Some sectors of the economy receive a lot of attention, for example sectors selling fancy cars. Other sectors, like the ones regrouped under the name of circular economy, receive much less attention and show up little in headlines. In fact, the circular economy is a great example of this. There are thousands of waste and rubbish collection, sorting and recycling centers, several hundreds of waste-to-energy plants, composting sites across the European Union. Of course, there is also a European Federation of the sector (FEAD). On the last FEAD conference in Brussels 2024 it became clear that Europe is finally waking up to the challenge of recycling costly raw materials.
The narrative concerning the sector needs to change further: what used to be subsumed as costly nuisance is in fact a potential profit center for companies and society at large. We do no longer want to import lots of raw materials from countries with dubious social and environmental records as part of our supply chains for raw materials. Time to act. This, however, is a rather complex socioeconomic challenge of circularity. The price mechanisms are not fully functional in most Member States, let alone across the EU. Additionally, the social practice to recycle varies greatly between countries. Distributional issues matter as well. It is rather obvious that dumping waste from one region/country in another one has huge implications (nuclear waste), but if one country values waste more than another one, due to innovative recycling techniques, the matter takes a marketable turn. Regulation should carefully distinguish categories of materials as we do for hazardous materials in production, consumption and for health and safety purposes of employees.
Metal, battery, cement, plastic and wood recycling pose challenges, but also opportunities to improve the European material import/export balance sheets. However, first in the circle of circularity is the use of materials. There we are clear that “less is better”. Less input of raw materials, most of which we import in the EU, reduces our dependence on other countries. This is the tricky social question of circularity. Mainstreaming of more conscious use and reuse of resources is a huge social issue, which we tend to relegate to a task for the education system. The awareness that supposed waste is also a valuable resource is spreading and the growth of the sector a business and employment opportunity for many. Circularity is the new sexy sector of the 21st century.
What have you recycled today? and myself? Well, scientific online publications. Now think of ChatGPT and the AI gold mines of 2024. There is lots of value in recycling.
(Image FEAD conference Brussels, 2024) 
Book Annotation
For most people book annotations are considered a nuisance. However, most pupils or students mark their so-called textbooks, which contain many images nowadays anyway. A good mindmap, summary of text, highlighting or critical comments may be part of their day-to-day working with a book. Some editors facilitate this using broad margins and more space between lines. Working through a text can take multiple forms and books have allowed over centuries different kinds of their usage.
There is yet another underexplored usage of books. On printed volumes annotations of previous readers may serve as a guide to a script of places, thoughts or material of particular importance. I have always found annotated copies of other readers interesting in their own right. Reading an annotated copy felt like reading another person’s mind, thought or learning process.
A modern view of books as a tool of communication might extend this perspective to study annotations of several readers on the same copy. Just like we comment today in word processing on texts from collaborators or students. Books are a means of communicating with other people or machines (AI) usually with the aim of spreading ideas, content, horror or pleasure.
Therefore, I am always happy to find annotated versions of a book, especially of prominent authors. It sometimes feels like reading a “partition”, a transcript of music which contains the comments or fingering of the reader or the performing musician. The BNF has a lot of such special copies in its archives, usually found in the donations of persons or prominent authors and their families to the archives. This can be put together to make an interesting exhibition of the process of thinking and writing and of special treasures – annotated books.
Image Bibliothèque nationale de France BNF, collection, “Annotations by Jean Racine on Homer “Ilias“.
Passing Disasters
We live in rather cynical times. Just like the practice to scroll through hundreds of newspaper pages or social media entries we pass over the reports of of disaster after the other. Whole industries live from the reporting of disasters in a sensational manner. As the speed of reporting via social and online media has increased over the last few years the time to reflect what are the reasons for the multiple disasters has moved backstage. On the forefront are journalists and life bloggers who gain from increased reach and with the duration of their reporting of disasters. These are the first round effects. Second in line are people proposing fast fixes of what seems to be the problem at first sight. A more thorough analytical approach has little chance against the overwhelming effects of disaster imagery. Before the necessary dara and analyses have been carried out by scientists the next disaster already dominates the headlines and images. Flooding and droughts come and go faster due to climate change, but the reactions just del with reporting and capturing of attention rather than analyses. Next follows the blame game. Rather than unity to deal with consequences responsibility gets pushed from one instance to the next. Another cynical twist is the rise in insurance premiums to be paid by all, because the reporting hypes have increased the cost of repairs for insurance companies and after all more people shall seek insurance and have a higher readiness to accept higher rates for disaster insurance. Maybe this is just another more recent chapter of Sloterdijk‘s „Kritik der zynischen Vernunft“, which we witness currently. The effect of passing disasters is often a feeling of helplessness or powerlessness although we need to do just the opposite. Get together and act together after adequate analyses of underlying mechanisms. (Image Aristite Maillol Brussels, MRBAB) 
Sunny Trade
Some countries or regions struggle with trade deficits or trade surpluses, which cause worries to their partners. Eurostat publishes regularly the latest trade figures for the EU with external partners. The EU as a whole has a trade surplus in September in 2024 of € 12 billion. From January to September in 2024 the surplus accrues to 140 billion already. Overall, this is a rather sunny picture of EU trade. As we import raw materials and fossil energy mainly, the rest of the world is largely appreciating what we do with the imports, at least in an economic sense, environmental concerns tend to be neglected in such considerations.
The import statistics and figures do not capture the contribution of the sun to our energy balance sheets. We import energy from the sun almost on a daily basis and our trade statistics to not capture this, despite their huge impact on production and the fossil energy trade imbalance we report each month. Imported energy, the largest negative position in our sunny trade balance, in the EU amounts to € 20 billion per month. Harvesting more wind and solar energy as well as geothermal sources and energy storage require huge investments, but millions of Europeans are willing to contribute to this effort. With rising protectionism we should act now to avoid years of structural trade deficits in the coming years. There should already be more sun in the still sunny trade balance. To keep it that way more sunny trade will do the trick.
(Image from Eurostat, 2024-11-18, Euro area trade balance by product group in billions of €, original states in %, retrieved 2024-11-29)
Birds again
There are many ways to have more birds again in inner cities. Less pollution and poison are part of the solution. Second, increase the food available to birds. Some plants or vegetation is more suited than the other one. Combined with the question of cooling houses in summer and more isolation in autumn and winter, the greening of facades in cities has a simple effect to provide hiding, nesting and feeding spaces for birds. Birds will discover this vegetation as their natural habitat offering relatively safe shelter and food. It is an incredibly simple way to catch 22. Your new shelter is selective in the choice of birds that it will house. Singing birds seem to value the places most. Other predators may follow. At least in late autumn and early winter the energy rich power food is a welcome addition of the diet. Nesting in spring and summer might be another option to have more birds again. We shall need many very small steps again to keep biodiversity or bring back some of it. Birds again is a small initiative.
Legal devices
In the 1st chapter of “The code of capital”, Pistor (2019, p.3) specifies the 6 major modules of the code that creates a lot of wealth, but is also eager to keep it to a few privileged persons in society. In order of appearance and not exclusively they are: “contract law, property rights, collateral law, trust, corporate, and bankruptcy law. In these modules 4 major attributes of assets are defined for the holder and later exercised courts as well as other state institutions: (1) priority, (2) durability, (3) universality, and (4) convertibility. In other words, the legal devices rank claims in a qualitative sorted order and guarantee the value of such claims over time and space. The fatal vice of the device is the convertibility of private claims in to one against the state as the ultimate insurance against a risk of credit default by other parties. Similar to bitcoins today, the financial derivatives make it possible to “create money” out of nothing, just like a “deus ex machina”. The states had and still have no control over this “artificial creation of money without being linked to a kind of reserve value.
Such intangible assets may contribute to wealth creation as tools that facilitate a faster turnover of goods and services in an economy or between countries and thereby create corresponding real value. The control of trade and currencies, however, becomes also subject of additional possibilities of fraud and crime. Here again it is the legal system that is challenged to protect the application and efficient functioning of the 6 major modules of the code of capital. The concerns of inequality in and through law are relegated to politics and policies within single states.
The final chapter 9 states rather bluntly: “capital rules by law” (p.205), but it enumerates several ways, how to curtail this code of capital. Tax sheltering in other countries or taxation by choice of country should be made more difficult. Blacklisting is efficient in most cases (p. 225). Arbitration might work if somehow an equality of power is achievable. Internalization of externalities is easier said than done, but needs to be considered right from the beginning of changing laws. Purely speculative contracts should be referred to “casinos” and betting instances and no longer be eligible for business contracts. The revision of the education of lawyers is another part of the counter measures. The autopoiesis of the legal system and its profession has been highlighted by Niklas Luhmann before. A great deal of the difficulties we face with the code of capital appears to be due to the self-referential exclusionary practice of legal devices. We have to bring society back into the discourse of law in order to preserve democratic structures and the equality of chances in society.
The strength of “collective rights” in labour law, of cooperatives or the share economy allow for potential remedies to the hijack of law through capital and exchange markets. Open source movements as in software creation are forward-looking models that the creative commons licensing for security, but also equality purposes. Employees’ input in the process of capital creation should be rewarded and codified accordingly. Last, but not least, countries will have to reclaim legal authority in parts of law that affects “the wealth of a nation” and its distribution. Similar to “no taxation without representation” we should claim “no legislation on us, without us”. The role of legal advisory firms to draft laws outside of parliament has probably gone too far already. The task of politicians to understand the consequences of what they vote for in parliament has become more and more difficult, yet there is no way around a drastic increase in competences, legal and otherwise. 
Sexual harassment
Under the broader topic of violence against women, we count gender-based harassment at work. The recent report of a survey based on more than 100.000 persons in the European Union in 2021 shows the shocking amount of violence in the last 12 months as well as violence experienced over a lifetime. (Source Eurostat Link to pdf report) These data have to be interpreted with care since it is a well known statistical phenomenon that in some countries such misbehavior is reported and talked about more easily and openly than in other countries. Therefore, the countries with the highest figures, for example in Nordic countries, there it is safe to talk about the issue (Nordic paradox), whereas in other countries violence against women and sexual harassment at work are still much less talked about and addressed in public. Italy even deviated from the joint EU data collection.
It is important to address the topic in the media and lift the cover-up attempts in many societies. This is a process over time, but it is important to continuously raise awareness about the problem. We have made a lot of progress on more equal treatment of women in recent years in most European societies. However, the is need for a “zero tolerance” of violence against women and the sexual harassment at work, which prevents women to take equal shares across all professions. Monitoring the process is an important step, which is necessary to target safety measures in a better way. Further details of the statistics are needed as well to address intersectionality as well. Young women tend to suffer more than older ones. Maybe the latter ones have learned to be more careful to avoid or evade critical situations. It is, however, men who have to reconsider their behaviour towards women at every age, at work as well as at home. 
Mind Paris
I have been asking myself what it may mean “to be in a Paris state of mind”. After a creative sabbatical spent around and about Paris I am happy to present the flipbook of entries on Paris in 2024 and the Olympic Games. My perspective is a social scientist’s view of public affairs. It builds on the many brillant minds and organizers who managed to make Paris a very special experience in 2024. Beyond the fabulous distraction of the sports events, which received sufficient attention, there were and there are so many exciting experiences that it is well worth speaking of a “Paris state of mind”. It happens in the quiet places of Paris, the museums, libraries, churches, parks and in the pedestrian areas. The 21st century has begun and Paris wants to remain in the top locations for modern experiences.
My flipbook for you to enjoy: Paris and Olympics 2024.
also as versions: size 16 MB Pdf-Version, best to read in even spread format over two pages on one larger screen (text left side, image right side), just as a suggestion.
Some prefer already the epub3 format (EPUB3) to jump from topic to topic and follow links in a comfortable way, but please do not print to save paper. THANKS, feedback welcome. 
On Resilience
There are at least 2 definitions of resilience: (1) a material definition points at the “ability to return to an original form or position after being compressed, extended or curved, and (2) a immaterial or psychological definition. The latter one describes the ability to recover, be happy or successful anew having overcome a bad or challenging experience. The American psychological literature defines resilience in the shortest form as “positive adaptation despite adversity”. The psychological construct is linked to a positive life span perspective of personal development. Other areas of application range from “resilient investments”, “resilient industries” to single resilient societies or intergovernmental organizations like the European Union or NATO.
The challenges to resilience increase with complexity of societies and social as well as technical systems. As supply chains have become longer in time and travelling longer distances as well, the improvement of resilience has become a steep challenge for globalization. Reorganizing supply chains with “own sourcing” as in countries which are cut-off from international trade will have huge consequences on sending and receiving countries.
Last, but not least, countries like Ukraine demonstrate the fact and virtue of resilience after more than 1000 days of the massive Russian invasion of its country, which threatened its survival. Resilience works best in networks of organizations and countries. Solidarity is a fundamental building block of resilience as well. Donations and funds support activities that foster resilience. 
On Uncertainty
Uncertainty is a catchword for all sorts of undetermined occurrences, which we might have to confront. We associate economic uncertainty with the difficulty to forecast or predict the economic evolution of key indicators like inflation, GDP, CO2-emissions, energy and raw materials’ prices and availability. Even factors like increases in greed of CEOs, psychological factors like insecurity about external or internal conflicts drive these macroeconomic indicators. Micro-level features of your own stage or evolution of the life course have an impact on and will be affected by uncertainty. Employment, housing, family, or household composition are subject to high levels of uncertainty. These micro- and macro- level factors are, of course, not limited to the domain of economic phenomena. Most recently, political uncertainty has reentered the international and national sphere with the re-election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. This election outcome of the U.S. is perceived by many as increasing the overall uncertainty due to the unpredictability of political decisions and even previous treaties with the U.S. or where the U.S. is a major partner in the agreement. These economic and political uncertainties are accompanied with a perception of growing legal uncertainty even in very personal spheres of life. Last, but not least uncertainty about climate changes like heating up of the planet and more devastating flooding and droughts contribute to increased uncertainty about future developments and the need to initiate adjustment processes and the financing of those.
The individual and societal ways to cope with increased uncertainty are one of the major economic, political, legal and social issues for the coming years. The answers are likely to be found in mutual, cooperative and risk sharing arrangements. The social in society will be a major part of dealing with increased uncertainty. 
(Image: Extrait of Paul Klee, Seiltänzer 1923)
Commemoration
In The month of November we commemorate those who died and particularly all those who died in the combat for freedom and democracy. The Russian aggression does not show many signs of ending the killing of soldiers and civilians on both sides. Ukrainian forces struggle to resist the Russian occupation of its territory as Russia is sacrificing thousands of lives for small gains of territory it is unlikely to defend in the coming months if Ukraine possesses longer reach weapons. A new spiral of an apocalypse is most probably the result of the Russian insistence on external aggression to cover up more internal problems. A lost generation of young soldiers who died in combat or suffered mutilation will be the outcome of these atrocities. The inflationary effects of wheat and energy prices globally have caused additional casualties in countries that had absolutely no stakes in this war. Russia is to blame for those additional casualties as well as the adverse effects on the world‘s climate due to the fighting and destroyed materials that need replacing later on. The young Russian generation will have to stand up against Putin‘s call to war and put down their weapons. This is one way to end the spiral toward yet another apocalyptic experience in Europe and the silent killing through hunger beyond Europe. (Image: BNF Paris, Apocalypses 2024)
Comprehensive Conflict
In a recent paper Mara Karlin (2024 Foreign Affairs LINK) has stated the need for the Western World to understand and even prepare for comprehensive conflict. Particularly in response to Putin‘s war on Ukraine’s territory and the threats and potential use of the full range of weapons including cyber warfare, destruction of energy resources and military production sites the current war comes close to total war. Several European countries have made significant steps to increase budgets for the new forms of comprehensive conflict management. This starts with adequate discussion in public on the dramatically changed security situation after the „Zeitenwende“ caused by Putin. The forceful Ukrainian response with much financial assistance from the West has pioneered drone counter strikes and by this put an end to the Russian progression into its territory. In order to match the total war ideology Putin is implementing in Russian society the Western world will have to rethink production models and strategic defense capabilities in all areas to match the rather real threats by Russia. The prevention of the spreading of comprehensive conflict is of utmost importance since the risk of an expansion of Russian influence and suppression of any internal resistance in Russia has devastating consequences. The 2024 book by Tatjana Tönsmeyer „Under German Occupation, Europe 1939-1945“ (own translation of German title) demonstrates what it meant to live under the domination of an inhuman dictatorship which is ready to use all out war and violence at any occasion. We have to confront this, even if we don’t want to face it. Nevertheless, the Russian aggression is also strongly targeted on its own people not to take risks of separation from Russia as this would mean devastating destruction to those regions and people who dare to do so. External explosions are therefore for Putin a prevention of implosion of the Russian Federation similar to the Soviet Union previously. Comprehensive Conflict extinguishes any remaining internal opposition as intended collateral damage. In Western countries, however, we shall have to argue with opponents and build majorities through understanding the issues at stake not through silencing opponents and opposition. The debate about comprehensive conflict is only about to start, but it is likely to last for several election cycles. (own image, Contemplation on infinite landscapes, Berlin 2024)
Paris Vision
You got to have a vision in urban planning. Long term visions are best to then realize them step by step. The center of Paris has been restructured since the time of Haussmann at several places. The previous commercial center of Paris with « Les Halles » and the building of the commodities exchange « La Bourse de Commerce « have been turned into a pedestrian area long ago. This axis runs nowadays from the home of the Pinault Collection to Les Halles almost to the Centre Pompidou (in the background of the image below). Whereas Les Halles is usually very popular and crowded with people the art museums are a bit less busy. Walking around in the area is offering amenities for people of all walks of life. It is an area, better called a pedestrian boulevard, where the wealthy and the poor may meet or at least pass by. Social urban planning is in high need to be considered as a vision not only for Paris, but many places and cities again. Inclusive societies also begin with a rather simple vision of togetherness putting people first.
Language Tech
Inclusive societies can build on many tools including AI to lower language barriers. It is not only a question of translation, but many other forms of language come to mind. Sign language or easy language are necessary to facilitate broader access to public services. Reading out texts on webpages or Braille translation for the blind to interact through keyboards are additional forms that are available in digital communication as well. The audio description of videos and images is well advanced (reverse engineered through AI) and allows people with limited vision to fully participate in society. Audio messaging and transcription are used by almost everyone by now. Public services will open up to these channels of communication as well. The technology around languages is much more than just translation and AI-assisted learning of languages (talkpal for example). The new lingua franca is language technology, because it enables us to speak many languages at the same time even dialects or lost languages and in many voices. (Image: Extract of Josef Scharl, the newspaper reader, 1935, Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin)
Citizen Services
In addition to public services there are many citizen initiatives that pick up common interests of citizens. These range from long-term infrastructure projects to daily care and provision in small neighborhoods. Such efforts build on volunteers and the organization of volunteering as an integral part of community life and services. To facilitate these organizational tasks online tools can make a real difference. However, the trust in specific tools beyond the general platforms known for their sketchy treatment of data privacy and protection is low. Therefore it is necessary to rely on trustworthy open source software to support local communities and networks of volunteers in their work and efforts. Secure e-tools for collaboration have an important role to play to reward volunteers with e-learning and being part of or even driver of new digital services. The software „wechange“ offers a platform with several tools for e-organization and communication small communities can set up themselves. Bottom up organizing in addition to the more top down public services complement each other. Going digital is the way forward in both domains.
Mobi Tech
There is much more to mobility and technology than new cars and bicycles. Innovative infrastructure provided by new public services allows new forms of mobility technology to strive. Charging points across a country are crucial to ensure smooth and smart mobility for example with e-cars and e-bikes. Software guides us to next or cheapest charging point in the surroundings. Public services provide the basic data on this and need trustworthy updating and repair of the infrastructure to avoid frustrations. Navigation systems need up-to-date info on areas with restricted mobility due to high emissions (diesel) or illegal parking of shared bikes and rollers to avoid a banning of share options in inner cities. Data allow the guidance of traffic and combinations of different modes of transport. Mobility tech is nowadays a largely data driven process and public services provide important basic services and information for innovation and reduction of emissions in the field of multimodal mobility.
Water Quality
Obviously, water is not just an issue of quantity, but also quality. The availability of sufficient quantities of water in a region depends on rain, its storage, and the use of these water resources. The quality of water is a subsidiary issue, as lack of inflow causes concentrations of nuisance in water to rise. Global warming will most likely intensity the concern for not only the quantity, but also the quality of water.
Public services are in charge to sample and monitor levels of water quality for consumers. Independent of public, private or public private partnerships in this field there is a need to check from time to time the quality of water. Public institutions do a great job in monitoring water quality, but as science progresses there are new sources of pollution that enter the already complex analysis of water quality. New chemicals and remains of medical or pharmaceutical analyses have been retrieved from water and, sometimes, they have reached critical or unhealthy levels.
More detailed monitoring is necessary and new digital tools allow to improve just this type of monitoring to inform policy makers on shifting patterns.
A project of that type “Urban Green Eye”, for example, allows to monitor the artificialization of previous vegetation to show up on satellite images of Germany. Independent groups, citizens or communities might find it useful to use their own sampling and testing to guard against abuses or dysfunctional public monitoring systems. Start-ups like “Hydroguard” offer services to support activists, communities or public services in their own efforts to ensure water quality. 
Water as a Service
Most of us are happy to turn on the water tap and enjoy the bubbles of fresh water. In other parts of the world this is considered a luxury and precious good. Public infrastructure takes care of water supply and treats waste water. We hardly even notice. This is changing in many regions of Europe now and Berlin and its surroundings are a good example of the challenges of water as a service. We need to sharpen our awareness that, yes, climate change again, has changed the priorities of water supply. Some East German regions face already a water supply shortage due to lack of rain water and adequate measures to store rather than evacuate rain fall. The German weather service (DWD) offers not only the info on rain fall, but also several indicators on soil humidity from 10cm to 200cm under the surface.
These measures are important for crops and agriculture, but also for trees and vegetation in general. The droughts of the last years show a lack of humidity in large parts of East Germany.
This is the starting point for the “citizen science” project in the region of Brandenburg. The “Wassermeisterei” brings together people interested in water management to monitor soil humidity with a shared infrastructure and citizen enthusiasts to raise awareness and draw conclusions on the local preconditions for agriculture and forestry. Knowing about the evolution of water availability over time allows to make more informed judgements about the need and potential of a continuous and improved “water as a service”. The presentation of the project on the e-government fair was a reminder to take water more seriously and to value this crucial resource with more respect. 
Start-up Winner
The SCCON 2024 has awarded one of its prizes for start-ups to „neuraflow“, which proposes the programming of chatbots for small communities or cities among other AI-applications. The test in multiple languages for the city of Bremerhaven is fun to test and shows that online public services can be witty and fun to use. The incorporation of local dialects gives the impression of a very personalized service. Moving the administration closer to the heart and the location of its citizens is achievable through shifting communication online. Prior information before a first contact speeds up information and administrative processes for everyone involved. Congratulations to the team involved and we look forward to many nice applications of the same technology in other cities. Admin can be fun, even in Germany 😉😂
Administration Online
The public administration is more and more moving online. The electronic identity is becoming a reality for all those with a recent personal identity card and who remember where they stored their pin code which came with the card. Moving houses or apartments or car registrations among other official registrations can be carried out online rather than by joining the lengthy queues at your public administration. The “buergerservice.org e.V.” presented the easy steps at the SCCON 2024 in Berlin again to the audiences. The support by the “mobile citizen’s office”, allowed to do the PIN retrieval or change on site and during 2 minutes. This is going to be a game changer for many people who shun away from lengthy admin procedures and push off such registrations due to the time-consuming queueing systems currently in place. Labour shortages are circumvented by e-administration and citizen’s satisfaction with public services increases. More publicity for such e-services and rapid implementation across countries and the EU should bring a about a new e-dynamic drive to old Europe. Employees or civil servants will be pleased to deal with exceptional cases only rather than the bulk of repetitive registrar work. More time will be available to real case management instead of suffering from impatient citizen clients. “Administration as a service” sounds like the new device of digital public management. 
Digital public management
Countries with large public sectors also have specialized research called administrative science. More than 25 years ago the whole discipline has been hooked on the idea of so-called “new public management”, which introduced “management by objectives” and “benchmarking” as new tools into the field of public sector management. In Germany Naschold and Bogumil (2000) have been publishing extensively on the topic. In 2024 the new public management is well established and the now new challenge is “digital public management”. Berlin just hosted a fair on this topic (SCCON 2024). This allows to speed up administrative procedures, increase the reach of public administration into remote areas and creates new challenges to counter the digital divide of society. The modern public sector may shift from being pushed by private sector companies in terms of digitalization to being a forerunner of digital provision of services. Tax declarations in Germany are a good example, where for many years it is a widespread practice to rely on digital forms of declaration and communication between the tax office and its clients.
Other countries, like Estonia, have taken already many more far reaching forms of digital public management and digital provision of services. The scope of such reforms is huge and the administration of persons in remote areas and aging societies give additional reasons to push ahead with digital public management.
At the time when even emails become outdated among youth, some administrations are proud to feature their latest innovation in digitalization. A machine is opening physical letters and scans the documents automatically and stores them in a secured cloud for example. It is indeed an important “bridging technology” for administrations dealing with a generation of older persons who are used to this form of communicationd by (snail)mail.
Many interesting new digital solutions (hard and software) were on display at the SCCON 2024 and many more are in the pipeline or pilots have been implemented already, well worth studying in more detail. 
Forced Living Space
The „Topography of Terror“ hosted the book launch of the research project on „Zwangsräume“ (forced living space or forced homes). The cooperation of an impressive network of organizations (Aktives Museum Faschismus und Widerstand in Berlin e.V., Koordinierungsstelle Stolpersteine Berlin, Alfred Landecker Foundation, Metropol Verlag) has achieved to uncover the forced relocations of thousands of German jewish people from rented place to another one, thereby regrouping and cramping Jews into ever smaller living spaces in predetermined houses within Berlin. Through this horrible step by step expropriation and extermination terror was present and visible all over Berlin. The online documentation and data access allowed citizen science projects to accompany the research and actively contribute to enlarge the data investigated, analysis and dissemination of the findings. The continuation and extension of the project is already in preparation and seeks additional funding and volunteers. The traditional book publication helps to provide an insight into the thorough historical research which started with a more adequate definition „Zwangsräume“ than the previously used term of so-called „Judenhäuser“, since the houses had and kept a mixed population sharing the living spaces until deportations of the jewish persons forced into ever smaller living spaces before. The property of the deported persons was recovered by officials from sealed apartments and sold mostly as bargains on auctions or just redistributed among officials in need or with special merit for the Nazi-movement. This adds an intergenerational dimension to the project that is also worth looking into in the next phase of this extremely valuable project based on large online archives from original register information and other documents. (Image: The map shown below in the presentation has blue signs that have already been traced and hundreds of red signs where the histories are not yet retrieved).
Nazi Reinterpretations
Even almost 80 years after the end of Nazi terror and the 2nd World War started by Germany, we witness attempts to reinterpret the lives and careers of many Nazi officials. In the same realm, the crimes committed to pull out „Stolpersteine“ try to negate the horrible crimes committed by the Nazi leadership and their followers. The special exhibition at „Topography of Terror“ on „Reinhard Heydrich. Career and Violence” allows to study the biography of this high ranking and convinced Nazi official. After the usual career trajectory of a marine soldier he entered the Nazi secret police and made his career moving up the ranks showing readiness to use above average violence. This seems to have been a precondition to qualify for fast career trajectories. These personality traits have been demonstrated for thousands of Nazi officials in their professional life. This exhibition has additional merits to provide shocking evidence that the wife of Heydrich even many years after the end of the Nazi terror and 2nd WW does not show any signs of regret for what were her husband’s crimes against humanity. They had a splendid life and lived in a palace near Prag before her husband died after an attack by partisans. This is a great lesson to sharpen our awareness of those trying to reinterpret the lives of Nazi leaders and many of their followers. It is a timely reminder to not focus on rosy pictures of the Nazi time without the acknowledgment of the responsibility for millions of people who died. (Image: Extract of exhibition on Heydrich, Topography of Terror, Berlin 2024, book publication).
Nazi SS Terror
The permanent exhibition „Topography of Terror“ in the middle of Berlin is always a place that receives a lot of attention from tourists. This is great news. The central location is certainly part of the success story. The Brandenburg Gate and the boulevard„Unter den Linden“ nearby allow to combine historic interests and site seeing. Many groups from schools gain a visual impression of the terrorism the Nazi dictatorship and its para-military organizations have exercised during the years 1933-1945. The years after the 1st World war until the full dictatorship were crucial to attempt to stem the Nazi tide rolling across Germany from the original Munich-based headquarters. The information on the „Establishment of the Führer‘s Dictatorship“ (image below) is a warning to all of is today to guard against the beginnings of similarly extreme movements and parties today. We shall always remember and we shall never surrender.
Ranking Enterprises
The Spanish economic newspaper has published on its front page an updated ranking of the top 10 Spanish companies using environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria (see below). elEconomista.es on 2024-10-12 shows through this updated ranking that ESG criteria continue to be relevant information for investors. It is not just a nice to have information but gives important information on the sustainability record of a company. Continuous monitoring is key to show and reward the efforts and investments companies have made to improve sustainability. This information needs large distribution in order to keep up the awareness that there is more to a balance sheet than just turnover, profit margins, debts and investment. Churning of employees creates costs to society as a whole as well. Any early information on ESG indicators, therefore, allows a much broader assessment of the full impact of enterprises, 360 degrees and over time. Certainly a good example to follow up on.
Aging Politicians
The process of aging is usually a process which is progressing slowly. For politicians this process seems to run in fast forward. The churning of people through careers as politicians is quite unpredictable despite the fact that a career track through youth organizations of political parties or non-governmental organizations is a fairly good predictor of prospects of a career within this party. As the political culture has become even more rough through the comments and criticism of official media and social media, the expectations to be available for comment and debate are almost instantaneous.
Burn-out and frustration are a more frequent occurrence. As such this is not surprising, but the young age of these occurrences are real concern. The profession of politicians bears many risks and even threats to their lives. Democracies rely heavily on politicians who master complex subjects and can communicate effectively about these topics.
Aging societies can no longer just claim that politicians should reflect the age structure of society. It remains a challenge to train and support young people for jobs in politics. It is also an issue to prepare for a sustainable career in politics and keep motivation high to go the extra mile in the interest of society as a whole.
(Image: Extract of Adolphe Menzel, Das Ballsouper, 1878, SPK Berlin)
Russian Demographics
Dictators prepare their countries long before for upcoming wars. One indicator of such strategies is the pursuit of “natalist” policies. These are demographic policies that aim to increase a country’s population so that the human losses endured during war maybe recovered faster. Russia has had such a policy doctrine in place for quite many years. Only, it didn’t work. Alain Blum and Sergei Zakharov (2023) have shown this in their paper on “L’obsession nataliste de Poutine“. Rather than achieving a growth in the population, at best, the further rather rapid decline of fertility and the population size before the war is reflected in the data (until 2022). The recent objection of youth and women to bear more children is subject of massive opposition of Putin’s forces inside the country. So-called total fertility of 1.5 per woman before the war is as low as or lower than in many other European countries. However, on the other end of aging is mortality or life expectancy. The data show a rather bleak picture of Russia already before the invasion of Ukraine. Based on data published from INED in France Russia has about 1.000.000 more people dying in 2022 than babies born. Bad handling of the Covid-19 pandemic (inefficient vaccines) is also a reason for this dent in population size. Adding outmigration of youth that does not want to stay in a country that goes to war with peaceful neighbors, this bleak population outlook is the disastrous heritage of the Putin years of Russia in the 21st century for generations to come as well. 
Fiscal Union
European Integration is slow and hard to come by. For others it is moving too fast (Brexit). Cultural diversity is a real asset of the EU. The economy or the economies are powerful on an international scale. Nevertheless, the diversity concerning the tolerance of fiscal deficits is still widely spread across the Member States of the EU (see image below). Some states seem to play it cool and run relatively high deficits compared to the EU averages. In OECD comparisons most of the above average fiscal deficits are closer to or even below OECD averages over time (link to pdf-file OECD, 2024). Within the EU differences in government expenditure as % of GDP or the indicator of Gross public debt according to the Maastricht Criteria range from 20% to 160% as percentage of GDP. This entails a different level of resilience to future crises. After we managed to leave the previous 3 crises (financial, Covid-19, energy) it is time to prepare for what might come next in terms of challenges. Preparing public deficits to be able to soften economic shocks is essential to be able to sustain yourself and support others. We seem to be a bit off-target to coordinate fiscal deficits across the Union. Eastern and Northern countries have suffienct scope to support expansionist fiscal policies, be it in the realm of a defence union or to address climate change. Southern Europe will find it more difficult to raise additional funds to prepare now for future challenges. Fiscal deficits might even be not only an economic phenomenon, but a cultural one as well. If we compare Japan with a deficit running at 240% with South Korea with 50% Asia is showing even larger diversity in terms of fiscal preparedness.
An economist’s stance on fiscal policy and fiscal union might depend much more on her/his region or country of origin than economists might want to believe.
Images: OECD Economic Surveys: Belgium 2024, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c671124e-en. p.17. 
Traffic Speed
Most people use cars or other automotive vehicles (e-bikes, e-scooter) to get faster from point A to point B. However, speed of traffic causes trouble for other groups of mobile persons. Demands on attention rise, despite the abundant use mobile phones even during driving a car. Mapping systems and services from A to B have become an almost daily exercise. Statistics on road accidents that involved inadequate speed are between 20 and 30 percent of all deadly road accidents, depending on the source of information and country (Example D). Frequently, speed is not the only cause, but other behavioral mistakes occur jointly.
Traffic signs are a basis to make drivers aware of accident prone locations. Too many of them may even lead to the opposite effect of ignoring the signs. Reducing the speed of traffic in inner cities is a steep challenge and many cities invest substantial amounts of money and effort to monitor and try to control better excessive speed. Schools, sports centres and shopping areas are all hot spots of automotive and pedrian encounters. They deserve special attention. Penalizing excessive speed is one way to nudge behavioral change. Although the statistics on the huge amounts of penalties awarded does not seem to alter the behavior of traffic participants in the short run. For some it appears to be a regular part of their budget of mobility with no consequence for behavioral changes.
For years the dangers of inadequate traffic speed in cities made young families and older persons leave more risky inner cities, but adaptations of hot spots and increased control systems seem to work in the long run. The “externality” of inadequate traffic speed is higher costs for the health system and society at large. About time to make a “behavioral turn” in traffic speed. 
freight transport
The transport of goods is an important and crucial economic sector to achieve reductions in CO2 emissions. According to statistics from Eurostat Total Road Freight Transportation increased by an annual 0.6% percent between 2019 and 2023. Considering the slack during the Covid-19 economic restrictions this is a remarkable development. Most people agree that more freight on rail could allow a much better performance concerning CO2 emissions. This needs substantial investments in infrastructure and intelligent solutions for optimised and accessible freight loading points. The logistics of the last mile for delivery has found many innovative solutions with battery-supported e-vehicles. The tough issue seems to be the production of e-lorries at competitive prices to the Diesel-engines. Considering the legal obligations to take breaks to ensure sufficient concentration of lorry drivers, the battery charging infrastructure has to be planned accordingly. Ports and airports a certainly key infrastructure for freight transport as well. Industry has additional key locations with high freight frequencies and tonne-kilometres. Eurostat data show that EU-wide empty running vehicles account for about 22%. Scope for optimization is, therefore, a continuous challenge for the sector.
E-transportation is high on the agenda in the sector and production of e-lorries a big challenge. There a many positive signs that the sector has taken up the challenge as there are an estimated 100.000 € per year cost advantage of battery-driven lorries compared to traditional ones (Le Monde 2024-9-24 p.16). This is simply a long-term survival issue for the sector. Smart transport solutions add to the productivity potential of the sector in combination with electrification. 