Tonbach Roundtable 1980-2008

Two days of brainstorming every year: in an open dialog, leaders of industry, politics, science and culture discuss ways to advance our society.

The Tonbach discussions - initiated in 1980 and named after original conference location at Tonbach in Germany's Black Forest, but until 2002 organized at varying places - are  two-day brainstorming meetings of approximately 35-40 participants from among the leaders of industry, politics, science and culture in Germany and abroad. Like the Malente Symposia, the Tonbach discussions were launched by the Foundation's initiator Heinrich Dräger himself.

In 1998 and 1999 the Tonbach discussions were embedded in a cycle of talks conducted in cooperation with the Hamburg ZEIT Foundation under the patronage and with the participation of the then German President Roman Herzog. Here too, it was the common problems of the triad nations which were at the forefront of the discussions: the reform of pension systems in highly developed economies, the national debt and innovative approaches to employment policy in Europe, Japan and the USA.

From 2003-2008, these small and non-public meetings had returned to Tonbach under the moderation of Lothar Späth. The round-table discussions of these years focused on the economical and political development in Germany.

Conference series overview