Finale 2022

For the first time after two digital years, roughly 130 students from three countries came together in Hamburg to present and discuss their ideas on current issues – that was an opportunity we have all been longing for.

The YES! 2022 Final took place from 19-21 September. After 18 rounds of presentations, discussions with experts and among the students, all teams voted and selected their winners on Wednesday afternoon.

Picture this: A group of about ten teenagers are standing together. All with backpacks and suitcases at their feet, jackets already put on. A few boys from the UK are putting their school-uniform ties and jackets on the German students. They are laughing and posing for pictures together. Two teachers are watching the scene from a few metres to the side: „They just don’t want to leave.“

These were just some of the new friendships formed over a three-day event. Most of their conversations started because of the topics the school teams had been working on for the last few months. Every team presented research, ideas and solutions that kicked off intense discussions. After fifteen minutes with our invited experts, all students in the auditorium posed their questions for the next ten minutes. However, these time slots never seemed to be enough. The discussions continued during every break and bit of free time when the teams sought each other out.

The scene had looked slightly different on Monday morning. 130 students and their teachers arrived at the Bucerius Law School in Hamburg. They had travelled from all over Germany, from the UK and US. There was a mix of tension and excitement in the air as everyone settled in. Our two hosts, Alexander Müschen and David Patrician, quickly made the auditorium feel like home. They managed to make even the slightly jet-lagged participants in the room feel energised and ready.

First came a short round of interviews with representatives of the co-organisers of the YES!. Dr. Nina Lemmens, member of the executive board of the Joachim Herz Foundation and Prof. Dr. Marianne Saam, Head of Knowledge Transfer Economics at the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics. They congratulated the finalists and posed two challenges:

Dr. Lemmens gave insight into the foundation’s key motivation for supporting the YES!: Furthering economic education. She hopes that the insights the teams had gained into science and research would further their curiosity, appetite for education and enable them to fulfil their dreams. Her challenge: “Use what you have learned and keep it going by exploring science-based occupations or starting your own companies.”

Prof. Dr. Saam emphasised the students’ unique perspective due to the fact that they weren’t yet confined to the bureaucratic challenges of work-life. It is her hope that through the YES! the machine room of research was opened up for the teams. She encouraged the young people to pursue economic and social sciences and challenged especially the girls in the room: “I hope to see one or more of you a professor of economics one day!”

Afterwards, the challenges became much more immediate: Our 18 presentations began. You could tell that these young people had come prepared. They were now experts on the topics they had been researching for the past months. No matter how nervous, they held assured, impassioned and inspiring talks. They confidently discussed their proposed solutions’ potential and shortcomings with decision-makers, experts, and the other students. You can read about all the finalist topics here.

On Tuesday, the teams received a boost of motivation from Dr. Stefan Profit. He is the Deputy Director-General of the Economic Policy Department within the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, under whose patronage the YES! stands: “The Ministry has supported YES! for years, and it’s one of the best investments we’ve made. You, students, have been digging into topics with your researchers and teachers. This experience and collaboration will be worth more than you may think. My thanks goes to you students at the heart of the YES! and to your teachers, the researchers and organisers.”

The collaboration among school teams and their supporting researchers was evident during the whole event. The teams gave shout-outs to their mentors and enjoyed the opportunity to meet some of them in person and even explore Hamburg together in the evenings. One such occasion was a boat tour through the port of Hamburg. The salty breeze was a great refreshment after the intense hours spent listening, discussing, presenting and making new friends.

Alas, every great thing must come to an end: After 18 one-minute pitches to remind everybody of all the presentations, the students voted. They applied the criteria that had shaped their own YES! projects: The clear identifications of a problem, the scientific approach to a solution and the innovation, feasibility and effect of said solution.

While the students’ votes were counted, our scientific jury rewarded the Best Scientific Analysis Award. This award is given to the team standing out because of the quality of their scientific research and an evidence-backed solution. This year’s recipient of the award is the St. Raphael Gymnasium from Heidelberg with their idea “Bring the public back into public procurement!”

Among our five international teams, the students voted for the initiative “Migration Education for the Misinformed Nation” from Sheffield Girls’ Sixth Form. This international collaboration within our YES! BRIDGE project was made possible with help from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Science and the Royal Economic Society of the UK.

Sam McLoughlin, campaign manager for Discover Economics within the Royal Economic Society joined us in Hamburg and called the YES! a “truly life-changing experience for all involved”. He went on: “It was so inspiring to see young people from a variety of backgrounds come together to tackle the real economic problems in today’s society. Not only does this give young people an opportunity to voice their opinions and share unique solutions, but it provides a platform for them all to have exciting futures. It was a pleasure to coordinate the UK activity on behalf of Discover Economics – The Royal Economic Society and to work with the great YES! Team.”

“Spending three days together at the YES! Final transformed a group of 18 different school teams from Germany, the UK and the USA into one large group of students who treated each other with great respect for their work,” added Jochen Bast, project manager at the YES! team and co-coordinator of the YES! Bridge project. “And yet, they all learned how different problems and solutions can look in various countries. One question kept popping up: “How can your solution work in my country?” That’s how inspiration works!”

Third place among the German teams went to the Gymnasium Buckhorn Hamburg with their idea UseH2 for more sustainable air travel.

In second place: GreenChoice – a proposal for lowering the CO2 footprint of meals in canteens by the Gymnasium der Schulstiftung Seligenthal.

The first place of the YES! 2022 was awarded to the Gymnasium Martineum Halberstadt and their idea: INSIGHT – Transparency. Privacy. Insight. Developed as an answer to the topic “If it costs nothing, you are the product – how does that change us and how can we change that?” which was posed by Maximilian Müller from the ESMT Berlin.

Of course, in the end, there were excited and overwhelmed winners and a few tears of joy as well as a few teas of disappointment, which only spoke to the great dedication the young people had approached this competition with.

After drying all kinds of tears, everyone came together for a final reception and celebrated what they all had achieved. The goodbyes lasted for a long time, as students, teachers, researchers and experts had all had intense and unique conversations and experiences that nobody really wanted to let go of.

As the YES!-Team behind this event, we were simply delighted with the knowledge, passion, dedication and fun that all participants brought to the YES! 2022. We look forward to celebrating the winning teams once more at our awards ceremony in Berlin this December.

Until then we will keep rolling up our sleeves and prepare everything for the YES! 2023. If you or someone you know could be interested, please visit our page for more information and the chance to apply to next year’s YES!

Your YES! team

Our Year in Review

In keeping with the motto “Everything remains different”, the year 2021 culminated in a digital final that in many respects could not be compared to the one in 2020. And the list of winning teams was also peppered with new names. First place went to the Max-Planck-Gymnasium from Gelsenkirchen followed by the Annette-Kolb-Gymnasium from Traunstein. The Albert-Einstein-Gymnasium from Frankenthal came in third. Because the jury found them so remarkably good, two prize winners were awarded the “Best Scientific Analysis” award: Grovesmühle Country School and the German Vocational School Hong Kong.

Internationally, seven teams were represented. The best solution in this group was presented by South Forsyth High School from Cummings, Georgia, USA.

2021 was a big surprise bag for us at YES! In the midst of a pandemic. Would teachers trust themselves with the effort of a school competition like the YES! ? After all, a good third had dropped out of YES! during the first Corona wave.  Then, when more than 60 teams were registered at the closing date in December, we knew we had a complete programme waiting for us.

Despite the second and third waves, almost all teams remained loyal to us. They organised themselves online in the second school lockdown and prepared for their regional finals, sometimes without even meeting once as a group.

In our four regional finals, 12 teams prevailed. At the finals, they were joined by two teams from Great Britain and three from the USA. This was already a tiny foretaste of YES! Bridge, our competition that we want to hold in 2022 with five teams on the British Isles.

Live from the Studio

To give this year’s final a special touch, we set up a small TV studio from which our moderation team Svenja Heber and David Patrician welcomed the teams and speakers.

With great effort – a graphic recorder, a complete production crew and their dog Sally – we then integrated 17 teams with 38 speakers into the programme over three days. Ideas for solutions ranged from a new kind of transport network in urban peripheries to a hybrid game on finance and ideas around the fair distribution of school meals to children who need it for financial reasons.

Our speakers came from 10 countries and various federal ministries and agencies, the European Commission, the OECD, NGOs, the private sector and universities.

More education for geothermal energy

First place among the international teams went to the team from South Forsyth High School in Cummings, Georgia, USA. Their challenge was “#greeninsteadofbrown – How can one meet the fears of society & create acceptance for geothermal energy?” and was set by Tabea Schröder and Markus Waldvogel from RWTH Aachen University. As a basis, the team first conducted a survey in the school environment and used it to develop an information campaign with which they wanted to approach young people. Their “GeoBus” was to travel to schools and draw attention to the opportunities offered by geothermal energy at an early age. Then, older generations should have the chance to find out about geothermal energy and its possibilities with an app.

Education also for nursing professions and a tax lottery

The winning team of the “Best Scientific Analysis” award of the Landschulheim Grovesmühle  was awarded another idea about educating the younger generation. With “CarEducation” – spoken Care Education – they developed documents for project days at schools with which teachers can inform their pupils about work in the care professions. The group’s topic was provided by Michaela Fuchs and Julia Lang from the IAB Institute for Employment Research. The team was particularly commended for their detailed examination of labour market data and their corresponding conclusions.

The second school team to be honoured for their scientific analysis was the German Vocational School Hong Kong. Their topic by Dominika Langenmayr and Philipp Krug from the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt was: “Tax compliance – the task of the state or morality?” They analysed the loss of tax revenue caused by smaller businesses such as bakeries not accounting for every sale through the till. They want to minimise these tax losses with a lottery to get big winnings via a code on the till receipt.

Integration of refugees remains an issue

Even if the images of the large masses of refugees on their way to Germany are a few years ago, the integration of these people remains an issue – and not only at the YES! “New challenges due to Corona and lockdown: How can we strengthen the integration of refugees?” asked Paul Berbeé and Katia Gallegos Torres from ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research. The group from the Albert-Einstein-Gymnasium in Frankenthal then developed a box with instructions for activities under the slogan “Come Together”. It is intended to serve as a starting point for local young people and refugees to meet and spend their free time together to promote integration. This approach was rewarded with third place.

The runner-up was the Annette-Kolb-Gymnasium. Their idea was called “Get ToGether to get better”. Volunteers and refugees are to register via their platform and are matched to each other via an algorithm. The volunteers support the refugees in financial issues, such as contracts, a community is to be formed through different activities.

Family planning without career setbacks

A niche in job search engines and business networks was seen by the winning team from Max-Planck-Gymnasium in Gelsenkirchen: “Make Your Job KINTeresting / An app providing jobs while acknowledging the difficulties of having a family.” They addressed the topic “Career planning and birth gap: How can studies, career and family be brought into a better balance?” by Daniel Kamhöfer (Düsseldorf Institute for Competitive Economics (DICE)) and Matthias Westphal (RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research). From their point of view, family-friendliness came up short in the existing range of platforms. That’s why they developed the idea of an app called “Kint”, which job seekers can use to filter specifically for companies and their job offers, which are evaluated according to various, family-friendly criteria.

All winning teams of the YES! Germany, we will see again towards the end of the year at the digital award ceremony by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

2021 – a broad spectrum with a common denominator

Over 80 researchers worked with 72 national and international school teams this year. In addition, 46 topic proposals were submitted by our partner institutes, whose number increased to 25 this year. Issues around care, integration, tax policy, mobility, environmental problems, digitalisation and the labour market, to name but a few, invited the teams to develop their own ideas.

With all the different approaches, there have always been focal points in the YES! solution approaches over all the years. Sometimes it was apps; sometimes, it was seals of approval. In 2021, school-based education came up again and again. Many teams believed that the solution to their problem lay in educating their generation – as was the case with the team from Grovesmühle Country School or also with South Forsyth High School as the prize winner. In any case, we are already excited to see where the journey will take us next year.

2022 – International and hopefully in person again

Next year, we hope, it will be different again, back to face-to-face meetings at our final decisions. But, as much as we have pushed the digital version of YES!, the direct contact with the young people, the researchers and the experts at our events still remain something special for us.

Internationally, thanks to funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research for our YES! Bridge project, we will be holding an event outside Germany for the first time. Five teams from the UK will be coached by researchers and prepared for their own finals as part of Science Diplomacy. The two winning teams will then be allowed to go to the grand final in September, where three teams from the USA will again be allowed to take part.

2021 was another season full of new challenges. But what always remains is our thanks to the school teams, the teachers, the researchers, the experts – to everyone who supports us so much with their encouragement.

For us as a team, the preparations for the new year are already beginning. So let’s see what will be different.

Your YES! team

YES! Final 2020 – a thank you note

2020 was a year of firsts: spontaneous switchover to purely digital kick-offs and expert discussions, digital regional finals, digital finals, more national and international female speakers than ever before and the keynote address by a European Commissioner. A good six months full of new challenges culminated in a brilliant 3-day event. We again heard inspiring approaches and our school teams were highly motivated to answer the critical questions of the experts.

How can we transform an event like a YES! Final into a successful digital format?  Because precisely what is missing is the essence that makes this event so unique: the direct exchange between the teams and the experts, the many conversations during the breaks and the sense of community in a large hall?

Short answer: With a lot of preparation, a sovereign moderation duo, interested experts from different countries and, above all, with school teams who passionately presented their ideas and were especially interested in the suggestions of the other groups.

On all three days, we had more than 100 people in our video conference at the same time. A constant coming and going of the experts who dialled into their various sessions, shared presentations, playing intro videos, showing countdowns, keeping an eye on the schedule. There was a lot of work for us to do in the background.

Fortunately, we had a moderation duo, Emily Johnston and David Patrician, who not only guided us through the programme and the discussions with confidence but also filled the organisational breaks in a relaxed and entertaining manner. Now we also know the one or other Australian and American joke.

2020 was also memorable for us because we were able to attract more experts to the final than ever before – a positive aspect that we can attribute to the digital version. Our highlight was, of course, the keynote address by Virginijus Sinkevičius, the EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries. In his 10-minute speech, he emphasised that it is precisely the commitment of young people that plays a significant role in why the Commission has launched the “European Green Deal”.

More than 40 experts from more than 10 countries

We were also very enthusiastic about how many high-ranking people followed our invitation to talk with the students. From ministries to international organisations such as the OECD, the WTO and the EU, the heads of various national and international authorities such as the European Environment Agency and the German Federal Environment Agency, from companies and associations and from research – we had the wide range of participants this year. And of course, we hope that this can be continued in the coming years in a personal format as well.

2020 will of course also be remembered as a remarkable year at the YES!. But above all, we will not forget the beautiful moments, the goosebumps, lots of laughter and even the odd dance round in front of the screen.

A big thank you to all teachers and teams, to our experts, researchers and all those who supported and trusted us.

It was a pleasure!

Best regards

your YES! team

It wasn’t sunny outside, but inside, on stage and in the audience, all was bright and ready for the first day of the 2019 National Final. 7 teams presented their ideas, discussed them with experts and did a great job promoting their solutions.

Our two moderators, Svenja Heber and David Patrician, welcomed the students, experts, guests, and many researchers, who also joined the summit to learn about the other ideas and support their teams.

After a brief introduction by Meinhard Weizmann, the Managing Director of the Bucerius Law School, where the final was hosted, Wolf Prieß, Director Program Area Economics at the Joachim Herz Stiftung and Willi Scholz, Project Lead of the YES! at the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, the hosts explained the rules for the summit.

This year, for the first time, an extra award is handed out. A jury of experts takes a close look at the “Best Scientific Analysis” of the topics by the teams. The winning team will then also present the idea at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Berlin.

Now, all was set, and the first team was asked to take the stage and present their idea for a fair society.

Improving equality of opportunities with My2tor was the intention of the team Robert-Schuman-Gymnasium from Cham. Their idea was to create a system where students help younger students that have a social disadvantage because of their family situation.

The experts to discuss this idea were Annika Johnson from the University of Bristol and Wiebke Weger, Interims manager, who pointed out that there are very positive aspects of the idea, but they also acknowledged that it is difficult to bring such a project into life.

The second team from Gymnasium Köln-Pesch took aim at the urban-rural divide with their idea of Shared Remote Offices – enable well-paid jobs in rural areas. They introduced their own designs for such a house, including calculations, different options of use as well as their app that should help people in rural areas to connect, not only for working but also on the cultural side.

Their discussants were Shelly Steward from The Aspen Institute, Stefan Profit from Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. They critically pointed out issues like the financing of their idea, but also praised this positive approach of the team.

After the first break, our special guests from the UK took over the microphone. This year, the YES! cooperated with the economics department of the University of Bristol. Two school teams worked out their own ideas similar to the German test. Due to a strike of the pilots, one team couldn’t make it to Hamburg. So only the team of Malvern College presented their solution to the issues that arise with a growing gig economy: SWIGE – Saving the gig economy

They discussed their idea of an app that focuses on a major issue of the gig economy with Florentyna Farghly from The Behavioural Insights Team in London and Shelly Steward from The Aspen Institute in Washington. The idea was to make the gig workers aware of the need for saving money for when they are old. In the discussion, the experts pointed out that the idea is on spot of a critical issue, but they also noted that the legal framework, for example, needs to support the gig workers better even to have a chance to save money in these often low wage jobs.

They did a great job. Since the team didn’t go through the entire competition as the German teams, they were not eligible for any votes.

With packages and the delivery problems of the last mile, we continued the presentations. The team Gymnasium bei St. Michael from Schwäbisch-Hall developed a concept they called P-Box – For Green Delivery.

They discussed their idea with Katja Diehl, VCD Verkehrsclub Deutschland e.V., Carsten Hansen, Bundesverband Paket und Expresslogistik e. V., and Rolf Meyer, Meyer & Meyer Holding SE & Co. KG.

After the lunch break, we learned what the word Upgreening? means. It’s the idea of the team RBZ Wirtschaft . Kiel to change the traffic in the cities of tomorrow. They want to consult companies on who the improve the way employees come to work or travel during work time in matters of health, environment and motivation.

In a lively discussion, Katja Diehl, Hans Haans from Tilburg University and Stefan Profit exchanged arguments and ideas with the team about their network, their future plans and their marketing efforts.

Next up was the question how manage the integration of refugees into your society. REFUCATION – Integration of Refugees through Education was the answer of the team Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium Stuttgart. They want students to help refugees as part of their school agenda to improve their skills in German and maths because many refugees that start an apprenticeship often fail the theoretical exams due to missing language skills.

Jill Addo from the Federal Employment Agency, Thomas Bauer from the RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, and Panu Poutvaara, Ludwig-Maximilian Universität München & Sachverständigenrat deutscher Stiftungen für Integration und Migration, joined the stage to discuss this idea. They acknowledged the importance of such a plan and suggested several aspects to look for.

Last on the stage for the first day was a team that tackled an issue that relates to all of us. PSEC-Reform – Pension Stabilization Equity Change aims at solving the problems that come with the demographic change. They came up with calculations for a new formula to stabilise the pension system.

On the stage, our experts Florentyna Farghly, Stefan Profit, and Gert Georg Wagner, Chairman of The Social Advisory Council (Sozialbeirat der Bundesregierung) took a close look at the concept, going through the numbers and graphics and asking detailed questions to the team.

On day two, the moderators Svenja Heber and David Patrician welcomed the first team of the day to the stage. The task: How to fight climate change? The team: Werner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium Weinheim. The idea: GreenPay – a private incentive system for a sustainable future

They presented their idea of a point collecting system that awards buying eco-friendly products and how they rolled out test runs in local stores.

They were joined by Peter Byck from the Arizona State University, Andreas Lange from the University Hamburg and Holger Thiele from the University of Applied Science Kiel. They all curiously asked questions on the verification of the products’ eco-footprint and praised the actions the team already had taken.

Up next was also a climate change topic and how to change our behaviour. This time a team from the north, Richard-Hallmann-Schule Trappenkamp that came up with a clever slogan for their idea: Be schlau, eat less cow

They planned to let young volunteers go to school, use the team’s teaching material to inform elementary school kids about the effect livestock farming has for the climate change.

Peter Byck, Sarah Smith from the University of Bristol and Holger Thiele came up to the stage to share their views on this idea. They recognised the approach of addressing elementary children, but also noted the difficulties to teach the kids the whole story and not leaving parts out since sustainable livestock farming can significantly contribute to reducing CO2 as well.

And now something completely different: Banks. Or who needs banks? That was the questions the team Martin-Andersen-Nexö from Dresden deal with. They believed in A Safe Bank Account For Everyone, an account with the European Central Bank for every citizen, where the money is save, and no bank can speculate with it.

A controversial discussion followed with Florentyna Farghly, Jens Reich from the Deutsche Bundesbank and Cyrus de la Rubia from the Hamburg Commercial Bank AG. The asked many questions on their proposal, pointing out critical aspects as well as a strong acknowledgement that this approach was really “out of the box”.

Another turn took the next presentation on a topic on why people lie. The team Berlin International School addressed this issue with a concept they believe can help victims of sexual harassment: ProtectMe – An App Helping to Protect Victims of Sexual Abuse

The app allows people to find support and information when they were sexually abused – in an anonymously way the lower We welcomed on stage for the discussion Sigrid Richter-Unger, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Prävention und Intervention bei Kindesmisshandlung, -vernachlässigung und sexualisierter Gewalt e.V., and Mechthild Wolff, Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften Landshut. They both pointed out the importance of this issue, applauded the approach, but also reminded the team that offering such a service is very costly, and it would be sensible to reach out to potential partners.

The last session of the day after lunch started with a new idea on how the change the transportation system in Germany. Team Burg-Gymnasium Bad Bentheim promoted their idea of H like hope – H like H-bike – bikes powered by hydrogen that let users cover longer distances, but had several advantages compared to E-bikes.

They engaged in discussion with our experts Katja Diehl and Heinrich Klingenberg from hySOLUTIONS GmbH. Using hydrogen was to them not the first thought, but they both found the concept innovative and arriving at the right time.

The final team of the summit came from the Engelsburg Gymnasium Kassel. With their platform/app Integra, they want to tackle the problem of bringing refugees to the labour market. Again, the moderators invited Jill Addo, Thomas Bauer and Panu Poutvaara to the stage to share their thoughts in this idea. In a detailed discussion they asked for where the app should be in the market, the legal framework, and how this could benefit the German job market.

After a short break and a brief reminder on how the voting process works, the teams delivered their pitches, one-minute-presentations, in reverse order to prepare everyone as good as possible for the upcoming vote.

The jury for the new award had a tough time finding a winner “Best Scientific Analysis”. They decided for the RBZ Wirtschaft . Kiel because they did a good analysis, did surveys and use this data to change behaviour.

The fourth place and with it a one-year subscription of the magazine „Enorm“ also went to the team RBZ Wirtschaft . Kiel. It was sponsored by the „Stiftung Wirtschaft Verstehen“, represented by Dr. Stefan Empter and Prof. Dr. Helga Hackenberg.

The three winners were announced by Dr. Nina Lemmens, member of the executive board of the Joachim Herz Stiftung.

The third place went to Gymnasium bei St. Michael from Schwäbisch-Hall with the P-Box idea. Second in the vote was Gymnasium Köln-Pesch and their concept of remote offices in the rural areas.

First place winners came from Weinheim. The team of the Werner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium collected the most points in the vote.

All four teams will go to Berlin to present their ideas at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and to receive their official award.

We, the organising team of the YES!, had a blast this year. It was the largest YES! ever, most registrations, most teams in the competition, most partners, most topics and most of all: Inspiring ideas from young people that presented their ideas with scientific accuracy, spirit and passion.

Thanks for all of this to the students, teachers, researchers and partner institutions for the year-long support

It’s the first day of this year’s final – a new location, teams from four different regions, two moderators and twelve solutions that have made it through the regional finals.

Conny Czymoch and David Patrician, our moderators, gave a warm welcome to the participants and forwarded the greeting by Peter Altmaier, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, the patron of the YES!. In his written statement, he stressed the importance of the economic education for students and thanked all the scientists, teachers and students for the efforts and engagement.

To be the first team to come onto the stage is always tough, but the group of the Carl-Maria-von-Weber Gymnasium from Eutin did a great job promoting their idea. They had chosen the topic of “Why don’t they care? Nudges to improve willingness to help?” by Lena Detlefsen and Katharina Lima de Miranda from the IfW Kiel. Their idea focused on teaching younger children how to make the first response in case of an emergency. Their concept of a seal for schools to provide such seminars for their students was strongly supported by one of the experts, Bernd W. Böttiger. Prof Böttiger of the University Hospital of Cologne emphasised that such a concept has the potential – if properly implemented – to save thousands of lives each year. The second expert, Karsten Schmidt of the Roskilde University and an expert on nudging, indeed saw the potential as well, but also recommended some improvements on the nudging side of the project.

Second on stage was a team from the new region East. The Alfred-Nobel-Gesamtschule Potsdam wants to involve young school students in research. Their supporting scientist, Henry Sauermann of the ESMT Berlin, proposed the topic “Involving Citizens in Research: Improving Science and Society”. The team came up with the concept of an online platform, directed to teachers and students, that include citizen science projects that are suitable for using them at school. The two experts were Katrin Vohland of the Museum for Natural Science in Berlin and Ole Wintermann of the Bertelsmann Stiftung. They both recognised the positive elements of the idea immediately, but also recommended some improvements to benefit from the existing platforms.

„Sustaining the World’s Oceans“ by Christine Bertram of the IfW Kiel was the topic to talk about after the first break of the day. The team of the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Schule Neumünster introduced their booklet for children with some animal characters to teach young children how to behave correctly to prevent further pollution of the seas. Our experts for this session, Mirjam Steffensky from the IPN – Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, and Achim Lauber from the JFF – Institut für Medienpädagogik, expressed their support for the booklet right away. They pointed out that such a brochure is not designed to solve a problem like the pollution of the oceans, but a good starting point to educating younger children and thus being an essential step in the right direction.

The fourth proposal of the morning was presented by a team from the region South-West, Otto-Schott-Gymnasium Mainz-Gonsenheim:  “Citizen’s Assistant – Improve Efficiency in Public Administration”. The idea is a response to the challenge by Sebastian Blesse and Thomas Schwab of the ZEW called „eGoverning Germany: The future of public administration„. In a lively presentation, the group outlined their expectations for a service-oriented citizen service by the public administration. This time, three experts commented on the solution. Nuria Villanova of the OECD, Dirk-Hinnerk Fischer of the Tallinn University of Technology and Thomas Langkabel of the Initiative D21. They all supported the basic idea of making public services more available in a digital fashion but also agreed that it is a long way to go to do this change.

Next on stage after a relaxing lunch break was the team Cecilien-Gymnasium Düsseldorf. They tackled the problem of lack of trust in shopping reviews on the Internet, as described in the challenge “Transactions via the Internet – How can trust be built?” by the researchers Rebekka Rehm and Clemens Recker of the iwp Institute for Economic Policy at the University of Cologne. Their answer to this question is called “1Feedback”, a system that combines writing reviews of purchases across the Internet along with a gamification aspect and a reward system. The experts for this session were Wiebke Weger, an experienced and independent marketing expert, and Lars Müller, CEO of the marketing agency wigital. They were impressed by the presentation of the team, yet they also pointed out how difficult a project like this could be regarding data protection and the interchange between online shops.

“New ways for a future-proof and generation-appropriate care” was the topic provided by Ingo Kolodziej of the RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research in Essen. This was the task, and the team of Gesamtschule Waldbröl developed the concept of an online platform where young people get a bounty in various forms to help older adults. Karsten Schmidt of the Roskilde University and Juliane Zielonka of the Techniker Krankenkasse as experts on this topic quickly engaged in a discussion on the pros and cons of the proposal.

The final presentation of the first day was left for the team of Fritz-Erler-Schule Pforzheim, and their topic was one that affects a large number of children: “How to combat child poverty and how can children and adolescents be best supported”, which was proposed by Holger Stichnoth of the ZEW Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim. The team presented their approach “High Five”, which includes activities at schools and the communities to support children that excluded from many activities because their families can’t afford them. The discussants, Dagmar Balve-Hauff of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Sabine Hübgen of the WZB Berlin Social Science Centre and Achim Lauber of JFF – Institut für Medienpädagogik, all agreed on the importance of a proposal like “High Five” and to put children in the focus of the project.

What a great Day 1 it was at the YES! 2018 National Final. We certainly enjoyed the presentations, the critical questions both from the experts and the audience and how the presenters found arguments to defend their idea.

After the long first day, the teams returned on Friday morning to the Bucerius Law School to attend the final five presentations. The first team took us to Africa! BBS Burgdorf dealt with the topic “How to Strengthen the Economy in African Developing Countries”, which was proposed by Roland Dörn of the RWI Essen. The solution they came up was an app called “Ubatimu” – an app that should help African farmers, by simulation and gamification, to find the best possible crops and fertilisers for their land. Our experts, Martin Foth-Feldhusen of the GIZ and Holger Thiele of the University of Applied Science Kiel, were critical towards the approach for several reasons but also acknowledged the innovative format of the solution.

Second on stage was the Georg-Büchner-Gymnasium Berlin. By having an interactive presentation of their solution “RSMS – A Better indicator for Economic Forecasting”, the group kept the audience interested in their topic “Sense and Nonsense of Economic Forecasts:  Motivation and Methods for macroeconomic  Forecasts” by Ferdinand Fichtner of the DIW Berlin. Nora Hesse of the European Commission and Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist of the HSH Nordbank, both thought that the idea is a good step in the right direction. In a lively discussion, the team responded to the many questions by the audience.

“Promoting financial inclusion: New policies and technological innovations through digital finance”, by Helke Seitz and Tim Kaiser of the DIW Berlin was the next topic on the table. The team of Berlin International School tackled this problem and came up with “Virgo – A Financial Ecosystem Reinventing Microfinance”. This system, based on an app, should enable people in developing countries to get access to finance more easily. Three experts joined the discussion, Cyrus de la Rubia, Nora Hesse and Thorsten Grenz of KIMBRIA. Quickly, an active debate evolved regarding the Virgo system, blockchain technology and microfinancing in general.

The last session before the lunch break circled around the topic “Promoting Digitisation in Business” by Jörg Ohnemus and Steffen Viete of ZEW Mannheim. The team Saarpfalz Gymnasium Homburg developed the concept of “M.I.T. – A Certificate for Digital Skills”, a system of training opportunities for employees. This session was moderated by Susan Djahangard, editor at “Die Zeit”, who welcomed Dagmar Balve-Hauff of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy and Dirk-Hinnerk Fischer of the Tallinn University of Technology. The experts agreed with the team that there is the need for a continuous qualification on the job, but they also saw an already established market in this field.

The final presentation of the YES! 2018 was about “The Facebook Business Model -You are the Product” by Cora-Wacker-Theodorakopolous and Timm Leinker of ZBW Leibniz Information Centre of Economics. The team of Gymnasium Wellingdorf asked themselves what kind of data has Facebook of each user. They used the options Facebook provides of downloading the user’s data and developed the concept of an app to visualise the data to understand more easily. The experts, Anne Riechert of Stiftung Datenschutz and Jil Sörensen of Hamburg Media School, pointed out how important it is to be sensible about the personal data and that such an app could undoubtedly improve the awareness.

Next, after the 1-minute-pitches of each team and a clear instruction on the voting procedures, the announcement of the winners was on the agenda.

Each team ranked the others and distributed 11 points to their favourite, 10 to the next and so on. And, as something new to the YES! in 2018, representatives of each team came to the stage to tell and explain, which team they ranked first. Excitingly, it showed that all the teams did a great job because a great variety of solutions was as the favourite solutions.

But not only the large numbers count. And so the winning teams finally were announced. Third place was the group Gesamtschule Waldbröl. The second was Cecilien-Gymnasium Düsseldorf, and the first place went to, drum roll please, Fritz-Erler-Schule Pforzheim II.

After two long days at the final, four regional finals and more than half a year of working with the teams, the organising team of the YES! certainly is happy for the winners, but we also feel with the teams that didn’t make it to the top. However, we know that they worked hard. And the past years have shown to us, that you don’t need to be in the top 3 to have a great idea that can change something.

We thank all of the teams, the teachers, the research institutions and their scientists for their support throughout the year. We are looking forward to coming back again next year, even larger with the fifth region South-East and a true nationwide competition.

The YES! 2017, for the first time, took place in two different regions. While the YES! started in 2015 with teams from the North, in its third rendition, the competition included the region South-West. With the ZEW Centre for European Economic Research as the regional partner, the first of two regional finales took place in Mannheim. The second final was held in Kiel at the ZBW.

The final in Kiel in September was bigger than ever, with 14 teams presenting their solutions on two days, accompanied by national and international speakers who discussed the solutions in every detail.

In the end, a team from the new region won. BBS Wirtschaft 1 from Ludwigshafen created a concept of a „Company Gateway“, which should allow founders to establish a new company with a less bureaucratic burden to push Germany’s entrepreneurship to a new level.

When a project like the YES! receives such a great response in its first year, the second year is accompanied by some expectations. Again, 14 schools took part and sent their teams up onto the stage at the RBZ Wirtschaft. Kiel. The bar was high, but the students performed at their best and came up with ideas that were well received by the audience, politicians and the experts during the discussions.

This year’s winning solution dealt with the protection of the seas, in particular, with regard to the fishing zones. „eFishient“ – that’s the brilliant name the team of Lernwerft Kiel came up with for their proposal of a system of rotating fishing protection zones in the North Sea.

The runnerup of 2016 was the team Gymnasium Wellingdorf. Their topic was „Libertarian Paternalism and Choice Architecture: Nudging People into the ‚Right‘ direction“ and they developed a solution focused on how to provide bicyclists with more safety in the daily traffic.

The third-place solution dealt with the current immigration wave. The team of the Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Rendsburg sorted out a system of courses for refugees that would enable them to find an easier way to become potential workers in the German labour market.

All in all, the teams exceeded the expectations for the YES! in its second year, providing solutions that would lead to invitations and presentations at large conferences like the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin.

How different would it be if school students came up with a solution to a problem that affects the economy, the society or our environment? How different would their approach be? What could decision makers learn from this different perspective?

In a nutshell, this is the idea behind the YES! – Young Economic Summit, which took place for the first time in 2015. The ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics and the Joachim Herz Stiftung organised this summit with teams from 15 school. They were supported by researchers of the IfW Kiel Institute for the World Economy. The teams had to choose from a list of challenges, got introduced to the topics by the researchers and started thinking in their own directions. And the results were astonishing.

The first prize won the team Gymnasium Wellingdorf. Their task was to tackle waste management. Their idea of a deposit system for plastic bags persuaded their fellows at the summit. Instead of buying bags or getting bags for free at stores, they proposed using robust polyester bags in a deposit system.

The second prize went to the team Heinrich-Heine-Schule Heikendorf. Their topic was „Dealing with the Challenges of Urban Development“. The solution they presented a bonus system for public transportation – the more people use it, the cheaper their tickets get.

The third prize winners of the Anne-Frank-Schule Bargteheide demanded an increased spread of the alternative cultivation methods „Push and Pull Technology“ and „System of Rice Intensification“ in order to secure food in a sustainable and agroecological way.

Finally, the public choice award went to Gymnasium Altenholz. Their idea was „A coherent response to migration – Portal Europe“ to effectively counteract information asymmetry between migrants and receiving host countries and to establish an open welcoming culture.

One of the highlights for the winning teams was a meeting with Nobel Laureate Prof. George Akerlof and his son Prof. Robert Akerlof, with whom they discussed their solutions. They both were very impressed and George Akerlof noted: „Young people often have a better view for new ideas and solutions than trained economists.“

The winning teams later received their official awards in Berlin at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy from State Secretary Brigitte Zypries.