In this article, we tell you why we tell stories. This blog article about Olaia, our virtual assistant, could actually start like this...
"At a time when cities are becoming more densely built-up and green spaces are becoming scarcer, sustainable urban development is an urgent challenge. OpenTerra combines ecology and technology. The central story is that of Olaia, the tree woman who supports planners as a virtual assistant in ChatILP..."
But we would like to take you with us. Behind the scenes. Let you immerse yourself in our vision of OpenTerra and tell you what we believe in and why we do what we do. And we know how we can reach you...
Through emotion. Olaia is more than just a technical tool - it is the heart of OpenTerra and the key to a sustainable future.
The power of storytelling in technology
Why does an AI-based technology company like OpenTerra use fairy tales and storytelling to get its message across? The answer lies in the deep emotional impact that stories have on us. For thousands of years, people have been telling stories to pass on knowledge, convey values and strengthen communities. Fairy tales have played a special role in this by packaging complex topics into simple but powerful narratives.
Fairy tales offer profound lessons and convey complex messages. They create connections, touch us emotionally and make abstract concepts tangible. In the story of Olaia, we take up this tradition and transfer it into a modern context. We want to touch you. This is particularly important to us in order to raise awareness of sustainable urban development and motivate people - you - to actively participate or even tell us about your vision.
Olaia: The symbiosis of nature and technology
Olaia is more than an image of a woman with a green city growing out of her head. She is a feeling, she is a bearer of hope. Klaus Kornprobst, the founder of OpenTerra, has approached Olaia through a story because it allows him to convey what OpenTerra stands for, what his vision is.
Because what is it that makes us humans change things? Let's be honest. Only when we are passionate about something and act out of the deepest intrinsic motivation. Therein lies the hidden power that leads to actions that can also inspire others.
We have dealt with Goddess Gaia, the personified Mother Earth. And Gaia, the mother of children, inspired us to design Olaia. We were creatively guided by nature, by the trees that we, as OpenTerra, want to bring (back) to cities. Inspired by the strength and longevity of the beech tree, Olaia now symbolizes the perfect symbiosis of nature and technology. She supports users of ChatILP, the intelligent landscape planner, as a virtual assistant and helps to analyze planning documents, find sustainable solutions and make complex data understandable.
The story of Olaia is deliberately designed as a modern fairy tale. Incidentally, the name Olaia is derived from Eulalia, the eloquent one. Olaia brings a human component to AI-based technology. And she possesses the accumulated knowledge from years of research and experience in the field of sustainable urban development and planning for urban outdoor spaces that are fit for the future.
Why we believe in the power of "why"
Our vision at OpenTerra is to create a movement for sustainable cities. We believe that technology and emotion must go hand in hand to create real change. By telling stories and evoking emotions, we want to inspire people to become part of this movement and create a greener, more livable future together.
The story of Olaia is an important building block in this vision. It shows that we not only want to develop tools, but also reach people's hearts and minds. Because ultimately, it is we people who can make the difference - through our commitment, our creativity and our willingness to break new ground.
At OpenTerra, we believe in combining expertise and dedication to our planet. We are a diverse, international bunch of minds from different disciplines, with hearts that all beat for a common cause: To shape the Earth as an open platform in a sustainable way that we support it and not work against it, as conjured up in the Gaia theory.
At OpenTerra, we believe that it's all about finding the right balance, as our civil engineer Luca Zanotto puts it. He is happy to be part of such a smart and innovative startup as OpenTerra because he wants to find the right balance between human and natural environment, because the future is now! And as Dietmar Siegele from our partner, the Fraunhofer Institute Italia, puts it, our goal must be to leave a planet worth living on for future generations. According to him, this can only happen if we combine digitalization and sustainability.
At OpenTerra, we believe that urban green outdoor spaces can provide real solutions to urban challenges. And as one of our computer scientists puts it, only together can we make a difference in the fight against climate change. And Julius Emig from the Fraunhofer Institute Italia says how much OpenTerra's innovative approach inspires him to help develop it from the very beginning to create a groundbreaking planning tool .
At OpenTerra we believe, as Mauro Tomasi, our conservation expert, puts it, that the principles of environmental and biodiversity protection followed in the design of green spaces are indispensable pillars of urban sustainability and, as our environmental engineer Blerta Muhedini from Albania says, that the planet Earth is a loan to future generations, not simply an inheritance. With OpenTerra, we are part of a movement that advocates sustainable development and the protection of the environment within an urban culture. And as Elias Niederwieser puts it, as a theoretical physicist, he is fascinated by working with numbers and equations and pushing boundaries. OpenTerra is an opportunity to transfer complex science from paper to an ecologically more sustainable future.
At OpenTerra, we believe that we can strengthen the connection between nature and urban space and thus bring about sustainable change, as Johanna Nagel, our urban greening expert, describes it. And as Matthias Niedermayr, our nature and crafts expert, says, he is thrilled to be able to contribute his many years of knowledge of building greening to OpenTerra so that as many users as possible can benefit from it.
At OpenTerra, we believe that a passion for the possibilities of the digital world paired with a commitment to future-oriented solutions can trigger a domino effect and motivate many more people, as Florian Berger, our digital enthusiast at OpenTerra, says. And as Lissy Pernthaler, our creative mind at OpenTerra, thinks about it, it's about sensitively sensing connections, diving deep into stories and using a networking language of intuition to find common values for changing the world and living accordingly.
We at OpenTerra believe in creating a platform that is open to all people who want to treat our earth with respect and make our cities sustainable, as our founder Klaus Kornprobst says. We are convinced that as OpenTerra we enable many people from different cultural backgrounds to connect and learn from each other.
All of this flows into our vision of Olaia, the tree woman who left the forests to help people transition to a more livable future.
So, let us inspire you?
Read the modern fairy tale of Olaia and why she touches people's hearts.
