Audi partners with Frankfurt Book Fair
AUDI AG and the Frankfurt Book Fair have agreed to a multi-year partnership to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas between various disciplines and schools of thought. The aim is to work together to foster innovative ideas through the convergence of different fields. The partners are providing a first glimpse of their collaborative project with the ‘Open Talks’ at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair.
An open and networked culture of innovation is of central importance for AUDI AG – especially because of the paradigm change associated with electric mobility. “At Audi we are looking at future mobility much more as an overall system,” says Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales at AUDI AG. The car of the future will adapt much more to its environment, integrating itself into intelligent power grids and traffic guidance systems. “Representatives of all disciplines will have to work much more closely together in order to shape our future living spaces. We believe in the need for an intense social dialogue about how we would like to live in the future – and we want to intensify this dialogue.”
Integration is also becoming an increasingly important aspect for the Frankfurt Book Fair. While new technological possibilities from the e-book to digital self-publishing are changing the publishing industry profoundly, the Book Fair is becoming a multimedia creative forum and marketplace for classic publishers and online games programmers alike. Schwarzenbauer: “The Frankfurt Book Fair is constantly refining its range of subjects and is thus constantly creating new connections. And literature – whether analogue or digital – remains a key indicator of what moves people.”
With the collaborative ‘Open Talks’ project, the Frankfurt Book Fair and Audi intend to develop a forum to foster dialogue between personalities from various disciplines and schools of thought. The aim is to create a discussion forum that encourages extraordinary encounters, thus providing impetus for a culture of interdisciplinary openness and dialogue. The focus is on the central questions of the partnership: How does new, pioneering thought come about? What gives rise to creativity and innovation?
“As different as the work of the literati and engineers, of creative media types and designers may be: For each of them, it starts with a blank sheet of paper and ends with the realization that crossing creative boundaries opens up new perspectives,” says Juergen Boos, Director of the Frankfurt Book Fair. “This is why we are now partnering with Audi and taking the next step to make the Frankfurt Book Fair an open meeting ground for innovative people from creative professions that goes far beyond the classic book format,” adds Boos.
The partnership will begin at this year’s book fair, where both partners hope to lay the groundwork for future joint projects. The most visible sign of this new partnership will be the temporary building that Audi erected on the Frankfurt exhibition grounds in advance of the Frankfurt Motor Show; the building will take on entirely new functions during the Book Fair.
Renowned authors, scientists and creatives will gather for the first ‘Open Talks’ (October 12 – 14) of the Frankfurt Book Fair in the same building where the automaker presented its latest innovations in September. They will discuss the theme of “New Thinking in Dialogue”, specifically how networking can become a driver of scientific, technological and possibly even social progress, and in which contexts creativity and innovation is possible at all.
The ‘Collective Storytelling’ event series (October 12 – 16) applies creative networking to the largely individualistic process of writing and storytelling itself. Authors from various genres – from poets to songwriters – will be appearing at live sessions and will make their individual contributions to a common storyline. The past and future of publishing will also meet in the Audi building. It will be the stage for both the historic treasures of the Frankfurt Antique Book Fair and the participants of the “Frankfurt StoryDrive,” the conference and exhibition area at the Frankfurt Book Fair for the digital commercialization of content.
Held each year since 1949, the Frankfurt Book Fair is the world’s largest trade show of the literature industry. With more than 7,500 exhibitors from over 110 countries and nearly 300,000 visitors, it is the most important marketplace for books, media, rights and licenses. In recent years the Book Fair has evolved beyond its classic target group to become an international meeting place for creatives and business partners from new technology and media sectors. The 2011 Book Fair takes place from October 12 – 16 in Frankfurt am Main. This year’s guest of honor is Iceland.
