NEW: Seeds for Democratic Futures

Meredith Whittaker in conversation with Anna Katsman, Thomas Gegenhuber, THE NEW INSTITUTE fellows and festival participants of the Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftsfestival.

An evening lecture with Sabelo Mcinziba discussing the inherent problematic of a seemingly progressive constitution's inability to resolve South Africa's most central issue: land.

How can we contribute to constructive public debates? To answer this question, we convened a workshop with key figures from communication studies, journalism, activism, and politics.

Listen to Maha Marouan give her talk titled, “The Case of West and Central African Migrants in the West-Central Mediterranean” at the 2nd Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent at the United Nations.

Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation, is being honored for her commitment to the development of AI technology oriented towards the common good.

Join us on May 22, 2025, at the iconic Thalia Theater in Hamburg for an inspiring evening as we, together with the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung and Die ZEIT, celebrate the presentation of the fourth Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis!

Watch now: How a diverse food system could unlock sustainability, better health, and social equity — insights from global experts

Finance has long shaped the world we live in. Now the question is how it might help shape the world we need. The Global Consortium for Re-thinking Capitalism (GCRC) explores how finance shapes democratic futures and how it might be reimagined in the public interest. The project emerged from the program Futures of Capitalism, bringing together international perspectives to rethink money, power, and collective responsibility.

In an event hosted by THE NEW INSTITUTE, Hamburg's foundations discussed their role in a changing world

On August 19-30, we will host the third committee meeting of the global anti-corruption court.

Wie können wir zu konstruktiven öffentlichen Debatten beitragen? Jetzt anmelden!

At this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, we contributed two events that brought together critical thinkers to highlight the power of literature as tools for social change.

We are delighted to be at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year with two events.

In his new book, "Wilde Demokratie", Tim Wihl explains how the law can enable rather than prevent dissent that promotes democracy.

Academic freedom faces challenges beyond autocratic regimes. Zeynep Alemdar speaks with Sayed Azam-Ali and Svitlana Matviyenko on how they navigate a changing academic landscape

Why we need an ecocide convention: In this lecture recording, Jay Bernstein talks about our complicity in a "slow genocidal ecocide," why we need to act, and how we can act.

Minna Salami discusses non-dualist knowledge and black feminist perspectives on the polycrisis, and how they are intertwined with decolonisation and identity.

Claus Leggewie on right-wing radicalism, old pressures and new cleavages

Jay Bernstein on "Political Morality for the 21st Century", interviewed by Anna Katsman. A full recording of this in-depth conversation is available here.

In a paper just published in PNAS, an interdisciplinary team of natural and social scientists outline how humanity could stabilise the earth system on which it so urgently depends.

Meredith Whittaker receives the Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis 2024

Olafur Eliasson and Sasha Waltz are honored for their cultural innovation and commitment to the protection of democracy and nature.

Introducing a new paradigm for safeguarding Earth-regulating systems in the Anthropocene

Introducing a new paradigm for safeguarding earth regulation systems in the Anthropocene

Bruno Leipold offers a comprehensive exploration of Marx’s relationship to republicanism

Fostering global cooperation to safeguard critical Earth system functions

Together with the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung and ZEIT, we invite you to celebrate the awarding of the third Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis on May 15, 2024 at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg.

We are happy to announce the publication of our Blueprint: Governing Urban Data for the Public Interest

From the City of Hamburg to other European cities: A first (local) legal assessment towards a legal blueprint

Discursive polarization as a multi-dimensional divergence emerging in and through communication

How can we gain insights into cycling and micromobility flows and the ecosystem in Hamburg to make the city more liveable and sustainable?

The University of Bremen convinced the jury with its innovative approach of developing an AI-powered analytics dashboard to improve cycling and micromobility in Hamburg.

THE NEW INSTITUTE Program Chair Minna Salami contributes to the Club of Rome with a distinctive lens from Black feminism and African identity, empowering their battle against global crises.

A report from our discussion evening at the Hamburger Landesvertretung and our Data Commons Working Group Meeting in Berlin

How does data sharing for the public good really work?

Ideas and solution proposals for data-based improvement of cycling and micromobility wanted.
The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and THE NEW INSTITUTE are jointly launching the Urban Data Challenge Hamburg. The goal is to gain new insights into cycling and micromobility flows in Hamburg in order to make the city more livable and sustainable. The best proposed solution will be awarded €40,000.

How The New Hanse tries to tackle the question of private-public-people partnership in the digital age. What is the role of data in the digital age? What are prominent ways of governing data? How can we best use data for our common good?

THE NEW INSTITUTE starts a collaboration with the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg

Find out more about all publications by our fellows from 2020–2022

Here, you can find all our fellow publications of the year 2022–2023