At the Westbahnhof on 20th of June 2007 departing for Kronach or simply keeping company: (from left) Franz Nahrada, Walter Schwarzlmüller, Jan Sendzimir, Florian Heiler, Franz Steinwender, Florence Holzner, Laurent Straskraba

FlorenceHolzner, from Neulengbach, is architect by profession and also an active participant in Frithjof Bergmans new work mentoring movement. She also co-founded the Studierwerkstatt, a school for students from 15 years and above that organizes a dual process of group home schooling and project oriented personal development Website. Florence has great interest in local development and she started a local initiative in Neulengbach to combine local development with personal growth and the freedom to combine professional activity with focus on children, family and community.

Walter Schwarzlmüller is a local participant from Jedlesee, who after a very eventful life as a retired person who chose to work on the gradual improvement of local living conditions in the (once?)-famous municipal block "Karl Seitz Hof" in Jedlesee, Vienna, near to the experimental Study Center in Hotel Karolinenhof. He wants to learn about perspectives and methods of motivating people towards local development.

FranzSteinwender, Vice-president of GIVE, the Kirchbach Culture and Business Cente KB5, an institution that we are going to visit together in October. He is graphic designer by profession, together with five other friends he bought an old courthouse building that serves as office space, but also as education and cultural center, featuring activities like remote teachings from universities, cultural events, videobridged conferences, hosted classes from various providers.The KB5 center also is the producer of the regional commercial paper, it has grown into a catalyst for local development. Their crucial problem is to activate more people to take part in the activities of the center.

LaurentStraskraba: is very active in the field of socio-cultural innovation and working on his doctoral thesis at Johannes Kepler University in Linz on "Policy for knowledge-based societies in Aia". He has a particular interest in Telecentre development, Information technology, multicultural issues and participatory outreach. see his website

/BerichtWalter /BerichtFlorence