The document outlines plans for the Open State conference and camp to develop practical solutions for sustainability. The 3-day conference will bring together 150 experts to present on the environmental and social crises and develop initial project ideas. A 5-week camp will then host 50 participants to further develop 10 selected projects related to food, housing, energy, communication and mobility. The goal is to produce open source blueprints and instructions that can be implemented globally to support decentralized sustainable communities. The first Open State will take place in spring 2013 at Schloss Tornow in Germany.

1. BERLIN / TORNOW
CONFERENCE. CAMP. COMMUNITY.

2. What What What‘s
IS WAS HAPPENING
Every day, 200 species go extinct – that’s International conferences. Resolutions, Example: In order to reduce the most severe
73,000 species a year. 6 million hectares of petition, manifestos. charity gala events and consequences of climate change, we would
forest disappear every year, the equivalent of sustainable shopping fairs. Editorials and need an immediate and radical change of our
4 soccer pitches a minute. A 35-meter thick mega-donations. Facebook revolutions and energy systems and consumption patterns.
swirl of 3.5 million tonnes of plastic inhabits Occupy movement. We cannot wait for globally binding political
the Pacific Ocean. Of the 40 million tonnes of treaties that are influenced by lobbyists from
electronic waste produced every year, only That‘s all good. That won‘t suffice. the wrong side anyway. Large corporations on
one percent is recycled for its precious metals. the other hand do not have a motivation to
Let’s face the failure of our current systems address the social benefit.
The world consumes 13 billion liters of oil and processes. Let’s talk openly about So we need a room:
every day while we are headed straight necessary radical changes to the economy, To work with bright minds on concrete
towards a four-degree warmer planet. German politics and consumer society. This isn’t a solutions.
coal power plants alone produce 300 million utopian idea, it’s simply what’s necessary. We make a plan:
tonnes of CO2 each year, not to mention what To turn families, living communities, or
the rising industrialization levels of India and We need an emergency plan, now. colleagues into agile unites of a sustainable
China will cause. And every day, 24,000 people society.
starve to death while 1.5 billion people suffer We want to support people with projects that And we reach the masses:
from obesity. are already offering solutions. With methods With inspiring and plausible instructions,
that lead to intelligent decisions for everyone. modern web communication, and by pub-
Why does everything remain the way it With shameless honesty and constructive lishing and disseminating the results among
cannot be? anger. networks of researchers and decision-makers.
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3. „Imagine the Pilot tells
you at the Airport:
„The probability that we
will crash today is
90 PERCENT.“ Would you
board this plane?“
HANS JOACHIM SCHELLNHUBER, CLIMATE SCIENTIST
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4. OPEN STATE
Climate, resources, energy: The combined crises affirm the overwhelming urgency with which we
need to act. With the 2012 Rio+20 summit however, yet another attempt failed. Open State aims to
counter this with an exploratory & practical approach.
We are deliberately leaving discussions behind and of the pilot projects will populate a web platform, will be
designing the realistic utopia: decentralized, networked turned into a book, spread through talks and presentations,
units of a sustainable future. and publicized via a web campaign.
A three-day conference and a five-week camp are the And then, onwards: By 2015 we aim to have realized
kick-off to Open State. We gather experts to describe 10 Open States in other countries that will develop 100 more
the current state of affairs in all clarity and urgency, and projects to change the status quo.
explain what needs to be done. 10 selected projects work on
a ‘future of reason’ and develop instructions that work for a We create the room, the plan, and the material to equip
majority of the population – project-focused, decentralized, communities with concrete practical instructions that will be
and attainable for everyone. exponentially disseminated through the network effects of
our online communication.
The first Open State will take place in spring 2013 at
Schloss Tornow near Berlin. The goal: Open State solutions shall reach and engage the
All methods and results will be published as open source 5% of the population in western industrialized countries that
blueprints for everyone to copy and improve. The results are necessary for a substantial shift in society.
PAGE 4

5. CONFERENCE
Visionaries and Changemakers will present keynotes on concrete solutions.
The kick-off will include press and invited guests. The intensive exchange of
ideas will form the basis of the ensuing five-week camp.
FACTS
3 Days
150 Participants
Keynote presentations &
interactive workshops
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6. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
INPUT WORK INCUBATION
A bluntly stated view on the combined crises The participants accept the call to action and As a gesture of their identification with Open
of the environment, society and economy. develop solutions. Seven previously selected State, the participants receive “Open State
Researchers and Activists unequivocally projects are indicative of the variety of passports” and agree to a long-term engage-
inform the participants of the consequences sustainable solutions that have long been ment either through communication, financial
of continuing with the status quo and draw a possible. In addition, there are opportunities support or direct participation. The agenda
holistic picture of the problems. The speakers to develop further projects, three of which will loosens up and allows for open dialogue and
shine a light on the backgrounds and block- move into the camp with us. The 150 partici- activities around the castle. Working groups
ades in the economy, politics, and society. pants convene in workshops to support these can continue their meetings, networking and
projects with their know-how and network. intensified dialogue lead to further thoughts
and actions.
Open State does not end with a theoretical exchange of ideas that is so typical for conferences.
The main part begins after the conference: By bringing these projects into the Camp, we start
building and prototyping practical blueprints and instructions to support small and medium-
sized citizen networks.
PAGE 6

7. CAMP
The Camp will host seven previously selected projects as well as three projects developed at the
conference. The 50 Camp participants will live together for five weeks at Schloss Tornow and work
on sustainable solutions for the essential basic needs of food, housing, energy, communication,
and mobility.
FACTS
5 Weeks
50 Participants
10 Projects
Coachings, Design Thinking, Expert Voices
PAGE 7

8. CAMP: Idea
O
PE
N
Fun, engagement and experiencing your own
ST
AT
E
creative energy are at the central pillars of the Camp
Together we create a functional on-site prototype of the smallest
unit of a sustainable society in the future. This prototype devel-
ops into replicable blueprints that can be adapted to individual
situations and accessed online. A step-by-step instruction manual
from today to tomorrow.
A multi-disciplinary pool of experts will support the participants
in their endeavors during the course of the Camp – from interac-
tion designers to permaculture practitioners to programmers.
In addition, we will offer necessary resources such as seed
capital, contact networks, expert knowledge and continuous
procedural mentoring throughout the Camp.
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9. 3rd Week
k
4t
e
We
hW
2n d
eek
CAMP:
Phases
k
ee
5t
tW
h
W
1s
ee
k
6. IMPLEMENTATION
1. INSPIRATION 2. CONCEPTION
The implementation
Meeting the parti- Structured idea de-
3. PROTOTYPING 4. NETWORKING 5. STORYTELLING happens in two areas:
cipants. Presenting velopment processes
On-site at Open State
ideas and projects. activate the group’s
The concepts are pro- The prototypes are The essence of each and in digital work-
Diverse expert crowd intelligence and
totyped as graphics, assembled into a wor- solution is turned spaces. The status of
sessions and input creativity. Developing
models, code, or 3D- king solution model. into intelligible in- each project is commu-
formats. Mutual an implementation
print out in order to Project groups will structions and stories nicated, implemented,
coaching among the plan for each project
avoid erroneous deve- work on minimizing to facilitate commu- tested, and further
participants. to take advantage
lopments and make any gaps between nication. The Camp’s developed within the
of each participant’s
ideas tangible. the projects and the philosophy and ideas new community.
unique knowledge,
identified problems. are communicated
experience and skills.
to the public without
intermediary.
PAGE 9

10. CAMP: Selection
The 10 projects shall fulfill the following
criteria:
A) Scalable, potentially sector-disrupting concept in the areas of What works, counts. The project research
food, housing, energy, communication or mobility.
is based on our numerous existing
networks and contests that have
B) Open (not closed) organization model, willingness to share
identified and awarded pilot projects.
one’s own content in accordance with an open source
philosophy.
In addition to the open online call for
C) Diversified teams from all generations, with visionaries and
grounded “people of action” that have done similar projects proposals we will also specifically
in the past.
approach projects that resonate with our
D) The age of the project is irrelevant – Start-Ups are as welcome ideals.
as traditional organizations.
E) The legal form of the project is also irrelevant – whether LLC,
research lab, or citizen’s initiative.
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11. CAMP: Projects
An exemplary selection of already existing open source projects to help make the Open States
vision more “tangible.”
1)
A DECENTRALIZED, RESILIENT COMMUNICA- Thus, a Jerry Server can even run without access
TION INFRASTRUCTURE to grid electricity. Possible next steps could
include a link to the GPS-guided “Low Orbit
So-called “Jerry Servers” were originally designed Server Stations” (LOSS) drones developed by the
for the rough environments in developing coun- Swedish “Pirate Bay” founders. These operate
tries. These mini-servers are extremely robust, fairly autonomously within a 50 km radius and
only use standard electronic components, and could eventually enable public access to server
are partly even built from electronic waste. functionalities.
In the last months, a global community supple-
mented the open source server with wireless Further advantages: Independence from
internet antennas, mesh network functionality internet providers and an almost free internet
and solar cells. access point.
PAGE 11

12. CAMP: Projects
2)
MICRO POWER STATIONS FOR EVERYONE possibilities. For example, the “Copenhagen in touch with nature. This is how the American
Wheel” developed by the MIT generates energy architect Michael Reynolds has been working for
The majority of technology that currently while its user rides a bike. more than 40 years in the desert of New Mexico.
produces energy is proprietary, i.e. owned and His “Earth-Shops” adapt to any climate zone and
“protected” by patents that prevent open source allow an autonomous “off-grid” life: energy, fresh
development. A hardly known fact is that “solar water, sewage treatment and disposal are as
concentrators” produce 5 kW of electrical or
3) integrated as passive heating and agricultural
40kW of thermal energy, enough to power the spaces. The open source project “Wikihouse”
average energy demand of 10 people. Another DIY SUSTAINABLE HOUSING has a different angle: Standardized components
project could be the refinement of the open- enable the building of wooden houses with open
source “SHPEGS” (Solar Heat Pump Electrical Self-sufficient houses with a closed materials construction plans and drawings. This has also
Generation Systems), tower-like structures cycle are highly efficient solutions to reduce attracted a global and very active community.
using natural the air movement between the energy and resource consumption. Recycled Both approaches can be implemented almost
cold earth surface and warm air to generate construction material and simple instructions entirely autonomously, and combining them
power. This could be augmented by a variety of to autonomous self-made houses can reduce would make sustainable, resource-conserving
small, practical mechanical energy generation the initial costs and enable more people to live housing for everyone possible.
PAGE 12

13. LOCATION Schloss Tornow in Fürstenberg was built between 1888 and 1898
in the “Naturpark Ückermärkischer Seen“ close to Berlin
20 years ago, the non-profit organization “Ökowerk
Brandenburg” started restoring the landmarked building
according to ecological criteria and has been using it as
a conference center since then. This common philosoph-
ical ground, paired with the castle being surrounded by
nature and its accessibility from Berlin, make Schloss
Tornow the perfect location for the first Open State.
Conference and Camp aim to be pioneers of resource-
friendly events:
› Energy shall be produced, not consumed:
Optimal insulation, renewable energy sources, the
movements and body heat of the participants, etc.
› We avoid flights by primarily inviting guests from
Germany and bordering countries
› The organic and regional catering will be co-organized by
the “Slow Food Movement”
› Packaging and trash will be avoided as much as possible,
or otherwise reused or recycled.
› All remaining emissions will be offset through targeted
investments in climate protection projects
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14. OPEN STATE Everywhere
With the conclusion of the Camp, the first Open State is founded and functional. The pioneering work
is done. Now the challenge is to spread the first results and the spirit of the event, to set up new Open
States, and to include as many people as quickly as possible.
LOCAL: Just like during the Camp, the physical Open Spate remains open In addition to the step-by-step instructions, we develop clear guidelines for
for the interested public. It is a living space where small and large utopian the self-organization of groups of all sizes, from a small task force to a
ideas can be realized. Workshops, barcamps and “hacksprints” develop commune. At the same time, the platform is a communication hub for
further concepts for sustainable living that can be explored and collective action and campaigns as well as a permanent discussion space
experienced at Open State. for questions and ideas.
GLOBAL: An online community platform is already launched during the After the pilot project in Tornow, we plan to assemble a top-notch advisory
run-up to the conference and camp. It allows people from around the board that will carry the messages from the Open States to decision-makers
world to become an active part of the development process, give feed- in the economy and politics. We also plan to link to researchers, think tanks,
back and share knowledge, experience, contacts or resources. and institutes to provide the scientific framework for the practical results
from Open State and spread the results.
The platform publishes each open source project blueprint under a
creative commons license so that interested people or groups can refine Open State has the potential to become a worldwide movement for a
the projects, adjust them to local needs and implement them. feasible and future-oriented way of life.
PAGE 14

15. TIMELINE
PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3 PHASE 4 PHASE 5
May - July 2012 Aug. - Okt. 2012 Nov. 2012 - Jan. 2013 Feb. - May 2013 June - Aug. 2013
CAMP: AUGUST 13 – SEPTEMBER 16, 2013
CONFERENCE: AUGUST 10 – 12, 2013
GOAL: Presentation, GOAL: Fundraising, GOAL: Eventgestaltung, GOAL: Location, GOAL: Open State Every-
Fundraising Projektplan, Partner Marketing, Team Realisierung where, Communitypflege
› Brochure and › Secure all of the > Launch of the full-scale › Set up of Conference › “Team Tornow” will pro-
presentation “Open required funding web platform and Camp in Tornow mote further events and
State” › Development of the > Expansion of the core › Peak of the online pass on knowledge
› Launch of the landing project plan with all team with further campaign and media › Sustainable marketing of
page openstate.cc milestones experts relations the blue prints
› Budget definition › Finalization of partner- > Selection of 7 projects › Briefing speakers, › Publishing a book and
› Approach foundations ships (universities, and 150 participants participants, projects, lectures on the project
and other funders architects, coaches, > Finalization of the advisors › Community management
media, etc.) concept and methods › Hosting & managing (social media and web
› Secure the required
› Selection and invitation of the Camp Conference and Camp platform)
seed funding
of conference speakers > Detailed procedural › Documenting the event › Network relationship ma-
› Attract partners from
› Architectural and resto- planning of the Confe- and results nagement and wrap-up
academia, architecture,
ration plan for Schloss rence › Publishing & distributi- with all partners
private sector
Tornow > Contracts with the on of the blueprints › Contacting and engaging
› Logistical and structural Camp’s advisors the international advisory
planning of the camp board
PAGE 15

16. ›
10
more
Open States
100
worldwide
› Projects
in total GOALS till 2015:
It also allows for a matching of projects, › From a prototype to mainstream:
people and problems to create a worldwide Small groups create sustainable life
› Launch of the platform “Open State network that fosters collaboration. “Project concepts that will become the “New
Exchange” featuring the camp projects Spaces” will facilitate the collaborative Normal” – attractive and attainable
as open source blueprints. design and development of concrete solutions. for all.
PAGE 16

17. PARTNERS
This is a small selection of our close contacts that will support us with their knowledge and
recommendations to gain further partners and sponsors.
METHODOLOGY CIVIL SOCIETY INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
› HPI – School of DesignThinking › › Greenpeace Deutschland › Volker Gassner, › TU Potsdam › Prof. Dr. Katharina Hölzle,
Prof. Uli Weinberg, Headteacher Team Leader New Media Chair Entrepreneurship
› Open Design City Berlin › Jay Cousins, › Oxfam Deutschland › Judith Orland, Social › Platoon Cultural Development Berlin ›
Founder Media Campaigns Marcello Dato, Cultural Development
ARCHITECTURE CULTURE RESEARCH
› Triad Projektgesellschaft › Prof. Lutz › Foreign Affairs − Berliner Festspiele › › Fraunhofer-Institut › Dr. Philine Warnke,
Engelke, Founder & Managing Director Matthias von Hartz, Artistic Director Director Innovation and Technology
› GRAFT Gesellschaft von Architekten › › Zur Nachahmung empfohlen! › Management
Wolfram Putz, Founder & Managing Director Leonore Leonardy, Curator › Z_punkt – The Foresight Company ›
Klaus Burmeister, Managing Director
THINK TANKS ECONOMY
› Club of Rome › Daniel Dahm, Member › Deutsche Telekom AG › ACADEMICS
› Sandbox Network › Antoine Verdon, Thomas Sattelberger, Chief Human › Design Akademie Berlin › Prof. Dr. Holger
Founder & Managing Director Resource Officer Zumholz, Strategic Marketing
› Deutsche Bahn AG › Markus Hofmann, › Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance ›
Head of Marketing Strategy Stephan Breidenbach, Headteacher
PAGE 17

18. TEAM
The founders of Open State have already been part of a multitude of events. Now we want to bring
everything together: Avoid mistakes and make new ones, bring together the best minds of our
generation and establish a format that will create a lasting effect.
DOMINIK WIND › DANIEL KRUSE › MAX LISEWSKI, SIMON KIEPE & KARI WOLF ›
Managing Director, Ideabrigade, Managing Director Nest Agency Management Team 10hoch16 Agency
Co-Founder Palomar5
The event “Table of Free Voices” gathered 112 10hoch16 focuses on creating and communi-
Germany’s first innovation camp “Palomar5” personalities at the Bebelplatz in Berlin to cating meaningful products and projects. They
brought an international team of 30 experts answer 100 questions submitted on the web in turned Amnesty International’s 50-year anniver-
and creatives to live and work together in advance. Human rights campaigners and envi- sary party into a recyclable exhibition, fought
Berlin. Financed by Deutsche Telekom AG, the ronmental activists, sustainable entrepreneurs with Oxfam against food speculation, and
camp developed 12 projects on the “future and creatives from around the world created a supported the Iranian Revolution with their
of work.” video archive with more than 11,000 answers to engagement in the award-winning “The Green
the most pressing questions of our time. Wave.”
Dominik Wind is currently developing Daniel Kruse directed an international team of
Ideabrigade, a network organization of bloggers that documented the project. During Motivated by their insights about responsibil-
multi-disciplinary creative teams using a the G8 summit in Heiligendamm he led a media ity and the long-term effects of communication
custom-tailored process called “Ideasprint” to camp of 100 volunteers. and design, they realize social/political art and
solve their clients’ problems in 24 hours. His agency Nest develops online campaigns for activism, teach social marketing at the Design
clients such as Caritas International, terre des Academy Berlin, and lecture in the Green Design
hommes or the German green party Bündnis90/ Module of the Institute of Design Berlin as well as
Die Grünen. on revolution design at the University Bozen.
PAGE 18

19. „Social movements
are always propelled
by minorities.
And FIVE PERCENT of a
population is plenty to
set the current state
of affairs in motion.“
HARALD WELZER, SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIST
PAGE 19

20. CONTACT
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME AND INTEREST!
PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO DIRECT YOUR QUESTIONS TO:
Daniel Kruse
Open State e.V. (currently in formation)
Prinzenallee 74, 13357 Berlin
+49.030. 6165 7419
daniel@openstate.cc
PAGE 20