A successful online conference on sustainability
More than 70 registered participants, excellent speakers from Bremen and India, and exciting discussions – that was our four and a half hour online conference on sustainability on 12 November, organised by the alumni association and its newly founded India chapter. The main themes were sustainable concepts for sanitation, urban mobility and hydrogen as an energy carrier. The focus was on sharing experiences and networking – with very concrete conclusions.
In the end, everyone agreed that this event (co-financed by DAAD) should not remain a one-off. From the three thematically very different sessions, areas of overlap emerged in which the participants would like to continue working – namely transport and hydrogen. It was agreed that a German-Indian follow-up meeting is to be held at the beginning of next year to explore which other interest groups could be included in the exchange and where cooperation might make sense. As Dr. Tobias Wendler from the University of Bremen and Prof. Pratibha Sharma from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay pointed out, the development of hydrogen as an energy carrier and, crucially, the establishment of a corresponding infrastructure are still in their infancy. And that is precisely why there is much to be learned from looking at different experiences in Europe and India. For urban planner and mobility expert Sujaya Rathi from the 10-million-strong city of Bengaluru, green hydrogen raises fascinating prospects for Indian megacities – as an energy carrier for future expansion of bus and train systems.
Participants also agreed that in the area of sanitation, the decades-long cooperation between Bremen and India can and should be deepened. Most notably, non-governmental organisations such as BORDA in Bremen and CDD Society and Ecosan Services in India are working on joint projects for decentralised wastewater treatment plants and the rehabilitation of urban lakes.
Another takeaway from the conference: Due to our heterogeneous membership, the alumni association is particularly well suited to bringing together representatives from academia, business and civil society for fruitful exchange.
All conference sessions are available on the YouTube channel of the Alumni Assocation in the playlist: Indo-German Sustainability Conference