Following the invitation by the German House of Science and Innovation in São Paulo (DWIH-SP) Prof. Jürgen Howaldt participated at an Innovation Seminar about the challenges of the concept of “Industry 4.0” for Germany and Brazil in the country with the largest population and the largest territory of all South American states. Furthermore Prof. Jürgen Howaldt – together with colleagues from Brazil – attended a German-Brazilian Workshop on Social Innovation and its Research.

With Prof. Jürgen Howaldt’s visit in Sao Paulo, the UA Ruhr (an alliance between universities in the Ruhr region in Germany) contributed expertise to the current discussions on social innovations in Brazil. Jürgen Howaldt, Director of the TU Dortmund’s sfs (Social Research Centre), is, amongst other things, currently responsible for the coordination of the international research project SI-DRIVE, a project financed by the European Union.

Upon invitation from the German Science and Innovation Houses (DWHI) in Brazil, Sao Paulo, Jürgen Howaldt spoke at different universities in southeastern parts of Brazil. On the 23^rd of September, for instance, he presented one of the testimonial lectures to honor the tenth anniversary of the federal University of ABC (UFABC), which is one of the UA Ruhr’s strategic partners in Brazil. Following this event, he hold a presentation at UNICAMP (Campinas) on the 27^th of September; as well as a plenum speech during the innovation seminar, hosted by the Câmara Brasil Alemanha (AHK) in Sao Paulo, at the 29^th of September. Finally, he has been responsible for a seminar workshop on the topic of “Social Innovation and its Research”. This seminar was taking place at the 4^th of October in Rio de Janeiro and was realized by the collaborative work with colleagues from Brazil.

Specific attention during the German-Brazilian Innovation Seminar was drawn to the topic “Industry 4.0”. Jürgen Howaldt’s points of interests, and therefore his contributions, were related to the complex impacts of Industry 4.0 on society. The aim was to discuss the overall consequences of the 4^th industrial revolution on society, thereby detailing and analysing their chances and risks.