Mobile laboratory of the future on the way to EXPO 2000

"The World Exhibition offers the unique opportunity for people from all over the world to meet
and discover their future together. In this way, LAB.01 serves as a communication center
for the adults of tomorrow during the leadup to EXPO." - Dr. Klaus Mangold

• LAB.01 - The DaimlerChrysler-Project for EXPO 2000 starts in July 1999 in Berlin
• Mobile Science Exhibition for children and young people is touring seven European cities
• Mobility and future technologies are the centre of attention
• Dr. Klaus Mangold: "We are making the EXPO something that can be experienced now"

A year before the World Exhibition opens in Hannover, DaimlerChrysler AG is touring Europe with a mobile science exhibition. LAB.01 offers children and young people the opportunity to experience natural science and technology, mobility and the technologies of the future at close quarters.

This summer, the architecturally striking building will be paying a visit to seven European cities. At the start of the tour in July, the exhibition concept will be presented in Berlin and thereafter, LAB.01 can be experienced in Cologne, Hamburg, Dresden, Barcelona, Warsaw and Brussels.

The climax of the tour will be at the EXPO 2000 in Hannover where, as an official contribution of the EXPO world partner DaimlerChrysler, LAB.01 will complement the children and youth program with the theme Technology.

"We are making the EXPO something that can be experienced now. With Lab.01 we are inviting children to try out innovative developments and technologies as elementary components of their future," explains Dr. Klaus Mangold, the member of the DaimlerChrysler AG board with responsibility for the group's EXPO involvement.

LAB.01 is not a static exhibition -- rather, it's an experimental and mobile laboratory of the future which changes in response to its visitors. Many exhibits, such as the interactive mini-robot and modern studio equipment, invite visitors to develop their personal access to new technologies.

Young people are also given food for thought about their own future through examples of new professions and job profiles. In addition, the project will be closely interlinked with every city on the tour by means of a diversified program of events. School classes, for example, can find out about the technologies of the future in their own region by making excursions. Local research institutes and youth projects will also be involved.

"The future of the economy and society rests in the hands of the young generation. That is why we want to stimulate young people to regard new technologies as an opportunity to develop their own prospects for the future," said Dr. Mangold.