Cultural diversity offers valuable opportunities – such as helping companies increase their innovative power. As the study we conducted for the 2018 Reinhard Mohn Prize shows: Businesses that hire people of diverse cultural backgrounds are better positioned to develop ideas for new products, services and processes. Companies, however, are not yet living cultural diversity to the same degree.

This year's Reinhard Mohn Prize on the topic of "Living Diversity - Shaping Society" goes to former German President Joachim Gauck. The Bertelsmann Stiftung recognizes Gauck as a bridge builder in a culturally diverse society. Gauck will receive the €200,000 award on June 7th in Gütersloh.

As part of this year’s Reinhard Mohn Prize and in the tradition of Reinhard Mohn's vision of learning from the world, we’re searching the globe for urban settings where living together in cultural diversity is a proven success. The United Kingdom has considerable experience with multiculturalism and a long tradition of embracing diversity. We went to visit one of the UK’s most diverse cities – Leicester in the English Midlands. With its Community Cohesion Strategy targeting a “community of communities,” the city has taken a pro-active approach to fostering good relations between the various cultural and religious communities that call Leicester home.

Author: Johannes von Dohnanyi

Our global search for good examples of institutions and people successfully navigating cultural diversity for this year’s Reinhard Mohn Prize led us to Mechelen, Belgium, home to the Samen Inburgeren project. The project advances the experience of living together in diversity by bringing together local long-term residents with newcomers with non-Belgian origins. The project works with an open concept of “newcomer” in which everyone, regardless of background, whether they’ve come to Belgium for work, as a refugee or Erasmus student, is welcome to participate in exchange and help build new friendships.

In the course of our global research for the Reinhard Mohn Prize 2018  we became acquainted with Barcelona’s Raval district, one of Europe’s most densely populated neighborhoods. Nearly 50,000 people live here in a space of around one square kilometer. The district’s character has been shaped by immigration since the 19th century. Its residents originate from more than 40 countries. The Tot Raval Foundation works to promote harmonious coexistence within this local diversity.

German society is culturally diverse – and has been for quite a while. Several different religions, traditions and languages have long been an integral part of our country. Diversity is a lived aspect of normal day-to-day life in Germany. And while living in cultural diversity presents on the one hand challenges, it also involves opportunities. In order to ensure mutual benefits in the exchange of different perspectives while making diversity a source of societal strength, we must pro-actively shape the conditions in which diversity is experienced.

How can living together in cultural diversity be made to succeed? What can Germany learn from the world? Where is cultural diversity already handled in ways exemplary for others? These questions were the focus of the expert workshop on the theme of the Reinhard Mohn Prize 2018.

Better quality of life, opportunities for development, and local participation through digitalization – the Reinhard Mohn Prize 2017 addressed the challenges of the 21st century. Intelligent technology and networks should foster social inclusion, while ensuring living conditions in rural regions equivalent to those in cities.

On June 29 in Gütersloh the 2017 Reinhard Mohn Prize on the forward-looking topic "Smart Country – Connected. Intelligent. Digital." was awarded to former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves. He was honored for his pioneering work in promoting digitalization in government, education and public services.