Business Meets Science: The City of the Future—How Innovation Is Transforming Our Cities and Communities

Our cities are changing. Climate adaptation, changing usage patterns, new demands on mobility and quality of life, as well as shifts in retail and commerce, are presenting municipalities and businesses with new challenges. At the same time, these changes are creating new opportunities: for innovative products and services, for new technologies, and for collaboration between business, academia, skilled trades, and municipal stakeholders.

The 18th edition of “Business Meets Science” is therefore dedicated to the question of how our cities can be designed to be sustainable —and what opportunities this presents for companies in the region. In the future, the city center will not only be a place for shopping but also a space for innovation. Those who make cities future-proof not only open up new areas of research and science but also create new markets and fields of application for industry, commerce, and skilled trades.

This often involves concrete challenges and solutions that are already being developed, tested, or implemented today. Topics such as climate-adapted urban development, urban greening, new construction methods and materials, energy, the circular economy, technical systems, and digital applications demonstrate just how diverse these changes are.

Three key questions serve as the central theme of the event:
Why do our cities need to change?
What solutions already exist?
And what opportunities does this create for businesses?

The event combines current research with practical experience and highlights the approaches that can already help make our cities sustainable today.

Organizers: Dresden Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK Dresden), General Association of Entrepreneurs of Zittau and Surrounding Areas e.V., Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, Dresden Chamber of Crafts