What motivated you personally to get involved with Inspiring Girls Deutschland e.V. alongside your work as a lawyer and partner in a boutique law firm for copyright and media law?

Dr. Kerstin Bäcker: Strengthening the position of girls and women in our society has been on my mind for many years. There are far too few female voices in the legal profession and in media companies, especially at decision-making and management level. When I heard about the work of Inspiring Girls, I thought it was a really great initiative because it starts very early and in a very practical way to show young girls that they can achieve anything and can - and should - find their place even in heavily male-dominated fields.

What long-term impact do you hope the work of Inspiring Girls in Germany will have?

Dr. Kerstin Bäcker: The special feature of Inspiring Girls is that we go into schools to talk to female role models in person to encourage 10 to 16-year-old girls that anything can be open to them professionally, that paths do not have to be straightforward and that they should never be discouraged. Inspiring Girls is therefore intended to encourage young girls to believe in themselves and stand up for their independence and autonomy throughout their lives and careers. Our hashtag #bewhatyouwant speaks for itself. We want to reach as many girls as possible with this message and thus penetrate society bit by bit.

What obstacles or prejudices do girls still face today when they are interested in a career in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences or technology?

Dr. Kerstin Bäcker: Although girls are no longer a rarity in these professions, they unfortunately still encounter reservations that they are not up to the challenges in strongly male-dominated fields. This is due to a lack of positive examples and experiences and is therefore more common than in professions in which women are already more strongly represented, such as doctors.

How does the association succeed in actively challenging and breaking down clichés about “typically male” or “typically female” professions?

Dr. Kerstin Bäcker: The idea is to break down stereotypes by showing girls that women can also be successful in male-dominated professions. Female role models prove to girls that fearlessness, courage and perseverance pay off and that all professions are open to them. We encourage them to believe in themselves and to aim high.

You are committed to a society in which girls and women are equal and courageous players - how far along this path do you think we are?

Dr. Kerstin Bäcker: Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go - as the current composition of elected representatives in the German Bundestag, for example, clearly shows, which does not represent the proportion of women in society: Only 32.4% are women - the proportion of women has actually fallen by 2.3 percentage points compared to 2021.

What would have to change in our education system to enable real equality in career guidance?

Dr. Kerstin Bäcker: A fundamental step in the education system in general would be to ensure sufficient and comprehensive childcare so that women can work full-time if they wish and do not fall into the part-time trap due to a lack of sufficient and financially viable childcare options.

There should also be greater systematic integration of gender-sensitive career guidance from middle school onwards: Teachers should be sensitized to gender-specific stereotypes and receive further training in order to actively address and dismantle these in the classroom. In addition, the development and use of teaching materials that question role models and show diverse job profiles beyond traditional gender classifications could be promoted. Finally, mandatory internships in different professional fields would be helpful to give students an insight into non-gender-stereotypical professions.

With our work at Inspiring Girls Deutschland e. V., we are setting strong and sustainable accents to broaden the professional horizons of girls (and boys).

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At LEARNTEC, Dr. Kerstin Bäcker will also be giving a presentation on this topic entitled “Presenting Inspiring Girls” (May 8, 10 a.m.).

To the complete program overview

To the press release School@Learntec

To the interview with Prof. Dr. Uta Hauck-Thum on the topic “Minti”

As part of LEARNTEC, which will take place at Messe Karlsruhe from May 6 to 8, 2025, numerous companies will present their product innovations and premieres in the school sector in the dm-arena. The diverse range of exhibitors will be complemented by two guided tours on the “Digitalization of school education” as well as workshops and specialist presentations in the school@LEARNTEC forum and in the Maker's Area, where education experts will provide valuable impetus and offer a practical exchange of ideas. Key topics at this year's most important trade fair and congress for digital education include artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent learning systems as well as new learning environments and immersive learning. Another focus will be on the topic of educational equality. “We are at a decisive turning point in education,” says Micha Pallesche, member of the LEARNTEC congress committee, and continues: “If we want to rethink education, we not only need digital tools, but above all a new common understanding of learning, relationships and the future.”

Education with vision for contemporary teaching

The topic of educational equality is reflected at LEARNTEC, for example, in modern concepts of STEM education. Early and inclusive STEM promotion not only includes practice-oriented approaches such as experiments or maker spaces, but also the specific empowerment of girls, as women are still underrepresented in STEM professions. While CampuStore GmbH (T10) will be presenting its new LEGO Education science series developed for school lessons at LEARNTEC, which conveys scientific investigations in a clear and everyday way, Dr. Veronica Oelsner will be speaking on “STEM goes digital - discovering and researching with digital media” (May 8, 2:50 p.m.) in the series of lectures on early childhood education, which will take place for the first time at LEARNTEC on Thursday afternoon, May 8. With a view to the targeted promotion of girls, Prof. Dr. Uta Hauck-Thum will present the MINT Cluster Munich in her lecture “The transformative power of STEM education - Minti” (May 6, 10 a.m.), which is committed to getting girls of primary school age interested in STEM subjects and promoting talent. On Thursday, Dr. Kerstin Bäcker will talk about “Inspiring Girls” (10 a.m.), a non-profit association that campaigns for equal rights in career guidance.

In addition, the targeted promotion of young people's well-being and personal development also contributes to the issue of educational equality. In line with this, soulmates GmbH (P40) will be presenting its first digital mental health offer for young people. Clemens Beisel will talk about young people online, media addiction and cyberbullying in his presentation on “Soft skills of media competence: accompanying the digital world of children and young people” (May 6, 2 p.m.), while Oliver Wiening will teach participants how to use digital technologies consciously and mindfully to bring more balance into their everyday school life in his workshop “Mindfulness in the digital workplace - tools & techniques for more balance in everyday school life” (May 7, 10 a.m.). Micha Pallesche also says: “Educational equity doesn't just mean giving every child a tablet, it also means creating systems that see diversity as a strength and specifically promote resilience, personality and well-being.”

Individually designed educational experiences

AI and intelligent learning systems enable targeted adaptation of learning content, self-paced learning, real-time feedback and the documentation of individual learning progress - and thus create the basis for greater learning success. Individually designed educational experiences are also a topic at this year's LEARNTEC: Betterknow GmbH (T10), for example, is presenting intelligent, data-secure learning systems, while Ernst Klett Verlag (U25) is presenting AI-based products such as Lautlesetutor, a tool for training reading fluency. Visitors to the school@LEARNTEC forum will also be able to find out more in the presentations “AI as a learning coach” by Andy Lüdemann (May 7, 12 noon) or “Innovative AI approaches to promoting reading skills in elementary school: research meets technology and practice” by Prof. Dr. Gerhard Lauer, Daniel Iglesias, Theresa Weber and Marco Bütterich (May 6, 2 p.m.).

Augmented und Virtual Reality: Lernen neu erleben

Interactive or realistic learning environments make complex content clearer and more accessible. They promote differentiated learning by supporting individual learning paths and reducing barriers such as language or comprehension problems. This makes the understanding of abstract contexts more tangible and easier to comprehend through direct experience. No Isolation GmbH (T1) will be demonstrating its AV1 telepresence robots, which not only enable schoolchildren who are absent for long periods due to serious illnesses, for example, to learn together and integrate socially, but also help them to reintegrate into everyday school life. AR/VR and immersive learning will also be the subject of numerous presentations, such as Veith Rühling's “Augmented reality applications for teaching” (May 8, 2:30 pm) and Sina Dopmann and Stella Saric's “Escape the Ordinary - Are you still playing or are you already learning?” (May 6, 10 a.m.).

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About LEARNTEC

LEARNTEC is Europe's largest event for digital education. Decision-makers from industry, consultancies, retail and sales as well as schools and universities come to Karlsruhe every year to find out about and exchange information on the potential of digital learning. The LEARNTEC convention provides practical knowledge over three days. Open-space sessions and panels encourage dialogue between speakers and participants.

Further information is available online at www.learntec.en.

To the interview with Prof. Dr. Uta Hauck-Thum on the topic of "Minti"

To the interview with Dr. Kerstin Bäcker on the topic of "Inspiring Girls"

At LEARNTEC, from May 6 to 8, 2025 at Messe Karlsruhe, exhibitors from all over the world will be presenting their solutions for modern education technology. One of the major topics of the most important trade fair and convention for digital education is how the effectiveness of professional development can be increased – by personalizing it, populating it with playful elements and thus inspiring the motivation of employees.

In Halls 1 and 2, the focus is on vocational education and training. In addition to numerous exhibitor product debuts, central points of contact include the Future Lab, which offers a glimpse into the future of education, the AR/VR Area, which is dedicated to immersive learning experiences with exhibitors and workshops, the Main Stage with keynotes and panels, and the Focus Stage with various topic slots ranging from SMEs to digital education at universities.

E-Learning expert Sünne Eichler from the LEARNTEC convention committee, says: “AI is currently the dominant innovation in learning technologies. This is keeping both providers and users busy. How can AI change the creation of learning opportunities and learning environments for the better, for example by making them more efficient or learner-focused? The example of learning companions illustrates this particularly well: learners can interact individually with their personal chatbot – but, at the same time, learning support from humans is also important. And that is perhaps the important message: AI is a great assistant for creating space for personal support.”

Gamification: Don't forget the fun factor

The fact that learning has a more lasting effect when achieved through play applies not only to pupils, but also in a professional context. Exhibitor Business Escape Games (Hall 1, E58) will be presenting its new product for the first time at LEARNTEC, a retro game that is currently still in development and designed for use in recruitment. The company from Lower Saxony has been a visitor to LEARNTEC for two years and exhibiting since 2023. “Humanoid robots, artificial intelligence and gamification are becoming more important every year and we believe the trend will accelerate and continue to grow in the coming years,” says Tim Heitmann, CEO of Business Escape Games. A special programme on the Focus Stage on Thursday afternoon will provide an overview of gamification.

Expertise in data protection, AI and compliance

New technologies in companies also bring with them legal challenges – a topic to which exhibitor Lawpilots (Hall 1, G53) has dedicated itself. The company offers e-learning courses on occupational health and safety, data protection and IT security. At LEARNTEC, Lawpilots will be premiering a self-assessment solution for AI skills, which employees can use to measure and improve their AI skills.

Individual learning through AI and learning analytics

EdTech provider Pinktum, Micromate and SmartEduAi, among others, will be presenting the wide range of possible applications offered by artificial intelligence. Pinktum (Hall 1, E55) will be showcasing its first AI coach for human skills, PinkPro. The Swiss company Micromate (Hall 2, J47) is featuring an intelligent learning assistant including a chatbot-based skills gap analysis. Users can utilize the chat to find out which learning content best suits their needs. The goal: learning paths that are personalized and ultimately lead to measurable learning success. At the SmartEduAI stand (Hall 2, I52), trade visitors will be able to find out about the opportunities for individual learning with AI - topics include adaptive and individual learning, targeted data analysis to monitor success and AI chatbots to answer learners' questions directly. Co-founder Stefan Licht says: “LEARNTEC offers SmartEduAi GmbH the ideal platform to present our innovative educational technologies and interact with experts. The use of AI in digital education enables individualized learning concepts and thus creates more educational equity and efficient learning.”

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About LEARNTEC

LEARNTEC is Europe's largest event for digital education. Decision-makers from industry, consultancies, retail and sales as well as schools and universities come to Karlsruhe every year to find out about and exchange information on the potential of digital learning. The LEARNTEC convention provides practical knowledge over three days. Open-space sessions and panels encourage dialogue between speakers and participants.

Further information is convention online at https://www.learntec.en.

With the delina Innovation Award for Digital Education, Messe Karlsruhe honours companies, service providers and learning institutions for ingenious educational offerings. The award is presented at LEARNTEC - Europe's most important event for digital education - across four categories: Early Childhood Education and Schools, University, Education and Training, and Society and Lifelong Learning.

Nominees at a glance

Category: Early Childhood Education and School

Arolsen Archives (in cooperation with Henne / Ordnung)

The educational platform ‘’arolsens school‘’ of the Arolsen Archives, the international centre and archive on Nazi persecution, enables interactive multimedia learning experiences both in the classroom and remotely: Pupils are made aware of history and encouraged to engage in critical dialogue about current social issues. It offers various modules such as interactive quiz formats, interviews, search games and surveys.

PHYWE Systeme

Using augmented reality to visualise invisible scientific phenomena is the aim of Phywe. Complex scientific concepts, in particular, can be grasped intuitively by pupils through AR visualisation, making them easier to understand.

Tutoring for All (in cooperation with InSL e.V.)

The ‘’Lesen mit dem Turbo-Team‘’ tutoring programme enables schoolchildren to read in small groups outside of the classroom in a fun way. At the heart of the programme is a powerful digital platform, with a ‘high-impact tutoring’ approach designed to help children make learning progress of up to 6 months in just 6-12 weeks.

Category: University

OTH Amberg-Weiden (in cooperation with 3spin Learning)

The VR-based Edu Escape Room focusing on the culture, politics and society of the 1920s was designed and realised as part of a student’s master’s degree in educational technology. The Escape Room's target group is Year 9 history students.

Technische Hochschule Aschaffenburg, head of the project AdLer (in cooperation with Hochschule Kempten)

The AdLer (Adaptive Digital Learning Spaces) project offers students interactive study based on the principles of game-based learning. An authoring tool supports lecturers in creating virtual 3D learning environments - for face-to-face or purely digital teaching, or blended learning.

Universität Kassel & Fachhochschule Bern

LegalWriter primarily supports newcomers to law in writing convincing case solutions by combining the strengths of human expertise and artificial intelligence. Through AI-based feedback, LegalWriter specifically addresses the individual mistakes of learners and supports them in developing compelling and precise legal arguments.

Category: Training and Further Education

Festo SE & Co. KG (in cooperation with ePlayces /OEGD)

This serious game in the form of an online escape room aims to provide access to the topic of quality awareness while also promoting problem-solving skills, communication and collaboration. The escape room can be played in all Festo languages and be used by 20,000 employees worldwide.

Hessische Landesfeuerwehrschule (in cooperation with Cininet)

In a serious game (VR and desktop application), users learn skills for real-life situations. This game can be played by both individuals and groups, and includes structured feedback on the completed operational scenario, which gives learners significantly increased confidence in their actions.

vhw-Bundesverband für Wohnen und Stadtentwicklung e. V. (in cooperation with Paixon)

The Micromate learning assistant is aimed at employees of public authorities and uses chat-based microlearning to teach job-specific content through short quizzes. Learning with Micromate in dialogue form is self-explanatory, interactive, personalised and fun. During the learning process, Micromate analyses learning behaviour and continuously adapts to each individual user.

Category: Society and Life-long Learning

Filmboard Karlsruhe e.V. (in cooperation with Hochschule Karlsruhe - Institut IIIX)

Immersive VR film project ‘In the labyrinth of democracy: Find your way!’ offers young people an intensive and interactive experience in which they are introduced to the principles of democracy through virtual reality (VR). Through the immersive experience and the active decision-making processes in which the young people participate, democratic values and processes are brought to life and made tangible.

gamelynk.io (in cooperation with Institut für Romanistik - Universität Kassel)

The Brains n' Bullets shooter is designed to help game-savvy learners become more motivated to memorise content. The game enables pupils, students and other learners to learn vocabulary and other flashcard content autonomously for lifelong learning independent of educational institutions. The learning content is variable too.

Spotlight Secrets

Spotlight Secrets offers digital scavenger hunts that combine knowledge, fun and city exploration: A city tour through Bonn in the form of quizzes via WhatsApp conveys the history and culture of the city using riddles and stories in a fun way.