The automotive industry is undergoing a long-term structural change. The most important driver for change is the global trend towards alternative powertrains, especially electrification. But digitalisation, connectivity and automation as well as the emergence of new mobility services and innovative, digital business models are also playing an increasingly important role.

• This structural change goes hand in hand with far-reaching transformations. On the one hand, the mobility of the future requires entirely new components and, on the other hand, makes many traditional components superfluous in perspective. New mobility services can tend to lead to a more efficient use of vehicles and to a decline in the importance of private vehicle ownership. Automotive value networks of the future will increasingly integrate products and services (e.g. software, sensors) from companies outside the industry (e.g. from the electricity and ICT sectors), which will intensify competition and require more cooperation. The German automotive industry is facing up to these challenges. Small and medium-sized automotive suppliers are particularly affected by the structural change.
   
• This change also has social implications. Scientific expertise is needed both to guide political action and to answer the questions that move society as such. Both science and corporate communication have the task of explaining research and technologies adequately. But what determines acceptance in society? How can we deal with the votality of public opinion? And how can the FVV as a scientific organisation, together with its members, strengthen understanding and trust in existing or emerging technologies?
   
• These questions will be explored together with the Institute for Science in Dialogue (IWD) of the OWL University of Applied Sciences and Art. The IWD promotes exchange between science, business and society. As a forum, it serves the dialogue between the disciplines and promotes the involvement of society in the sense of "citizen science". In addition, the institute accompanies students in the implementation of concrete projects in the region and imparts interdisciplinary skills.