According to EU statistics, an average Austrian wastes more than 550kgs per year, which is 100kgs more than the EU average. Out of this, 20kgs are edible food. How can we contribute to turning this around? We waste 157,000 tonnes of edible food a year in Austria. We talked to academics, members of the civil society and companies in order to identify the current pain points. These are refined and turn into challenges for the conference.

Example challenge for waste: There is stigma and a factor of inconvenience in using second-hand clothing for the general public. How do we make the re-use of clothing mainstream for the general population?

Example challenge for food waste: How do you increase demand for fruits and vegetables that are not shelf-ready?

Keywords: circular economy, textile waste, food waste, gleaning, closing loops, shortening food supply chains,  and more.

You will display your idea with your group in a marketplace setting. Other groups travel through the marketplace and work on improving the existing ideas. (World Cafe)

According to the EIGE (European Institute for Gender Equality), Austria is under the EU average when it comes to gender equality. Furthermore, Austria has the second-biggest gender pay gap in the EU, with women earning on average 23% less than men. We talked to academics, members of the civil society and companies in order to identify the bottlenecks regarding the progress in terms of gender equality in Austria. These are refined and turn into challenges for the conference. 

Example challenge: How can we increase the transparency of gender related initiatives taken by the private sector in Austria in order to incentivize companies that are behind?

keywords: gender stereotyping, gender mainstreaming, gender in media, gender wage gap and more.

You will display your idea with your group in a marketplace setting. Other groups travel through the marketplace and work on improving the existing ideas. (World Cafe)

96% of people aged 16-24 in the EU are regular internet users today. But research shows that even though they know how to use the internet, they often lack the ability to judge the quality and trustworthiness of internet resources. This makes them particularly vulnerable. As parents are often not better educated in this area, it is the task of the education system to improve digital literacy amongst the younger generation.  We talked to academics, members of the civil society and companies in order to identify the issues in digital literacy. These are refined and turn into challenges for the conference. More to come, stay tuned.

Example challenge: How can you decrease the effects of the echo chambers on social media?

Keywords: echo chambers, information literacy, digital literacy, creation of knowledge online, future of work and data privacy of minors, news verification more.

You will display your idea with your group in a marketplace setting. Other groups travel through the marketplace and work on improving the existing ideas. (World Cafe)