The research project connects three different theoretical and disciplinary frameworks and scholarly debates concerning the circulation and transformation of production models in global automobile industry; the role of technological and business networks in the linking and de-linking of Europe and the specific debate on the choices of Russian modernization and varieties of capitalisms. It studies the Soviet and Russian automobile industry and its transformations vis à vis the changes in the global automobile industry from the 1970 to 2010, period marked by the crisis of historical Fordism and the search for new post-fordist reconfigurations. It questions the existence of a Russian specific “road” to post fordism and indagates its historical determinants.  

In order to do so:

1. it analyses the relation between the transformation in the production system (corporate structure and production methods) and the historical construction, disgregation and reconstruction of networks of suppliers of one of the most important Soviet and Russian automobile enterprises, AvtoVAZ.
2. It draws a map of the changes in the foreign presence in the industry (suppliers, capital, consultants) and in the foreign connections.
3. It explores the reactions and the critical relflections of historical actors, managers and top level technicians, to the production “fashions” coming from abroad and the actual foreign led transformation of the Soviet/Russian automobile industry.

Projectcoordinator
Dr. Valentina Fava

Funding agency
IPODI Marie Curie & Berlin University of Technology
October 2015 - September 2016

Public transport is space of insecurity and fear for many people. While the objective crime rates and incidents in European Public Transport are very low and it is a very safe space, the subjective feeling of security differs vastly from this. Many people (especially women and older people) are afraid of using public transport for the fear of becoming a subject of transgressions. This hinders a widespread adoption of the use of public transport use for whole strata of society. This is a major barrier for the transition away from personal car ownership to an interconnected service-oriented mode of mobility in Smart Cities of the future.

A major issue with subjective feelings of security and risk in public transport is the feeling to be alone – either completely or among strangers who do not care and will not help. This feeling is corroborated by the fact, that people in our sprawling international cities have less personal contacts to their co-citizens and often avoid seeking direct communication to strangers. As this – speaking to others and asking for help—is the main recommendation made by security authorities on how to behave in such situations, this a areal issue. At the same time, people are more comfortable to deal with communication online, via their smartphone.

Here our suggested new product will make the difference. In DoNotFear we will develop an App which allows transport users to (a) report fear inducing situations and places, (b) report about other passengers in difficult situations or need, (c) become member of the community of solidary users, (d) find out, if there are other in the wagon etc. who would stand up in a critical situation, (e) ring an alarm.

This will open up a different channel for solidarity and social behaviors to emerge without having to personally interact with people before I know they will help.

Projektverantwortung
Christoph Henseler
Prof. Hans-Liudger Dienel
Martin Schlecht

Auftraggeber/ Förderung
EIT Digital
Januar 2019 - Januar 2020

Konsortium

• ARTE, TU Berlin (Christoph Henseler, Prof. Hans-Liudger Dienel. Martin Schlecht)
• Crowdee GmbH (Dr. Tim Polzehl)
• QU-Labs, TU Berlin (Prof. Sebastian Möller)

Weitere Informationen
WizGo

In urban development, questions are often on the agenda that directly influence the lives of citizens. Participation through elections is often not enough, since the periods are long and questions cannot always be foreseen at the time of the election. In order to nevertheless get an opinion on current issues of urban development, new, supplementary instruments for citizen participation are needed. This is where the "Flash Poll Tool" project comes in. The aim is to develop a tool that ensures timely and consistent communication between citizens and decision-makers. For this purpose, an app for smartphones is to be developed, with the help of which short surveys ("flash polls") can be carried out. Urban decision-making processes can be supported with the help of a feedback function. After initial test runs at universities and schools, the project team wants to test the app in Berlin, Paris, Nantes and Stockholm. The survey tool aims to overcome the problems of classic online surveys:

• Interest groups mobilize their followers and manipulate the results;
• there is no connection between respondents, questioners and the subject of the question;
• the survey takes too long and
• Participants do not receive feedback on the overall result.

The Flash Poll tool uses spatial context information and geodata to target specific user groups in urban spaces. Mobile voting via smartphones makes it possible to place the survey in a close spatial and factual context. Since it is a tool for public clients, data protection and personal rights play a central role. Part of the task of nexus is to determine the needs of the users, to develop usage scenarios for Berlin and to organize the market launch.

Project responsibility

Christopher Henseler

Dr. Angela Jain

Client:

European Institutes of Technology, Digital Cities research series

01/2013 – 12/2015

Project partner
nexus Institut
Center for Technology and Society (ZTG), Technische Universität Berlin
Quality and Usability Labs (QU Labs), Technische Universität Berlin
Service-centric Networking (SNET), Technische Universität Berlin
Deutsche Telekom
KTH - Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (Königlich Technische Hochschule), Stockholm
Universität Stockholm
Alfstore, Frankreich
Missions Publiques, Frankreich

FORCE reviews Security foresight studies and Security horizon-scanning activities in the European Framework program and produce, based on this work, a Foresight Model and corresponding Intelligent Decision Support system, evolvable and scalable with future Foresight research activities conducted in Europe. The foresight model will consist of a detailed description of methods used in foresight research including strengths and weaknesses. All methods will be compared with each other and assessed regarding the appropriateness for detection of upcoming security threats - for short term, mid-term and long-term foresight approaches. In addition, methods for triangulation (mixed-method) approaches will be identified for future studies. The Foresight model will be designed to identify the most promising methods for different tasks.

The Foresight model and corresponding Intelligent Decision Support System will assist policy makers and stakeholders in the Security domain to determine expectations and risks from future social and technological trends using methodologies and information from past, current and future Foresight research activities. As a result they will assist decision makers to strategically plan for short-term, medium -term and long-term security risks related to emerging technologies and social changes in society.

Producing a Foresight model including:

• Methodologies for monitoring and identifying emerging technological advances and corresponding Security risks including “wildcards” (potential low-probability high-impact future events), in emerging science and technology areas, mainly within the following fields: ICT, Nanotechnology, Robotics, Life Sciences, and Converging Technologies.
• Methodologies for monitoring social needs and changes in society (European society values, privacy, fundamental rights).
• A contact platform for researchers and decision-maker to enable exchange and collaboration
• Link current available methods for prioritising Security risks to the design of an Intelligent Decision Support System (IDSS) which will support the Foresight model.
• Testing the IDSS with members of the Advisory Board (stakeholders) using futuristic scenarios based on the scenarios developed in the FP7 FESTOS project.
• Supporting the visibility and the take up of security research results at stakeholder level, especially focusing on end-users, via: dissemination of the “Foresight Model” and “Decision Support System”; online blog and discussion forum; and the creation of training materials.

The FORCE Foresight model and corresponding Intelligent Decision Support System (IDSS) will provide information into foresight for political agenda setting and also provide a better understanding of the new and upcoming technologies and long-term trends, leading to the strategic planning into security issues of relevant stakeholders. Examples of sectors to be addressed and areas to focus on using the FORCE platform, to create a secure and safer EU and Associated States.

Projektverantwortliche
Prof. Dr. Hans-Liudger Dienel
Christoph Henseler
Dr. Massimo Moraglio

Abschlussbericht
FORCE

The INTEND project is a one-year research project funded by the European Union as part of Horizon 2020. It pursues the goal of strengthening the competitiveness of the European transport sector in the long term by developing a research agenda for a future-oriented transport sector. By means of a systematic data collection and analysis, a study will be written which will detail the research needs and priorities for a future-oriented European transport sector.

Project responsibility

Dr. Massimo Moraglio

Dipl. Geogr. Norman Döge

Johanna Ostendorf

Client/ Funding

EU-Horizon 2020

10/2017 – 09/2018

Consortium

• Coventry University Enterprises Limited [Coordinator];
• Center for Research and Technology/Hellenic Institute of Transport;
• University of Belgrade, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering;
• Institute for Vocational Training and Work Studies, Work Studies/Technology and Participation, Technical University of Berlin;
• Institute for Sustainable Development, Zurich University of Applied Sciences

Project website

https://www.intend-project.eu/

The moderate successes of scientific models and explanations of crises and catastrophes are often a reason for dissatisfaction, blame, helplessness and fatalism in the face of these extreme events. A more recent example of this is the accident at the Duisburg Love Parade, where inadequate safety precautions were taken despite prior simulation by a recognized researcher. It is not surprising that the models were felt to be useless and that doubts arose about the competence and reliability of the individual scientist and his subject as a whole. The discrepancy between simulation and reality is easily explained: not only were possibly poorly estimated parameters about the number of visitors used, furthermore, the models used in the simulation of masses (actor-based as well as based on liquid physics) simply do not represent human behavior of the kind as they are in the event occurred (climbing ladders and falling). This is also a communication problem: only the fact that the behavior is modeled was communicated in advance, but not what is not considered.

The project Maps of the Unknown aims to develop and communicate concise visualizations of what is not yet known or the gaps in the current state of knowledge on extreme events in order to clarify the limitations of existing scientific knowledge in the area of extreme events and to promote a social discussion about how to deal with unknowigness. Awareness of the current limits of scientific analyzes and explanations should strengthen system trust in scientific statements on extreme events in the long term. As a counterweight to the previous scientific communication, it wants to explore and convey the limitations and gaps in the current state of knowledge on extreme events and, at the same time, map the sea of ignorance. The aim here is expressly not to capture new research questions, but to convey the inherent blind spots of the disciplines and the limitations and controversy of models and explanations and predictions. This knowledge, which is otherwise only known and available in the scientific disciplines themselves, should be made available to a broad public. It can help to avoid exaggerated expectations of science and to come to a concrete discussion about research gaps and necessary further research fields.

In the project, visual representations or infographics, i.e. maps, should serve as an easily accessible means of communication. These maps will provide clear images of what is and is not known about specific extreme event types in the respective scientific field.

Project responsibility

Prof. Dr. Hans-Liudger Dienel

Christopher Henseler

Final report

Maps of the Unknown

Using the example of shared taxis, the project examines the emergence of new orders of economy, morality, urban development and migration in the post-Soviet space. The Russian case study focuses on migration narratives within the semi-formal marshrutka market. Marschrutka drivers initially established themselves as independent mobility entrepreneurs in almost all cities of the newly founded Russian Federation. Only in the 2000s was it possible to formalize private local transport politically at the regional level. The increasing control and regulation of the marshrutka market is resulting in a threatened devaluation of the profession due to deteriorated working conditions (high risk, poor pay, long working hours). In certain cities, the market has since been maintained to a large extent by migrant workers.

The research study attempts to explore the complex social context of current mobility offers in the Russian Federation from an inductive perspective. Questions and effects of Russian migration policy are just as much a focus as possible consequences of the transition process of the 1990s. The public discourse in Russia on mobility offers is strongly characterized by modernization appellatives and deficit compensations, which are also to be presented and critically analyzed in their political function and narrative form.

Project responsibility

Tony Weicker

Client/ Funding

Volkswagen Foundation and Institute for Regional Studies, Leipzig

October 2015 – October 2018

Project partners:

• Nazarbayev University - School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Astana / Kazakhstan
• American University of Central Asia, Department of Anthropology, Bishkek / Kyrgyzstan
• Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University- Department of Human Geography, Tbilisi / Georgia
• Khujand State University- Department of Ethnology and Archeology, Khujand / Tadjikistan
• Goethe-University Frankfurt a.M.- Department of Human Geography, Frankfurt am Main / Germany
• Friedrich Schiller University of Jena - Department of Philosophy, Jena / Germany
• Humboldt University of Berlin - Department of Asian and African Studies, Berlin / Germany
• Technical University of Berlin - Center for Technology and Society, Berlin / Germany
• University of Leipzig - Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig / Germany
• Leibniz Institute Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig / Germany

More information

www.marshrutka.net

The rapid development of the economies of Asia, especially China, India and Russia, has dramatically increased the volume of trade between Europe and Asia. Asian countries are now Europe's largest trading partners. Currently, this exchange of goods takes place mainly by ship. However, the railroad offers a realistic alternative to sea transport that is gaining in importance. Several routes are already available as trans-Eurasia land connections. Due to their historical development and currently limited capacities, numerous tasks must be mastered in order to be able to implement efficient rail transport services. This includes the modernization of the infrastructure, operational procedures and supply concepts. Interoperability issues are also of central importance for good capacity utilization.

To support research and practice in this area, the NEAR2 project is building a network of leading research and industry players from Europe and Asia. Its members develop an agenda for research and development activities for the integration of rail transport in long-distance freight transport. It integrates the existing structures and preparatory work, in particular of the European railway research networks, and thus opens up the current research findings.

The aim is to set up an international, interdisciplinary, permanent structure that can provide the necessary impetus for further economic and scientific development. The contribution of nexus consists of an examination of international cooperation and integration research via the Center for Technology and Society of the TU Berlin. The railway technology competence of the Technical University of Berlin is included via the specialist areas of rail tracks and railway operations as well as rail vehicles.

Project responsibility:

Prof. Dr. Hans-Liudger Dienel

Dr. Robin Kellermann

Dr. Massimo Moraglio

Client
European Commision, 7th Research Framework Pogramme
02/2012 – 01/2015

Project partner

• Technical Universität Berlin, Center for Technology and Society
• TU Berlin, Department of Rail Tracks and Railway Operations
• TU Berlin, Department of Rail Vehicles

In the TUB-Teaching sub-project OSA, an online subject selection assistance system is being developed, which will provide information about the courses "Vocational Education" and "Work Teaching" and should encourage self-reflection regarding professional suitability. The focus here is on an information service for prospective students who are looking for access to a degree in teacher training at the TU Berlin via a lateral entry (Q-Master). The aim is to convey in-depth, interactively prepared information on studies and work, combined with stimulating prospective students to explore their interests and skills in order to recruit suitable prospective students. The OSA includes a web-based presentation of the information relevant to Q Master's students on the transition, study conditions and career prospects. In in-depth, videographed case studies and tutorials, students, lecturers and practitioners present the framework conditions relevant to their careers, studies and work in order to stimulate decision-making exploration.

Project responsibility

Manuela Weber

Duration

01/01/2016 – 06/30/2019

The RACE2050 future study aims to identify key success factors for sustainable growth of the European transport industry in order to formulate policy recommendations up to the year 2050. For this purpose, a large number of existing future studies from the transport sector are brought together in a "Synopsis Tool" in order to then compare and assess them with regard to their projections, goals and in particular with regard to their different measures to achieve these goals. The results of this analysis will be discussed with different experts from the transport industry, research and politics. From this, the project finally develops core concepts for a sustainable and competitive European transport industry in the form of its own scenarios for 2030 and 2050.

Client

European Commission, 7th Research Framework Programme

09/2012 – 02/2015

Project leader

Dr. Massimo Moraglio

Dr. Robin Kellermann

Final report

Published in the Journal of Future Studies

Facilitation of intermodal mobility in the urban-rural continuum by integrating alternative mobility providers in public transportation: real and virtual, and for young and old passengers.

Public transportation in rural areas needs to cope with structural difficulties of low population densities, high car ownership and an aging rural society. But rural areas are also characterized by vibrant community life, strong voluntary engagement and collaboration. Local voluntary organizations in many European countries, including Germany, have started to operate community transport services to their villages. The number and types of services is growing steadily.

RAMSES is taking these rural mobility services to the next level. Community-driven transportation and other alternative mobility options like bottom-up car sharing rely mostly on face-to-face contact, personal acquaintance and trust; it is largely paper-based, as restricted budgets do not allow implementing IT infrastructure. Building on this first generation of the sharing economy, RAMSES offers an easy-to-use IT application that allows providers to make the most of the local commitment.

RAMSES is empowering rural mobility by linking public transportation services, alternative mobility providers and rural communities together on one platform. This platform provides not only an intermodal trip planner and ticketing for users of rural transportation services. Unlike many others, the RAMSES platform specifically aims on empowering small-scale providers of mobility services in rural areas, e.g. voluntary community transport providers. A low cost, integrated solution supports them in organizing, operating and marketing their services. For society this provides access to a wider range of mobility options, better integration, thus less dependence on the car and environmental impact.

The platform will be deployed, tested and put in existing structures in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, which witnesses a significant growth in alternative, community-driven mobility services.

TU Berlin, Dept. Work and Technology at the Institute of Vocational Education and Work Studies of TU Berlin is responsible for the coordination of the project activities as well as the deployment of the platform in the pilot region of Baden-Württemberg. Nexus Institute, together with the RAMSES partners SIEMENS, TU Eindhoven and DFKI, is responsible to explore the existing market, prepare business models and market concept. Hereby nexus draws on its market know-how and practical experience of piloting community transportation initiatives.

Project coordination
Christoph Henseler
Dr. Massimo Moraglio

Research Partners:

• TU Berlin, Institut für Berufliche Bildung und Arbeitslehre
• TU Berlin, DAI Labor
• SIEMENS
• Nexus Institut
• Deutsche Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz gGmbH (DFKI)
• Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg (NVBW)
• TU Eindhoven

Funding Agency:
European Institutes of Technology, Digital - EITDIGITAL
01/2016 – 12/2016

The aim of VERS is to investigate to what extent the participation of users of local public transport in the design of modern RFID-based transport access systems can change attitudes and thus promote greater openness to new solutions.

For this purpose, VERS explores the attitudes towards IT-based, in particular RFID-supported, traffic access systems, identifies the reasons for a negative attitude towards the system and, using practical examples, examines whether and to what extent participation represents a solution, weighing up benefits and costs and attitudes at the individual level to change. On the societal level, the aim is to break up the unproductive confrontation between the IT industry and critical civil society. It is not about gaining acceptance, but about giving citizens the right to self-determination in a digital world that is becoming increasingly confusing and triggering diffuse fears and to deal with conflicts in advance through “privacy by design”.

Project leader

Dr. Robin Kellermann

Client

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

08/2015 – 07/2017

Project partner

• Science in Dialog GmbH (wid);
• Technical Universität Berlin, Chair of Work, Technology and Participation
• Transport association Berlin Brandenburg (VBB),
• WISAG Transport Services Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH

Final report