To address the major societal challenges and make a contribution to overcoming them, a close dialogue between science, business, politics and society is necessary. Therefore the University of Göttingen, together with its partners in the European University Network ENLIGHT is organising a European conference to discuss the challenges of sustainable development of our society and possible contributions of science to this, whether by communicating relevant research results or developing new research questions and projects. The conference is part of Germany’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.