Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis 2025

Award honors cultural innovation and commitment to a liberal society – Ceremony on May 22, 2025

“Rarely has it been so clear: Humanity and our planet need change. For peace and freedom. For the environment and the climate. For equal opportunity and social equity,” says Uwe Jean Heuser, chair of the jury for the Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis. That is why the three partners—DIE ZEIT, the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung, and THE NEW INSTITUTE—have been awarding the Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis since 2022 to an international figure for their innovative achievements in the fields of democracy, society, and technology.

For the first time, two individuals were honored with the Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis: German choreographer, dancer, and director Sasha Waltz, and Danish-Icelandic visual artist, designer, and architect of public spaces Olafur Eliasson. They were recognized for their cultural innovations, through which they advocate for the protection of democracy and nature as well as for a liberal society.

The Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis was presented to the two laureates on May 22, 2025, by the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT, the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung, and THE NEW INSTITUTE at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg. Since 2022, the award has honored outstanding innovative achievements in the fields of democracy, society, and technology.

“Sasha Waltz weaves social issues into her art in a humane way. A spectrum spans from ‘Allee der Kosmonauten,’ the work about the multifaceted life in a prefabricated housing estate, through the extensive series of ‘Dialogues,’ to ‘In C’ in this decade. In her art, Sasha Waltz counters hostility toward democracy with a search for empathy and humanity,” the jury says in its tribute to the laureate.

Regarding the laureate Olafur Eliasson, the jury states: “Through his works around the world, Olafur Eliasson reminds people of their responsibility for the foundations of their lives and creates communal experiences through art in an almost unique way. In this way, he counters the trend toward retreat into the national and the individual with a vision of a caring, dialogical society, thereby also breaking down barriers to the commercial sphere. This was the case in 2003 and 2004, when he drew two million people to linger at London’s Tate Modern with a gigantic sun.”

This year, the jury for the Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis consisted of: Jury Chair Uwe Jean Heuser (DIE ZEIT), Alexander Birken (CEO of the Otto Group), Antje Boetius (Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute at the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research), Francesca Bria (President of the Italian National Innovation Fund), Sanna Marin (former Prime Minister of Finland, advisor to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change), Vanessa Nakate (climate activist and social entrepreneur), Anna Katsman (Academic Director of THE NEW INSTITUTE), Meredith Whittaker (President of Signal), and Meik Woyke (Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung).

To mark the Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis, the Helmut Schmidt Future Festival was held at Leuphana University in Lüneburg from May 20 to 22, 2025. The ideas developed by the young future shapers during the festival were presented on stage at the Thalia Theater on the evening of the award ceremony.