Discussing at the hybrid Nobel Fest in April 2022 in a session moderated by Prof.Dr.B.Hallier with the topic of how an agricultural revolution could feed the world two strategies contrasting each other in their philosophy and technology were developed : on the one hand the traditional small farmers with mixed /diversified crops and on the other hand technology-driven solutions for (partly) newcomers in the Agri-/AquaFarmBusiness.

While Helena Norberg-Hodge from Local Futures in Australia and Rajendra Uprety from Nepal presented development options based on local knowledge - Stuart Oda/China and Chee Wee Lee /Singapore explained success stories of technology driven solutions growing food at the point of sales like supermarkets or restaurants or using empty space of parking-garages or even skyscrapers. The Round Table agreed that a lot of the choice of preference will have to be fitted to the national situation of each country based on culture, development status and education. But for all countries there is a great demand for further knowledge exchange and benchmarks.
 

Designed and operated by the former ERA-trainee Dr.Violena Nencheva/Bulgaria and technically supported by the former Mexican trainee Arturo Herrera the first ERA Webinar was opened by ERA-President Prof.Dr.B.Hallier and Nobel Laureate Prof.Dr.R.Chung/Korea about the topic of Sustainability.

Also further trainees participated with lectures : Jitka Volfova/Czech Republic, Dr.Alina Pukhovskaya/Russia and Nora Tineva/Bulgaria. A new potential trainee from Finland clicked in to get to know the ERA-network and the way of vocational training ; and additional Dr.Ioan Matei Purcarea/Romania who had participated Prof.Hallier's seminars at the RAU in Bucarest now in return contributed an excellent lecture about the impact of IT on sustainability.
 

Prof.Dr.Hallier demands fulfillment of Global Goals instead of outdated Geopolitics. "Geopolitical Thinking belongs to the last century when Colonialism dominated World Politics" the President of the European Retail Academy explained his philosophy. "Today we should act as a Global Commu5ity of Equals knowing that we should share respectfully the resources of the one planet on which we live all. We have to optimize together a world-model of economics, ecology and ethics".

As the best set of tools Hallier sees at the moment the UN Goals 2030. "Independantly from political or religious views of people from different countries this is a box of instruments which can be individually selected from to define own ways of fulfillment or which also globally can be used as a benchmark to compare the status quo scientifically : it reflects and respects global diversity - but aiming a global optimization; and last but not least it allows organizations of civil society, businesses, political bodies and science to participate with its input" Hallier defines the statement of the European Retail Academy.
 

The success of the "Duesseldorfer Pallet" in 1985/86 was for the ISB (later transformed to the DHI Deutsches Handelsinstitut) the start for sustainable packaging and logistics competences. Testimonials for DHI-Innovations came from companies like Chep, Coca Cola, the Corrugated Industry, Kaufland-Group, Krings and Metro as well as from the German Federal Minister for the Environment Prof.Dr.Klaus Töpfer. Trade had been positioned by ISB/DHI initiatives to be seen by the public as a driver for innovation for the Total Supply Chain.

For Prof.Dr.Hallier as the managing director of ISB/DHI at that time the accumulation of innovative micro-economic processes to increase efficiency/productivity is finally resulting in the macro-economic growth of the Wealth of Nations. "It is not always a big thought breaking the routine - needed for the success of Applied Sciences and connected Businesses but the sustainable process of permanent innovation in the daily operations which makes the difference of companies : Retail is Detail !" Hallier summarizes the international success of the German discounters Aldi and Lidl.
 

---

Becoming managing director of the Institute for Self-Sevice ( ISB later DHI /EHI) in the beginning of 1985 B.Hallier's first innovation-project was the Duesseldorf Pallet : a standardized half-size Euro-Pallet. "The initiator in that logistics-team was Walter Vieth - one of the first ALDI-managers and totally fixed on quick turnover and low costs" Prof.Dr.Hallier remembers."Also for this technical development we used the push and pull-strategy for market introduction : in the beginning of 1986 the magazine Pack Report estimated already 120.000 of our pallets in circulation in Germany".

"The name derived from the location of our agreement with retailers about this tool of rationalization : a pub in Duesseldorf ! The key for the success was the idea + team for getting volume by integrating as many retailers as possible : Applied Sciences is a combination of Innovation and Motivation " Hallier summarized. About 5 years later the Chep-pool supported the renting of the ISB/EHI pallet in connection with the new German environmental focus : Chep claimed to save per year 200.000 tons of waste in the Total Supply Chain by this multi-trip pallet.
 

---