Europa

Aachen is a European city; the Charlemagne Prize is awarded here every year to prominent figures who have rendered outstanding services to European unification. European spirit can be found in many places in the city and also at RWTH Aachen University. Yet Europe is far more than a continent or the sum of many individual states. It is a diverse cultural area with a turbulent history, but also a political system that wants to compete with powers like the United States or China. This competition is conducted on different levels – politically, militarily, economically and not least in the field of science and research.

In this lecture series, the complex topic of “Europe” will be examined from different perspectives, which are oriented towards the idea of Europe as a peace order and as a knowledge society. The central questions: How was and is knowledge generated, exchanged and organised in Europe? Which political order systems existed and still exist, and how does European peacekeeping succeed? What forms of cooperation exist today in science, business and technology? What room for manoeuvre do Europeans have in view of the manifold global challenges of the 21st century?

In a first thematic block, the general perspective is addressed. This includes, for example, the developments in the culture of knowledge from the old European monasteries to the modern promotion of science and the development of political systems of order from the Congress of Vienna to the Lisbon Treaties. This is followed by a closer look at current European projects in politics, science and business. These include the European electricity grid, the planned Einstein telescope and the EU’s Horizon 2020 research programme. A panel discussion with the students is also planned on the occasion of the awarding of the Charlemagne Prize of Aachen.