Finals of the economic school competition “YES! – Young Economic Summit” with broad international participation

Kiel/Hamburg, 27 July 2021: More than 600 students from Germany, Hong Kong, Switzerland, the UK and the USA worked out solutions for global economic, ecological and societal problems during the YES! 2021. They covered topics such as elderly care 2030, digitisation in schools and the globalisation of labour. After the regional finals, the YES! finals are scheduled for 22-24 September 2021. It fields seventeen contenders and is bigger and more international than ever.

The six regional finals in Germany’s largest economic school competition “YES! – Young Economic Summit” have ended. The finalists have been chosen who will present their solutions from 22 to 24 September 2021 and discuss them with national and international experts. Because of the pandemic, the finals will again be held digitally.

Members of the press and interested guests from science or schools can now register for participation

The following schools will compete in the finals (alphabetic order):

• Albert-Einstein-Gymnasium Frankenthal,Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany (*The team received the Wild Card for a particularly well-worked solution.), Topic: New challenges due to Corona and lockdown: How can we strengthen the integration of refugees? (ZEW)
• Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Topic: Mobility in rural areas – how can electric mobility work there? (IAO)
• Annette-Kolb-Gymnasium Traunstein, Bavaria, Germany, Topic: New in the country – how can refugees be prepared for the German financial system? (ifo)
• Aylesbury Grammar School, Aylesbury, UK, Brain Food (McKinsey, Health Foundation)
• BBS Burgdorf, Lower Saxony, Germany, Topic: The Economics of Fake News: Free Opinion, False Belief and Censorship? (DICE)
• Decatur High School, Decatur, Georgia, USA, Topic: What encourages price-fixing between companies? An economic experiment. (DICE)
• Deutsche Berufsschule, Hong Kong, Topic: Tax Compliance (KU)
• Dunwoody High School, Dunwoody, Georgia, USA, Topic: The dark secret of chocolate – How can we support sustainable cocoa cultivation? (RWI)
• Immanuel Kant Schule Neumünster, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, Topic: Shortage of housing, gentrification and rent madness: How can affordable housing be managed in cities? (CWS der Uni Hannover)
• International School of Geneva, Genf, Switzerland, Topic: Toward sustainable accommodation and sustainable holiday (RWTH Aachen)
• Landschulheim Grovesmühle Veckenstedt, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, Topic: Applause is not enough – How can nursing professions become more attractive? (IAB)
• Max-Planck-Gymnasium Gelsenkirchen,North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Topic: Career planning and birth gap: How can studies, career and family be brought into a better balance? (RWI&DICE)
• Musikgymnasium Käthe-Kollwitz Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, Topic: Sustainable Garden Cities of Tomorrow. From Hellerau to Eisenhüttenstadt and far beyond (IRS)
• Saint Michael's Catholic Grammar School, London, UK, Topic: Brain Food (McKinsey, Health Foundation)
• South Forsyth High School, Cumming, Georgian, USA, Topic: #Greeninsteadofbrown - How can one meet fears of the society & create acceptance for geothermal energy? (RWTH Aachen)
• Raiffeisen-Campus Dernbach,Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, Topic: Young people are not interested in finance-related topics. How could this be changed? (SAFE)
• RBZ Wirtschaft . Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, Topic: Blue Growth in the tourism sector? Making maritime tourism sustainable! (IB.SH)

All solutions of the finalists 2021

Soundbites:

The young people are convinced their ideas can have an effect in the world. They have also been impressed by two aspects of their YES! participation: the academic debate with scientific experts from 25 economic research institutions and working in a team.

The winning team from the South West (Albertus Magnus Gymnasium Stuttgart) said: “We had a lot of fun working out our solution with the researchers. This is an experience you can’t have in school and it gives you an interessing insight into scholarly work. Working in a team has been a pleasant change after working at home alone all the time because of the Covid pandemic. We are happy that we can now refine our idea and that we have made it to the finals.”

Julia Krüger from the Region North winning team (RBZ Wirtschaft in Kiel) stated: “One of the reasons why I decided to participate in the project was the idea that you can have an effect. These are all topics that are decisive for our future and our lives. The competition can get you the attention that you need to change something.”

About YES!

„YES! – Young Economic Summit“ is one of the largest school competitions around economic and societal challenges for the young generation. Students work out solutions to global economic, ecological and societal problems on their own and present these in English at a school conference, the “YES! – Young Economic Summit”. Through debate with leading personalities and other students they improve their view of global interrelations and develop their own innovative solutions. The best solutions are chosen by democratic vote. The chosen solutions receive awards and are handed over publicly to suitable bodies for implementation and tracking. All participating schools receive continuous support for research, presentation and media communicationon on their way to the YES!. The YES! thus adopts the recommendations of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany which demand that students be enabled to use media critically. The “YES! – Young Economic Summit” is under the patronage of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. It is a joint project of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics and the Joachim Herz Foundation. In 2020, the YES! received the “Raising the Profile of Education and Science Diplomacy” award of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Also in 2021, the prototype YES! MINT started, which involves grades 5-9 at the interface between MINT and business.

About the Joachim Herz Foundation:

The Joachim Herz Foundation is mainly operative in the fields of natural sciences, business and personal development. In these fields it also funds small, innovative projects of third parties. Since 2017, the foundation has also been funding research projects in the fields of medicine, law and engineering. The Joachim Herz Foundation was established in 2008.