Green Talents - International Forum for High Potentials in Sustainable Development

How can green growth for all be achieved? What can be done to implement sustainability strategies into society? Young scientists from all over the world who are seeking solutions to these and other pressing questions related to sustainability participate in the “Green Talents”-Competition of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). As “International Forum for High Potentials in Sustainable Development”, the “Green Talents”-Competition under the patronage of Minister Professor Annette Schavan focuses on outstanding international young scientists (up to 35 years old) active in the field of sustainability research. The decisive selection criterion for the high calibre expert jury is that the research of the “Green Talents“ candidates may crucially contribute towards mastering global challenges such as climate change, declining energy resources and massive environmental pollution. The continuous increase of excellent applications (2009: 156; 2010: 234; 2011: 331) and the broad variety of countries of origin (2011: 59 countries) confirm the high impact of the competition. 

Germany is one of the leading locations for sustainability research in the world and a strong partner for international cooperation in this field. Therefore, a two-weeks science forum in Germany is at the heart of the annual worldwide competition. Touring through Germany, the "Green Talents" visit important universities, research institutions and companies and learn about cutting-edge projects in various fields of technology. Moreover, the awardees are invited to an additional stay of up to three months during the year following the competition in order to conduct their reserach in Germany and to intensify the international collaboration in the field of sustainability research.

Find out more about the “Green Talents”-Competition, its winners, the stations visited and the jury members on the “Green Talents” project website www.greentalents.de.