“The most fruitful developments have always occurred where there has been a meeting of two different ways of thinking."

Werner Heisenberg

Intercultural competence involves more than just knowing the sequence of a French menu or mastering a Japanese ritual greeting. Primarily, intercultural competence means being aware of cultural differences and seeing them as an opportunity for communication and cooperation. Nowadays, it is part of daily life to have to cooperate across geographical, temporal and cultural borders. This is being driven forward by increasing globalisation in the economy and high standards of technology. Equally, the multicultural composition of work groups and teams is one of the greatest challenges in terms of international competition.

Fields of Action

• Building intercultural understanding and shaping cooperation
  What factors contribute towards successful intercultural cooperation? 
  What culture-specific dynamics do we need to consider? 
  Under what conditions are we collaborating?
  
  
• Optimising cooperation and communication
  How do we shape and optimise our communication relations? 
  How can we reduce “misunderstandings”? 
  How can we accept our diverging perspectives (diversity) and, at the same time, reach a joint understanding in terms of goals, rules of the game and approach?