On 18 January, the Executive Board of the Heinz Nixdorf Institute invited its employees to this year's New Year's dinner and looked back on the past year. With eight doctorates, 137 publications and 241 Bachelor's, Master's and student research projects, Professor Eric Bodden, Chairman of the Institute's Executive Board and Head of the "Secure Software Engineering" department, drew a positive balance from 2023. The estimated third-party funding of around 6.7 million euros for 2023 can also be positively emphasised.
Bodden was also able to look back positively on the past year in terms of projects and events. The SFB 901 "On-The-Fly Computing" priority project was completed in June 2023 and the events organised by the institute, the HNI Forum, Get to Know HNI and the 50th ICALP, were successful.
The core theme of the 2024 New Year's reception was "Consciousness". Rahman Jamal, pioneer in conscious technology and business, was invited to give the keynote speech of the evening. Jamal's talk focussed on the "hard problem of consciousness" and the fact that everything we know is known through consciousness. This realisation, Jamal said, makes it possible to take a more conscious standpoint in various areas of life, especially in technology and leadership, to bring more mindfulness into action and behaviour.
Looking forward to 2024, Eric Bodden concluded by thanking all guests for their contribution to the continued success of the institute and wished them every success for the coming year.
