This year's annual meeting of the GDCh (German Chemical Society eV) started on Sunday with a very unusual opening ceremony in the concert hall on Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt.

GDCh President Thisbe K. Lindhorst opened the WiFo in the presence of Federal Minister Johanna Wanka. The New Philharmonic Orchestra delighted the audience with, among other things, the "Rhapsody in Blue". Three deserving members of the GDCh (Egon Fanghänel, Peter Gölitz and Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff) were awarded the GDCh's highest distinction, honorary membership.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Primo Levi Prize, which was awarded jointly with the SCI (Società Chimica Italiana), to Prof. Roald Hoffmann, Cornell University and Nobel Prize winner for chemistry 1982. The newly created prize commemorates the Italian chemist and writer Primo Levi, who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp as a Jewish resistance fighter and intensified the connection between chemistry and society through his literary work. This prize is awarded to personalities who have made a special contribution to chemistry and chemistry-related areas of science as well as to the protection of human rights and mediation between cultures.

Roald Hoffmann gave a fascinating speech, which spanned from the periodic table of the elements to diversity in the animal kingdom to cosmopolitan society and cast a spell over the audience. The official ceremony ended with a standing ovation for him and at the same time marked the beginning of the conference activities, which began on Monday morning.

You can find the program for the opening ceremony here.

You can find the flyer for the Primo Levi Prize here

available videos:

Here you will find a summary of the opening event (20 minutes)

Here you can find the keynote lecture by Roald Hoffmann (49 minutes)

Here you will find the address given by President Thisbe K. Lindhors t (22 minutes)

In addition to the job exchange, the daily program of the third WiFo day included various annual and specialist conferences of the various GDCh Divisions, including (a little further away on the FU Berlin main campus) the annual conference of the FG chemical education. Some participants used the walk between the individual conference locations through the park-like residential area of Berlin-Dahlem along with a small park to relax and recharge their batteries for the next lectures.

A special highlight was the event "Fascination Chemistry - from comets to molecular machines" organized by the SEC (Senior Expert Chemists) Division , which more than filled the Laue Hall in the Harnack House. In addition to an extremely entertaining lecture on vanillin and the "twisted paths" of rumors by Klaus Roth, Uwe Meierhenrich from the University of Nice, an expert on the Rosetta mission, was on the program. The GDCh stand in the foyer of the Henry Ford Building was also well attended. Many participants took the opportunity to create their own button to attach.

In the evening, Evonik's Creavis Lounge started, which drew the interested audience to the Henry Ford Building for a moderated panel discussion on the subject of creativity in chemistry, which moderator Matthias Bongart said, "There was relatively little argument at this point." concluded and released the participants into the subsequent individual and group discussions.

Next door, in the economists' building, the "Chemiewende Innovation Marathon" started, in which seven teams searched for new paths for science, startups and industry overnight.

Video: You can find a summary of the innovation marathon on YouTube

Wednesday also had a few surprises to offer. The day began again with fascinating plenary lectures on the main topic "Moving Molecules - Synthesizing the Future", which set the mood for the day and the future in equal measure.

Afterwards, activities from the start-up scene took place again at the WiFo 2017 in the premises of the economics department (a stone's throw from the Henry Ford Building). The 24-hour hackathon Innovationsmarathon Chemiewende on start-up ideas in the field of chemistry with mentors from business, venture capital and international entrepreneurs has entered its final phase. At around 12 noon, the seven teams each used 3-minute elevator pitches to show what opportunities there are for chemists outside of the laboratory. Federal Economics Minister Brigitte Zypries insisted on handing over the ?5,000 prize to the winning team, ?Startups?. A complete success, because despite the new format, lecture hall 101 was well filled.

All pitches and video presentations from the teams are available online at www.innovationsmarathon.de. You can find a summary of the innovation marathon on YouTube

In the chemistry premises on Takustraße, chemical education were the focus of a variety of experimental and discussion lectures throughout the day. Life is chemistry! Reason enough to start imparting knowledge early on.

At the GDCh General Assembly meeting, the participants learned that Dr. Matthias Urmann, Sanofi-Aventis Germany, will be GDCh President for the years 2018 and 2019. He was elected at the (non-public) board meeting on Tuesday.

At the booth of GDCh and Wiley-VCH the anniversary book "Infinite Widths" was presented and celebrated with a reception. In addition to training lectures, poster sessions and innovation forums, there was a lot of new things to learn at the annual conferences of the individual Divisions before a spirit of optimism arose.

"Experiment Future - Value Thinking in Chemistry" was the title of the experimental symposium in the Spreespeicher in Berlin at the end of the GDCh Science Forum.

How can the results of chemical research, development and the know-how of chemical experts be brought into society in such a way that they can help to cope with global challenges? That was the question those present asked themselves. Moderated by TV journalist and presenter Ines Arland, the participants heard eight keynote speeches on four pairs of topics in the morning, presented by high-ranking keynote speakers.

Edwin Mmutlane from Johannesburg / South Africa and Gisela Lück from Bielefeld University focused on education and talked about "rich and poor". Jonathan Forman from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and Leonard Möckl from Standford University tackled ethical issues under the heading of "War and Peace", ranging from chemical weapons of war to ethical issues. Möckl emphasized the responsibility of scientists, who should not simply allow themselves to be guided by scientific curiosity when choosing their research area.

Merck CEO Stefan Oschmann and AiCuris founder Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff spoke about pharmaceutical research in the "Life and Death" block. They discussed the challenges facing pharmaceutical companies in Germany, but also the great successes of the Pharmacy. Oschman emphasized that despite all the problems, there has been an enormous increase in life expectancy and a decrease in maternal and child mortality in Africa in recent years. However, much remains to be done. "It shouldn't make a difference whether a person gets cancer in Europe or in Africa," he emphasized, referring to preventive medical check-ups, health insurance and therapies that are available in Europe, but only to a limited extent or not at all in African countries.

It was a little more controversial in the last thematic block of the morning. "Sated and Hungry" was about the contributions of chemistry to agriculture. Martin Brudermüller from BASF called for "more hunger for innovation" and regretted that in Europe the risks rather than the opportunities of new technologies are seen. Angelika Hilbeck from the ETH Zurich pointed to the resource consumption of the industrialized countries. "We produce lots of calories, but we don't feed the world."

After the lunch break, the participants discussed the four subject areas in four workshops in the formats "Brainstorming", "World Cafe", "Fishbowl" and "Unterhaus-Dehatte" before the plenum met again. At the end, the results of the workshops were presented in short presentations. "I was thrilled to see how much know-how there is among the participants," said Stefan Oschmann in the closing remarks. "The chemists and the GDCh can contribute a lot to the public discussion." GDCh President Thisbe K. Lindhorst also emphasized in her closing remarks: "We have to commit ourselves to the future."