With the theme “New visions of work”, ORGATEC – the leading international trade fair for the modern working world – is addressing current issues and presenting new solutions to meet the demands of a world of work experiencing a rapid process of transition. Digitalisation, globalisation and changing values are radically altering our surroundings and thus also the foundations of work. At the heart of this lies the question: how can a culture of innovation be propagated in companies? After all, more new markets, new players and new products are emerging now than at any time since the Industrial Revolution. To keep pace with this trend, companies have to reinvent themselves. In line with its motto “culture@work”, ORGATEC 2018 is addressing precisely this issue. Not only is it possible for an international business platform like ORGATEC to be emotive and to polarise, it must. With the PLANT 10.1 event area, the trade fair is doing just that and is also breaking new ground in its presentation format.
In the centre of Hall 10.1, seven interactive scenarios invite visitors to cast aside all preconceptions and think again about forward-looking forms of work and activity-based working. With PLANT 10.1, ORGATEC, together with the consultancy firm Detecon and the creative agency Orange Council and in close cooperation with the artists' group FREETERs & Friends, will design a space that will make it possible to experience new, creative approaches to the office as a space for working and living in spectacular, emotive and provocative ways. After all, existing, rigid organisations are disintegrating; flexible and agile structures are taking their place. This is having a major influence on working environments, the design of workplaces and the mindset of all employees. A culture of innovation is the most important prerequisite for companies wishing to successfully initiate processes of transformation towards “new work” and thereby to survive.
Approach with proven benefits
This approach should not be dismissed out of hand as artistic foolishness that offers no benefit to companies. The unusual joint venture between a management consultancy, a creative agency and artists has advised and supported change management in companies for a long time by means of artistic spatial interventions and accompanying storytelling. Successfully implemented projects with Robert Bosch GmbH, SAP, Kairos Med, Innogy and Deutsche Telekom have achieved measurable successes in terms of sales growth, employee satisfaction and media impact.
The seven working environments presented are, of course, therefore aligned to meet the needs of conventional companies. The themes “Co-Working”, “Presentation Spaces”, “CreativeSpace”, “LivingRoom” and “MiniHome” are taken into consideration as well as spaces for creative recharging through sport and play (“PlayGrounds”) and areas that help discover new points of view (“HochSitz”). Why is this so important for companies today? Because the “five big I's” – inspiration, intuition, imagination, improvisation and interaction – are the most important influencing factors in innovative thinking. And this is precisely the focus of PLANT 10.1, which will be both an emotion-driven experimental area and a stage in terms of programming and design.
It thereby aims to show, in a completely new way, how working environments and the people in them can become “innovative tools” to support change processes in companies. In many renovation concepts for office buildings today, the focus is often solely on the functional and rational aspects of spaces, with attention being paid to whether or not the chairs match, the requirements for workplace safety are met and so on. The emotional and intuitive aspect is often neglected. For example, the integration of cultural elements into the world of work is important for the emotional connection of employees and leads to stronger identification with the company they work for – a factor not to be underestimated in the “war for talent”.
Seven in one
The “CoWorking” themed area is interested in the need to focus on work separately and within a community and in the question of how the desire for transparency and flexibility can be reconciled with the need for security, effectiveness and concentration. Part two of the special exhibition area, the “LivingRoom”, aims to create a place where workers can feel comfortable and switch off, but without forgetting about their tasks. In short: informal meetings as part of collaborative working. “MiniHome” is about focusing on work without a fixed workplace. It is intended as a temporary headquarters, a “guest performance venue” in one's own or another company: a location that is more individual than a hotel room and more closely linked to the business. Together, many of these “MiniHomes” could form a guest campus for internal meetings.
Those who work also need to play – this could be the motto of “PlayGrounds”. In this area, findings from the gaming sector are transferred into tomorrow's world of work. Gamification as an innovation tool. Finding new perspectives is the theme of the “HochSitz”, or lookout tower. This area will showcase new approaches to illustrate how changes to old working environments can help to liberate thought processes and open up new viewpoints. Why not move the next brainstorming session to a real elevated position in the heart of the company? Presentation and interaction are the focus of “BühneFrei”, or curtain-up. Presenting, explaining and giving instructions are usually the result of top-down thinking. But does a one-way street of messages and instructions really offer the best way to learn? The aim of this area of the exhibition is to show how interactive platforms can be created in day-to-day operations in order to promote lively discourse and an active exchange of ideas. Last but not least, the “DenkRaum”, or thinking space, invites visitors to improve structured stages of collaboration. The attraction of free associative forces, which a normal meeting room seldom provides, is in the foreground in this part of the exhibition space. The aim is to develop a creative atmosphere that encourages creative meetings.
In order to enter into further dialogue with international trade visitors and to clarify issues even more, all seven themed areas will be accompanied by a specific event programme. For example, international speakers and coaches will make appearances on the stage in the special exhibition area or in workshops for the duration of the trade fair to offer inspiration and to enter into active discussions with visitors.