Beyond Now: Creating the Future Starts Today
What happens when 284 participants, 36 teams and 29 Copilots come together to tackle 13 real-world challenges from seven industry partners? At KLU's Future Creation Day 2026, Beyond Now, the answer was a day full of fresh perspectives, bold ideas and tangible solutions. Organized by SPARK, KLU's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, the event showed what students and industry leaders can achieve together in just one day.
Shaping Tomorrow, Together
The future isn't set in stone. We can actively shape it. At Beyond Now, students experienced this first-hand, working alongside experts from CMA CGM, Kuehne+Nagel, HOYER Group, FRoSTA, INVERTO, Sysmex and leogistics to explore what tomorrow could look like. “This is an ideal laboratory for co-creation,” said keynote-speaker Eugene Graske, Director of Customer Care for Germany, Switzerland and Austria from CMA CGM: “We have different generations coming together, co-creating new ideas, bringing elements of what we want the future to be.”
Challenging the Status Quo
How can AI transform leadership? What makes supply chains more resilient? And how can industries tackle resource scarcity? These were just some of the challenges addressed by the student teams, bringing curiosity, creativity and an entrepreneurial mindset to the table. “Re-assessing who you are today is what enables you to re-imagine who you could be tomorrow,” emphasized Mathew Birch from CMA CGM's Tangram Center of Excellence.
Using design thinking and LEGO® Serious Play®, teams explored challenges, imagined future scenarios, developed solutions and brought their visions to life through storytelling. The day culminated in a marketplace and grand finale, with prizes including a €1,000 donation to the German Ocean Foundation, a behind-the-scenes EUROGATE terminal visit and a Tangram leadership training.
Turning Ideas into Impact
Industry partners welcomed the students' enthusiasm, willingness to question assumptions and practical ideas. “It was absolutely worth it. It was fantastic. I did not anticipate the speed and the dynamism in terms of speed and what the output was. For me, it was really co-creation, with smart ideas, engagement, challenging also the norm,” reflected Graske.
His enthusiasm was shared by all corporate partners. “We got to know many talented students, with strong academic backgrounds. We were extremly happy with our group and got some very good results today,” said Christian Horst, Senior Project Manager & Recruiting Director at INVERTO. Following Beyond Now 2025, CMA CGM hired three KLU graduates – a tangible example of how co-creation can lead to lasting connections and career opportunities.
Graskes conclusion captured the spirit of the day: “It makes me optimistic about future generations, especially when I see institutions like KLU nurturing students with this kind of mindset. As long as they maintain this curiosity, there is so much potential, so much hope for the future of leadership.”
Beyond Now left participants with a powerful message: the future isn't something we simply wait for. It's something we can start creating today.
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Photos taken by © Benjamin Schultze
