Everyone from the equestrian sport scene knows about the miracle of Stockholm: The exceptional mare, Halla, carried her injured rider, Hans Günter Winkler, to team gold at the Olympic Games in 1956. This was reason enough for the President of the Bundestag, Julia Klöckner, to talk about trust as a basis for joint major performances in the impulse lecture she held during the chiotec congress.

The chiotec Congress, which has been staged during the CHIO Aachen since 2018, is a platform for everyone, who would actively like to co-shape the future. In her capacity as President of the Bundestag, Julia Klöckner normally shapes the political future of the country. However, at the congress she held an impulse lecture about the prerequisite, which is in her opinion indispensable for innovation, progress and democracy: trust.

She skilfully made a connection to the equestrian sport using two of its legends, who wrote history in Stockholm in 1956: Hans Günter Winkler, who pulled a muscle in his groin during the first round, and his wonder mare, Halla, who carried him over the course clear in the second round – guided purely by Winkler’s rein aids. “Trust was the foundation for this exceptional top performance back then,” affirmed Klöckner in her lecture, pointing out that trust has to be earned – HGW and Halla had built up a deep partnership over years, “through their training, through their achievements, but also through defeats and setbacks.”

Precisely this trust is what the President of the Bundestag now also wishes for forward-looking developments like Artificial Intelligence. “Only very few people will understand these technologies. But Europe should become a haven of trust, where innovation is developed in harmony with our values. Instead of having reservations, we should promote a mood of optimism and an innovative spirit,” Klöckner demanded. Pessimism should be replaced by confidence. “Artificial Intelligence is the next revolutionary wave. I want us to surf on this wave, instead of being knocked over by it.”

To achieve this, confidence, courage – and also trust are necessary. In the same way that Hans Günter Winkler and Halla had secured themselves the team gold medal together: “Because they had enough trust to take the plunge,” emphasised Klöckner and set the prevailing mood for the subsequent congress day.

With speakers such as Dr. Karsten Wildberger (Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and State Modernisation); DFB Managing Director, Andreas Rettig; Andrew Parsons (President of the International Paralympic Committee); Dr. Sebastian C. Schulte (Chairman of DEUTZ AG); Dr. Steffen Merkel (DFL Managing Director) and Michal Spiller (Managing Director of Lindt & Sprüngli GmbH), chiotec offers scope for discussions and a dialogue at the highest level. In interplay with celebrities from the worlds of sport, business, politics and research, innovative solutions for a sustainable and efficient future were developed – among others in the field of Artificial Intelligence that was addressed by Julia Klöckner, but also in the founder scene and for the mobility of tomorrow. The event was jointly organised by the Real Reactions Company, the RWTH Aachen and the CHIO Aachen CAMPUS.