On Monday, the 9th of April the official Opening of our Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) will take place in the Universitätsclub Bonn. The programme starts at 4pm with Words of Welcome from the Rectors of the University of Bonn and the University of Cologne. Detlef Müller-Mahn and Julia Verne – as speaker and member of the steering committee – will then introduce the concept and design of the CRC by taking the question “Rural Africa – a laboratory of future-making?” as their point of departure. This will be followed by three invited key notes from Elisio Macamo (Professor of Development Sociology at the University of Basel), Jakob Rhyner (Director of UNU-EHS) and Dirk Messner (Director of DIE) which will all shed a different light on our key concepts. Together they shall provide the basis for a fruitful discussion and a lively exchange at the reception starting at 6pm.