Nearly ten years ago, in March 2016, I established a foundation dedicated to addressing the systemic challenges of our time. The idea was to create spaces where thinkers from the humanities and social sciences could work across disciplines, free from their academic obligations, and develop interventions aimed at advancing societal progress. In an era when ecological and social systems are visibly beginning to collapse, I believed this to be a significant contribution to the public good.

In the early phase, we established four research centres at the University of California, the University of Cambridge, Humboldt University in Berlin, and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Beginning in 2021, the foundation operated its own Institute in Hamburg, where around 35 international fellows could live and work.

Much was accomplished during this time. We initiated numerous projects, sparked lively debates, and created a network that has grown over the years and which will continue to have an impact. Several of our fellows and partners made remarkable contributions, whose full significance may only be revealed in the years to come.

At the same time, the resources provided and the societal return did not stand in a reasonable proportion to one another, and the goals we had set for ourselves were only partially achieved. Naturally, an experimental initiative of this kind involved a number of conceptual and personal mistakes, for which, as founder and initiator, I bear full responsibility. Collaborating with scholars from the humanities and social sciences was sobering at times. For many, considerations of personal career advancement seem to outweigh commitment to a shared purpose. Interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork proved difficult to organize, and ideology or wishful thinking occasionally stood in the way of pragmatic, reality-based approaches. Perhaps this helps explain why disciplines whose perspectives are so urgently needed by society often attract less public attention than one might wish.

With this report, THE NEW INSTITUTE bids farewell. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved for their dedication, idealism, and support. This extraordinary journey is coming to an end, and we hope that others will find ways to create formats capable of constructively advancing the societal transformation that is so urgently needed.

Erck Rickmers
February, 2026