KIT Science Week 2025: Digital highlights around the "City of the Future"
What will the digital city of tomorrow look like – and how can we shape it together?
From October 14 to 19, 2025, the KIT Science Week invites you to experience Karlsruhe as an experimental field for future ideas. Under the motto “City of the Future”, the week will show how research, technology and creativity intertwine – with formats that not only impart knowledge, but also create it together with citizens.
Some of them show real digital highlights: interactive, surprising and often designed for participation.
A smart start: festival fever with a map and exit game
Before you set off, a practical digital companion helps you find your way: the Smart Mobility Map . It clearly shows where which events are taking place – and how to get from A to B in the most climate-friendly way.
Anyone with a taste for the future before the official start can immerse themselves in Science Week at the exit game on the KIT campus. In teams of three to six people, you go on a digital puzzle journey across the campus with the Tabtracks 2.0 app, pen, paper and a QR code. The game combines logic, teamwork and technology – and opens up completely new perspectives on the campus.
See and experience the future – digital exhibitions
Karlsruhe will be an open showcase for the digital city this week.
October 10-19 (10 a.m.-5 p.m.)
Am Kronenplatz invites Corner invites you to an immersive exhibition with creative workshops and results from the EU project Prefigure. Together we will reflect on the energy transition, urban design and new forms of living – with methods that invite you to join in.
October 14-19
The interactive game “KarlsVision ” at the Tourist Information Office invites you to become an urban planner yourself. On a multimedia table, new city designs are created in which history and the future merge.
Those who prefer to look back will discover the exhibition “200 Years of KIT – 100 Objects” at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media. It shows innovations and everyday objects from two centuries of research – and can be explored completely digitally.
The mixed reality installation “Paradise Found” by the Karlsruhe City Opera in the KIT library offers a very personal approach. It tells the story of a KIT professor – and brings together the past, present and future with the help of mixed reality.
October 15 (4-8:30 p.m.)
In the Audimax of KIT Campus South, a look into the mobility of the future follows: Under the title “Rethinking Urban Mobility – Smart Technologies for the City of Tomorrow”, experts will present new approaches – from automated driving and air quality to urban robotics – accompanied by lectures, panels and an interactive exhibition.
Join in! Workshops about the digital city
Designing, trying out and thinking for yourself – this is at the heart of many Science Week formats.
October 14-16
From October 14 to 16, FUTURIUM Berlin’s MobiLab will be making a guest appearance at Friedrichsplatz. The workshops for school classes (10 am – 1 pm) and families (1:30 pm – 4 pm) will focus on the question: What will my city look like in 2060? Creative prototypes for smart cities will be developed using analog, digital and AI-supported methods.
October 15 (2 pm – 4 pm and 5 pm – 7 pm)
Young people aged 14 and over will become citizen scientists in the technikaLab at CyberForum e.V.: in the CycleSense workshop, they will build particulate matter measurement boxes for bicycles, measure air quality and discuss how digital data can help make the city cleaner.
October 16 (4-6 p.m.)
The virtual reality workshop shows what political decisions look like when you can experience them for yourself. Young people and students slip into political scenarios with the help of VR goggles, make decisions and reflect on their effects together.
October 17 (2-5 p.m.)
The workshop “The Virtual Ocean of Knowledge” in the Audimax at KIT Campus South invites participants aged 14 and over to co-creation sessions to design new ways of imparting knowledge – supported by digital tools.
October 19 (1 p.m. – 3 p.m.)
The “Experience Karlsruhe anew“ workshop is about collecting data on streets, spaces and quality of life – on foot, by bike or using an app. This creates new insights into urban life.
17-19 October
At the end of the workshop program, everything revolves around prototypes for the city of tomorrow. At the Makeathon , young people and experts work together on technological solutions for urban challenges – a weekend full of creativity, team spirit and fun.
Thinking together, discussing openly
Research thrives on exchange – and this is exactly what several Science Week formats make possible.
16 October (7 p.m.)
The discussion series “13 Questions – Debate Culture on the Playing Field” is on the program at Tollhaus Karlsruhe. This time it’s about autonomous driving in local traffic. Different positions come together – and try to find a common solution in a playful way.
October 18 (2-6 p.m.)
The dialog format “Turbulenzen global, mitgestalten lokal” at TRIANGEL is supported by karlsruhe.digital. Citizens and researchers will talk together about Karlsruhe’s future up to 2055 – about ideas, conflicts and opportunities for a city in transition.
Lectures, talks & impulses – When research comes to life
October 15 (5-7 p.m.)
Start-ups, science and urban society come together at the IMPULSE evening in the TRIANGEL Transfer │ Kultur │ Raum. Short presentations will focus on new energy concepts, the circular economy and sustainable construction – with a view to the city of the future.
15 October (18-22:15)
Science On The Rocks by the Karlsruhe Science Office brings science to Karlsruhe’s pubs: urban topics of the future – from mobility to digitalization and architecture to artificial intelligence – in a relaxed atmosphere.
October 16 (10 & 11 a.m.)
Two guided tours on digital measurement data of urban trees show how nature and technology meet in the city – an insight into urban ecology. (Note: fully booked.)
October 15-17
The Urban Transformation Conference brings together stakeholders from science, business and urban society. The focus is on smart urban development, digital transformation and real-world laboratories that test new solutions for sustainable cities.
October 17 (2-7 p.m.)
Our InnovationFestival @karlsruhe.digital at ZKM Karlsruhe showcases digital innovations from Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe TechnologyRegion – from start-ups and research institutions to established companies. They will present their top innovations for the digital future in short keynote speeches – live on site and via livestream.
Science, art and sound – a degree with perspective
At the end of Science Week, KIT invites you to the ZKM on October 19 (6-8 pm). In the midst of the exhibition “200 Years of KIT – 100 Objects”, experts will discuss the creative combination of science and art on the podium, accompanied by musical contributions. An inspiring conclusion to a week in which digitalization, research and culture merge.
Tip: Many events are livestreamed or offer digital participation opportunities.
👉 The complete program: scienceweek.kit.edu