Science Year 2013 - The Demographic Opportunity

Centenarians living in group homes, retired managers sharing their knowledge with the younger generation, migrants running large companies and creating jobs: demographic change will bring fundamental change to our lives in the coming years. Whether education or the labour market, healthcare or family - the change will affect every aspect of society.

Two trends will dominate: life expectancy will increase as birth rates decline. Lifelong learning will extend studies and training. Our society will become more diverse and the way we work will undergo basic change. By gearing ourselves towards these developments in good time, Germany's innovative strength and competitiveness will also hold its ground in the future. Demographic change is not a threat, it's an incentive and an opportunity to be used to our advantage.

Recognizing challenges

The motto of "We are living longer, we are becoming fewer, we are becoming more diverse" in the Year of Science 2013 - The Demographic Opportunity outlines three fields of action in which to tackle these challenges. The aim is to put forward concrete approaches and solutions for each field. The focus of the discussion is how politics, industry and society can face up to the changes and use them to their advantage.

• Firstly, we are living longer: Thanks to advances in medicine and a more conscious lifestyle, more and more people are not only growing older, they are also staying healthy longer. This is making it possible for many people to be active as they embark on the next chapter of life after retirement. But what needs does this new generation of seniors have? How can society benefit from the skills they have?
• On the other hand, we are becoming fewer: For businesses to attract new talent and keep experienced workers in the future, work itself must be organized differently and qualified workers from abroad must be better integrated. How can we strike a better balance between work life and leisure? How can women pursue a career - without having to opt out of having children?
• Finally, we are becoming ever more diverse because migrants are playing an ever greater role in our economy, and our traditional family structures are also changing. So how do we bring order into this cultural and social diversity? How do we harmonize individuality and social cohesion?

Managing the change

We can prepare for these demographic changes - for example by actively encouraging migration, through transformation to a knowledge-based society, by gaining a new understanding of old age, and with new products and services which help people in old age in particular to lead an active and independent life Science and research will assume key functions in this regard: researchers are those who will analyze the needs of an ageing society and develop concepts for new lifestyles and the jobs of the future.

In dialogue with research

The Year of Science 2013 will once again provide an opportunity to watch world-class researchers at work and to strike up a dialogue. Many dialogue events will also serve as a forum for the public to engage in a debate about the opportunities and challenges of demographic change with experts in a wide variety of disciplines. School students and teachers can also invite scientists to their schools through the Research Exchange (Forschungsbörse). Adult education centres will also be hosting researchers to talk with the interested public for the first time. For more information see www.forschungsboerse.de.

Nationwide events

What will the society of tomorrow be like? How will we live and work? How do we best arrange for the different generations to co-exist? These are questions that will find a forum at a great number of events in the Year of Science 2013. The Leibniz Association has organized a large exhibition on the opportunities of demographic change which will be on display in Berlin, Mainz, Dresden, Bochum, Bremerhaven and Munich. Starting in May 2013, the MS Wissenschaft, the exhibition vessel of the Year of Science, will be making a port call in many German cities. On board is a wealth of information which is aimed at school students in particular.

The Science Years are a joint initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Science in Dialogue (WiD). The Science Years have been promoting exchange between the public and the research community since 2000.