During the International Danube Festival on July 8 in Ulm, the exhibition ‘LEAP STEP’ – Together for Secure Energy opened at the Ulm Chamber of Industry and Commerce. The exhibition was organized as a European project under the direction of the Maison de l’Europe Paris together with the twin cities of Ulm, Vincennes, Budapest, Avila, Fafe, Alytus and Bacău. Four innovative examples of how cities and municipalities are saving energy are presented from each of these cities. The opening took place during the conference ‘The Danube Region at the Turn of Times Economic Cooperation and Hydrogen Supply Chains along the Danube’. The event was organized by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs together with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Ulm. The numerous examples of energy-saving measures from other cities reached an interested target audience. The next stop of the exhibition will be Avila in Spain in October 2024.

“The double economic and energy crisis that has plagued Europe since 2022 has left a significant proportion of Europeans unable to pay their energy bills, and restrictions on consumption are affecting their well-being. According to Eurostat, Bulgaria is the EU country most affected by this scourge, with almost one in four households (22.5%), followed by Cyprus (19.2%) and Greece (18.7%). In France, more than one in ten households (10.7%) can no longer adequately heat their home. Local measures and decentralized initiatives to combat poverty caused by high energy costs in a spirit of solidarity are important. If we want to be resilient and prepared for the future, we need to use energy more efficiently and promote civic engagement at local level,” said Michel Derdevet President Maison de l’Europe, Paris.

The opening of the exhibition was followed by an exciting city tour for the guests in Ulm. Following in Napoleon’s footsteps in Ulm, the historian Thomas Schuler led the visitors through the city center and showed them places where Napoleon stayed and explained the situation of the population in the city of Ulm during the battles between the ‘Grande Armée’ and the Austrians in October 1805.

Further highlights for the guests followed the next day. After a reception at Ulm Town Hall with Mayor Martin Bendel, Prof. Birger Horstmann gave an exciting lecture at the Helmholtz Institute for Battery Research on the Ulm University campus. In addition to the development and research on batteries, the visitors had the opportunity to visit the high-tech laboratories of the Helmholtz Institute. This research at the highest level was quite impressive. The head of the Helmholtz Institute, Prof. Maximilian Fichtner, received the Science Prize of the City of Ulm on Schwörmontag 2024 in Ulm.

The European guests from Ulm, the birthplace of Albert Einstein, were able to take home lasting impressions and new insights.
We are already looking forward to continuing the LEAP STEP project!

Sabine Geller, Ulm