On 30.06.2022, Amrei Wagner, Cand. M.Sc. Sport, Business & Law, and Prof. Dr. Peter Kuhn founded the sportainable gUG. Together with Dr. Julia Lohmann, University of Augsburg, and Jörg Förster, University of Hamburg, they realise the management of the think tank sportainable.
It all began when Peter Kuhn immersed himself in the green scene at the end of the 1970s. The topic of "the environment" accompanied him through his studies into grammar school teaching, where it became virulent at the end of the 1980s in the controversy over compulsory school skiing. It was already clear to Kuhn at the time that reducing the "sport-environment conflict" to shaving the turf with ski steel edges fell short. When he changed to the Institute of Sport Science - now BaySpo - Bayreuth Centre for Sport Science - at the University of Bayreuth (UBT) in 1989, he found a supporter of his scientific ambitions in Prof. Dr. Walter Brehm. In his dissertation (full text), he developed the connection between sport and the environment in a form that is now considered the standard definition of sustainability, namely the systemic relationship of the dimensions ecology, society and economy.
His findings on the ecological relevance of sport in everyday culture, illustrated by the example of volleyball, found resonance in the scientific community, but not in sports policy. At that time, the time had not yet come for a sustainable transformation of the sports system, even though the "limits to growth" pointed out by the Club of Rome had already been known for twenty years. So Kuhn decided to keep the topic alive on a small flame and, among other research foci, deepened the topic of the environment in cooperation with Dr. Elvira Kronbichler, Salzburg, from the perspective of ecological education in sport.
After the turn of the millennium, the issue of anthropogenic climate change gained increasing public importance and it culminated in 2018 in the appearance of the young Swede Greta Thunberg with her "school strike for the climate", which gave rise to the worldwide Fridays for Future movement. In the same year, the Institute of Sport Science decided to fill a chair in Sport Ecology - the first of its kind in Germany. This was achieved in 2019 with the colleague Prof. Dr. Manuel Steinbauer. In the same year, the association "Sports for Future" was founded. Kuhn sensed the opportunity, saw himself supported unconditionally by Manuel Steinbauer, invented the term "sportainable" as a neologism that integrates sport and sustainable, and relaunched his research project from the 1990s under this title.
It quickly became clear that Sport Science expertise was not enough to address issues of sustainable sport development. Kuhn sought advice from colleagues in other disciplines - in the UBT and beyond. But even in this circle, it quickly became clear that in addition to scientific expertise, people from the real world - entrepreneurs, officials, athletes - also needed to be involved, and since Kuhn had already been following the development of the think tanks Wuppertal Institute and Agora Energiewende with interest for some time, it made sense to found a think tank. In addition to him, Michael Frisch, Manfred Miosga, Hans-Werner Schmidt and Manuel Steinbauer from the UBT were involved. The foundation took place in February 2022.This was immediately followed by dynamic expansion, both internally and with cooperation partners. The resulting considerations on an appropriate management of the think tank led - also thanks to the advice of the Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation of the UBT - to the foundation of a non-profit entrepreneurial company (haftungsbeschränkt). The decision in favour of a non-profit legal form was made very early on because the USP of the think tank - as was shown in discussions with potential cooperation partners - crystallises in the combination of science | practice | non-profit. The decision in favour of the gUG was made in the internal discussion and resulted from the assessment that a gUG can act more agilely and professionally than an association.
When staffing the company, attention was paid to gender, age and expertise diversity - and jobs were to be created for young people. Amrei Wagner is studying for her Master's degree in Sport, Business & Law and is writing her thesis on social entrepreneurship using the think tank sportainable as an example. Dr Julia Lohmann is an expert in the field of Education for Sustainable Development. Jörg Förster is Chairman of the Board of the General German University Sports Association and as such has excellent networks in the German and international sports system. Förster and Kuhn will act as managing directors for the time being. In the medium term, it is planned that the young female shareholders and possibly other young people will take over the management of the company.