Workshop WKÖ / Terra Mater Mindcollider

Mar 5, 2026, 8:45 AM → Mar 6, 2026, 8:15 PM Europe/Zurich

3179/R-E06 (CERN)

This is a tailored innovation programme offered by Terra Mater Studios GmbH for WKÖ in association with WONND agency at IdeaSquare, the innovation space at CERN.

How will the future be created? How do we prepare for an unplannable future? We don’t have the answer about how the future will be: we will work on creating it!

The objective of this 2-day immersion workshop is to explore and experiment with new ways of thinking, to have a glimpse into the future, learn how to think the unthinkable, and start taking action to create the future we want to live in.

Participants will learn from CERN’s experience in long-term planning for uncertain futures, collaborating with large multidisciplinary and cross-industry teams, and exploring new methodologies to tackle universal and relevant challenges which may affect the future of all companies. They will be exposed to a change of paradigm when thinking about the future:

• Change of mindset: A new way of thinking about the future
• Breaking the current patterns of thinking and acquiring new ones
• New tools and techniques to engage with these new patterns
• Set of questions they can use to challenge the thinking of the leadership teams

 

Directions on how to get to CERN you can find here: https://home.cern/directions

When on CERN site, find your way to the car park behind the Globe. IdeaSquare is there, towards West (France). Google map is here.

For registering your laptop/mobile phone for wifi access at CERN, please fill in a request here: http://cern.ch/registerVisitorComputer 

Thu, March 5

8:45 AM → 9:00 AM Welcoming participants at IdeaSquare

9:00 AM → 9:10 AM Welcome to MindCollider

Welcome by IdeaSquare representatives and by the WKÖ. Introduction by the Mindcollider team

Speakers: Luciana Leveratto (wonnd), Mr Markus Mooslechner, Pablo Garcia Tello (CERN)

9:10 AM → 9:25 AM Setting the expectations

Introducing details and methodologies about MindCollider

9:25 AM → 10:25 AM Getting Inspired by CERN 1 : Thinking the unthinkable - How CERN works An introduction to CERN

Thinking the unthinkable - How CERN works
An introduction to CERN

Speaker: Pablo Garcia Tello (CERN)

Transformative Innovation for Real.pdf

Transformative Innovation for Real.pptx

10:25 AM → 10:30 AM Reflection on the previous session

10:30 AM → 10:40 AM Coffee break

With the participation of Pablo Garcia Tello and Andreas Salzburger

10:40 AM → 11:10 AM EXPERIMENT VISIT 1

Translating CERN way of doing into something tangible: the ATLAS experiment

Speaker: Andreas Salzburger (CERN)

11:10 AM → 11:20 AM Walk to the Atlas Control Room

11:20 AM → 11:50 AM EXPERIMENT VISIT 1

Walk over to ATLAS Control room: get a deep dive into ATLAS

Speaker: Andreas Salzburger (CERN)

2026-03-05-WKOe-Austria.pdf

11:50 AM → 12:00 PM Walk back to IdeaSquare

12:00 PM → 1:00 PM Workshop 1 : Interactive session with participants Explain how ATLAS works and do a little: Higgs discovery game

Interactive session with participants
Explain how ATLAS works and do a little: Higgs discovery game

Speaker: Andreas Salzburger (CERN)

1:00 PM → 1:20 PM Reflection on the Atlas Experiment visit and activities

1:20 PM → 2:10 PM Lunch Box

2:10 PM → 3:00 PM Getting ready and walk to the Antimatter Factory

3:00 PM → 4:00 PM Experiment Visit 2 : Antimatter Factory

Speaker: Michael Doser (Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (US))

4:00 PM → 4:20 PM Walk back to IdeaSquare

4:20 PM → 4:35 PM Coffee break

4:35 PM → 5:55 PM Workshop 2 : From scientific discoveries to innovation: Challenging assumptions IdeaSquare methodologies for thinking differently about the future

Speakers: Pablo Garcia Tello (CERN), Luciana Leveratto (wonnd)

Cha Cha Cha.pdf

Cha Cha Cha.pptx

5:55 PM → 6:30 PM Workshop 3

6:30 PM → 7:30 PM Leave for dinner/ end of the day

Fri, March 6

8:30 AM → 8:45 AM Welcome coffee

8:45 AM → 9:00 AM Reflexion on the previous day

9:00 AM → 10:00 AM Getting Inspired by CERN 2 . A Short History of WWW

Speaker: Robert Cailliau

10:00 AM → 10:10 AM Reflexion on the previous day

10:10 AM → 10:55 AM Getting Inspired by CERN 3 : How innovation arises in science – a random walk through particle physics

Speaker: Edda Gschwendtner (CERN)

2026-03-06-Innovation-EddaGschwendtner-out.pdf

2026-03-06-Innovation-EddaGschwendtner-out.pptx

10:55 AM → 11:05 AM Reflexion on the previous day

11:05 AM → 11:20 AM Coffee break

11:20 AM → 12:20 PM Getting Inspired by CERN 4: From scientific discovery to social benefit and back

Speakers: Benjamin Frisch (CERN), Edda Gschwendtner (CERN), Xavi Llopart Cudie (CERN)

12:20 PM → 1:20 PM Workshop 5 : Transfering the concepts

1:20 PM → 2:05 PM Lunch box

2:05 PM → 3:05 PM Visit Science Gateway

3:05 PM → 3:25 PM Coffee break

3:25 PM → 4:55 PM Workshop 5 : How to plan for the unplannable?

4:55 PM → 5:25 PM Conclusions, wrap-up & Licence to Dream

5:25 PM → 5:45 PM End of the workshop