Dr. Alexandra von Stosch,  Managing Director Artprojekt Entwicklungen GmbH / Spokeswoman of the group of companies

1. Describe your company in a tweet

With the mission "Curated Future", Artprojekt develops holistic projects in the focus areas of real estate, hotel & gastronomy as well as food & agriculture as a sustainable multi-sector developer with an affinity for nature and culture. 

2. Why are you involved as a Berlin partner?

As a growing metropolitan region, Berlin faces great challenges. We understand responsible entrepreneurship as a human- and nature-centred urban development and shape a holistically conceived future through innovative concepts. With our expertise in real estate, hotels & gastronomy and food & agriculture, we want to create added value for (urban) society as a Berlin Partner and contribute to sustainable change.

3. What issues drive you in relation to your sector? 
There is a lot that can be done in the spectrum between economic efficiency, ecology, culture and non-profit. Recognising market developments at an early stage or even establishing them ourselves is the corporate concept of the owner- or partner-managed Artprojekt group of companies, which was founded in 1985. Against the background of the social, ecological and technical challenges of the present and with a very concerned view of the future, we have set our own guidelines for sustainability, resource conservation, energy efficiency, environmental compatibility and public welfare orientation in the company.

In the sense of responsible and holistically oriented entrepreneurship, we want to take on a role model function in our industries as a multi-industry developer with concrete impulses. The goal is to build an ecosystem between our core fields of real estate, hotels/gastronomy, agriculture and fisheries, and nature conservation, and to make a social contribution for the benefit of all.  Another important driver in our entrepreneurial activities is an innovative and sustainable deepening and revitalisation of the relationship between the capital and the region. 

We want to play an active role in shaping structural change in our sectors and contribute our expertise to tackling new challenges such as digitalisation, climate change and the energy transition, internationalisation and demographic change.

4. Why is Berlin attractive for your company?
We feel closely connected to Berlin's unique history, diversity and cosmopolitanism, innovative strength, creativity as well as the connection between culture, science and business and this is reflected in the company's core. The thrust of Berlin's start-up ecosystem and the dynamic entrepreneurial scene with international talent offers a great network for implementing sustainable, future-oriented developments with visionary concepts and projects as an agile and disruptive company. 

Berlin's drive to "continuously develop" fits perfectly with our desire to make an important contribution to the emergence and establishment of holistic and needs-oriented companies and ventures in socially and economically relevant areas of life. In combination with these Berlin-specific characteristics and our interdisciplinary think tank and strategy forge, we detect trends, evaluate ideas, develop and scale innovative projects and products that are also oriented towards the common good. 

Art and culture are part of Artprojekt's corporate DNA, which is why we have been supporting the lively art and culture scene in Berlin for years: in the triad of art, nature and architecture, we always build with artists:inside. Art and culture are promoted in various initiatives, including artist residencies, by commissioning work for the company's own construction projects, and through high-profile events such as the Art+Architecture Weekend in Berlin or the Musik am See concert initiative in Bad Saarow. 

5. What does Berlin stand for?
Historically grown: internationality, (world) openness, creativity, constantly reinventing itself, commitment, resourcefulness.

Today: active urban society (despite not because of politics/administration), strong cooperations, networking, digitalisation, change and courage, agility and disruptive potential, sustainability, dynamics, "everything is possible".

6. How does your company implement the topic of sustainability? 
People and nature are at the centre of our work. With a view to shaping a sustainable future, our mission is "Curated future - we care about the future" and describes the cross-sectoral corporate claim we have set ourselves. 

Out of ecological responsibility and as a corporate commitment, we formed the "Sustainability Taskforce" in 2021, which encompasses all our fields of action and is to be implemented in all areas of Artprojekt. In the run-up to this, Artprojekt has already been pushing ahead with comprehensive digitalisation measures for two years in order to lead the company into the future in a resource-saving way. With creative approaches to solutions, continuous innovations, well-considered restructuring measures and the initiation of an ESG process in the more CO²-intensive core areas, such as the real estate industry, we are setting concrete impulses for sustainable and future-proof developments.  

In Berlin, as an important contribution to Planetary Health, Artprojekt is developing the FOOD CAMPUS BERLIN on 40T sqm at the Teltowkanal, a future location as an innovation and competence centre for development, research, start-ups and industry for the future of nutrition and climate protection. The standards of the USGBC (US Green Building Council), the LEED Platinum certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which is integrated into the auditing according to ESG criteria, are being sought for the building. This will be accompanied by installations for renewable energy generation, such as geothermal and photovoltaic.

Furthermore, we are transforming our company-owned farms into ecologically and economically sustainable enterprises, especially in agriculture and fisheries in Brandenburg since 2018. In Köllnitz, an expansion of regenerative agriculture with organic cultivation of old fruit and vegetable varieties is planned and we are a partner of the Heinz Sielmann Foundation in the Groß Schauener Seenplatte nature reserve. With our "70/70 principle", the Artprojekt Hospitality businesses follow the idea of regionalism and sustainability. Our self-imposed goal is to source 70 percent of all the products we use from within a maximum radius of 70 km and to run our hotels and restaurants in a climate-sensitive manner.

Sustainable investments in the future are being made in all areas and new plans are being drawn up: One focus of this commitment in 2021 is the establishment of the "Smart Heritage Foundation" as a non-profit foundation for culture (including artists' studios in Berlin), nutrition (food start-ups) and nature conservation, especially in Africa, where we are supporting a bird park in Rwanda together with NABU International. After more than 30 years of normal membership, we have been a corporate member of NABU International since 2020.