Author: Holger Günzel

Revolutionizing Solar Maintenance in rural areas with Solar InsightZ

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

Zimpertec is a german company producing solar systems for people living in rural areas worldwide. The after-sales service and repairment process for solar technicians has been a complicated and time-consuming process until now. Technicians were not able to analyze the system data, repair the system immediately and always had to bring the system back to a central hub.

Prototype SolarInsightZ

Through Solar InsightZ, technicians are now able to connect their smartphone to the solar system and access vital data of the system and receive error notifications. Making solar system data accessible and visible to technicians is boosting the efficiency of the maintenance process and minimizing downtimes.

The development of a prototype by the students from HM and TAMK (Sophie Gliese, Hilla Hotakainen, Minna Nguyen, Adriana Rutzki, Johanna Schlotter, Sebastian Seidel, Oskar Vainio, Tuomas Virtanen, Jana Weinmann)

According to Zimpertecs COO Ulrich Zimmermann:  “Solar InsightZ extends Zimpertec’s product USP (Unique Selling Proposition) with a further core element of better and simpler usability. In addition, it simplifies after sales support through a faster and more efficient error identification “.

In a time when sustainable practices are not only encouraged but expected, the development of energy efficient solutions is of great importance. Zimpertec recognizes the importance of responsible practices in the solar industry. The implementation of Solar InsightZ will help significantly reducing the environmental impact by curbing E-Waste. In the future technicians will also have the possibility of data sharing with Zimpertec. This improved data collection will serve a dual purpose. It not only ensures effective data analytics but also sets the stage for future sustainable product development of solar systems.

A collaborative effort

The development of Solar InsightZ was a collaboration between students from a variety of academic backgrounds, including digital technology management, business administration and computer science. The project was executed in close cooperation with Zimpertec and Mr. Zimmermann. This has been central to adapting the application to the specific needs of the industry. Furthermore, the work was guided by experienced course instructors – Prof. Dr. Holger Günzel, Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm, Prof. Dr. Jessica Slamka, Jere Käpyhao and Anne Mari Stenbacka- and further enhanced by the strategic input of Agile Work Coach Hans-Jürgen Haak. This joint effort was key to the success of the project, as it combined academic knowledge with practical application.

About the Digital Innovation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab

This solution was designed in a joint project between the Digital Transformation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab of Hochschule München guided by the lecturers Prof. Dr. Holger Günzel, Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm, Prof. Dr. Jessica Slamka, Hans-Jürgen Haak, Jere Käpyhao and Anne Mari Stenbacka (TAMK). The Co-Innovation Lab offers students a virtual platform for learning how to work as a consulting team by creating temporary partnerships between companies, students, and lecturers.

For more information about the Co-Innovation Lab, contact holger.guenzel@hm.edu or lars.brehm@hm.edu.

This Co-Innovation Lab project was carried out in cooperation with the Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

“The Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the major social challenges of our time. Together with stakeholders in the private sector, students develop future-oriented solutions. We live digital transformation.”

More information about the Co-Innovation Lab and the Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

Authors: Project team

CoolVent: The Smart Way to Control Your Ventilation System

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

‘CoolVent’, a solution for efficient ventilation control across the university campus, is being developed by a team of experts from the Co-Innovation lab at University of Applied Sciences in Munich. The application contributes to the possibility of reducing energy consumption and therefore save costs and expenses.

High energy consumption and the resulting rising costs

In times of energy transition and climate change, the focus is on particularly high energy consumption, which can be reduced through intelligent applications. Also public institutions want to and have to contribute to a sustainable future. Nevertheless traditional ventilation systems are often inefficient and can lead to unnecessary energy consumption, since smart technologies are not yet being used in this context. This ultimately leads to higher costs for the facility. Therefore a lot of energy is consumed for cooling rooms that are not used. Building energy consumption has become a major concern for facility management teams and university departments.

CoolVent Application

Data generated insights for energy saving

“Showing the potential of data generated insight for energy saving” – With this mission statement as a guiding principle, Matthias Maier, research associate at HM, commissioned the expert team. In the context of helpful coaching by Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm, Prof Dr.-Ing. Holger Günzel, Prof. Dr. Johannes Ebke, and Hans Jürgen Haak, the student team developed a concept and the accompanying application ‘CoolVent’ that is useful for energy saving by optimizing ventilation settings. The student team is composed of the business students Fabian Langseder, Laura Lenk and Benedikt Henning and IT students Aleksandar Culafic, Laurenz Fuchs, Julia Kassapidis, Maximilian Reichl and Yannik Zbick.

Team CoolVent (from left to right and top to bottom): Maximilian Reichl, Laura Lenk, Fabian Langseder, Benedikt Henning, Laurenz Fuchs, Julia Kassapidis, Yannik Zbick, Alexandar Culafic, Matthias Maier

“Through an application that is precisely developed according to the stakeholder needs and directly with the users feedback, we want to make energy saving simple and transparent” – Scrum Master from the ‘CoolVent’ Team. ‘CoolVent’ is a user-friendly web-application that allows facility managers to increase efficiency of the controlling for the ventilation systems according to room occupancy and air quality data. The system utilizes data gathered by sensors installed in several rooms across the campus and obtains important information about the semester planning. The room plan is then aggregated and displayed in a transparent view to help the facility manager to efficiently adjust the ventilation at the beginning of the semester. In addition, with sensor data, very granular adjustments can be made regularly, based on recommendations from live sensor data, which measures whether a room was actually occupied at the planned times This allows fine adjustments to be made at regular intervals throughout the semester.

„The ‘CoolVent’ System, developed by the student team, can be used by the facility management to improve operation times of their ventilation systems. This would lead to significant reductions of the universities energy demand, as well as operational costs.”– Cooperation Partner, Matthias Maier.

Video Music: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/REW_1123/dead-sea/the-lowest-place-on-earthmp3/

About the Digital Innovation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab

This solution was designed in a joint project between the Digital Transformation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab of Hochschule München guided by the lecturers Prof. Dr. Holger Günzel, Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm, Prof. Dr. Johannes Ebke and Hans-Jürgen Haak. The Co-Innovation Lab offers students a virtual platform for learning how to work as a consulting team by creating temporary partnerships between companies, students, and lecturers.

For more information about the Co-Innovation Lab, contact holger.guenzel@hm.edu or lars.brehm@hm.edu.

This Co-Innovation Lab project was carried out in cooperation with the Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

“The Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the major social challenges of our time. Together with stakeholders in the private sector, students develop future-oriented solutions. They are supported by Amazon Web Services with state-of-the-art cloud technologies and the Working Backwards innovation methodology. We live digital transformation.”

More information about the Co-Innovation Lab and the Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

Authors: Project team

Introducing „WasteNoBite” — An innovative way to track food waste and reduce it in commercial kitchens

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

As part of the Co-Innovation Lab, a student group from Hochschule München develops a groundbreaking system to tackle food waste in commercial kitchens by generating valuable insights on wasted food types through computer vision and machine learning algorithms.

Co-Founder Simon Riepl installing the Raspberry Pi Camera in the IT-Rathaus Canteen.                              Photo Credit: Fabian Eckardt

An Urgent Need for Optimized Tracking of Food Waste

Commercial kitchens providing meals for schools and hospitals often find uneaten food being left behind, but are left in the dark about exactly what food items are disliked by their customers. This not only leads to wasted food, which negatively affects the environment, but is also problematic from a business perspective as it affects the financial performance of the kitchen.

For a fresh perspective on how food waste can be measured within kitchens, the InnovationLab of the IT department of the City of Munich commissioned the consulting team of the Co-Innovation Lab of the Munich University of Applied Sciences (HM) consisting of both business and IT students. The consulting team received support from their professors as well as a project coach from the InnovationLab.

Enabling Smart Food Waste Management

The prototype utilizes a Raspberry Pi camera to provide accurate and reliable data on the wasted food items. This data, presented on an intuitive dashboard, empowers commercial kitchen managers to optimize their menu planning and operations more effectively – resulting in a reduction of food waste and notable cost savings.

„We wanted to make a positive impact on the environment by tackling the issue of food waste“, said Sophia Huber, co-founder of WasteNoBite. “By leveraging the power of advanced algorithms and computer vision, we can help kitchens reduce their food waste and save money in the process, which can be reinvested in an even better experience for the customers.”

Executive presentation at the headquarters of InnovationLab; persons present (from left to right): Lecturer Hans-Jürgen Haak, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Günzel from HM, Dr. Johannes Ebke from HM, HM students Fabian Eckardt, Merlin Reiter, Zhibek Abdykalykova, Sophia Huber, Selina Göttle and Mozammel Hossain, Lena Barth and Dr. Stefanie Lämmle with two colleagues from the InnovationLab, Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm from HM. Photo Credit: HM Contributor

Pioneering in Food Waste Recognition with Artificial Intelligence

The positive impact of WasteNoBite is also being recognized by Dr. Stefanie Lämmle, the head of the InnovationLab of IT@M. “The idea stems from the belief that artificial intelligence possesses the transformational power to tackle global food waste effectively. With this product, we not only want to revolutionize the recognition of food waste, but also make a positive contribution to sustainability and create a better future for our planet.”

Increase efficiency and improve sustainability today with WasteNoBite’s innovative system for data-driven insights and instant feedback!

About the Digital Innovation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab

This solution was designed in a joint project between the Digital Transformation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab of Hochschule München guided by the lecturers Prof. Dr. Holger Günzel, Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm, Prof. Dr. Johannes Ebke and Hans-Jürgen Haak. The Co-Innovation Lab offers students a virtual platform for learning how to work as a consulting team by creating temporary partnerships between companies, students, and lecturers.

For more information about the Co-Innovation Lab, contact holger.guenzel@hm.edu or lars.brehm@hm.edu.

This Co-Innovation Lab project was carried out in cooperation with the Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

“The Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the major social challenges of our time. Together with stakeholders in the private sector, students develop future-oriented solutions. They are supported by Amazon Web Services with state-of-the-art cloud technologies and the Working Backwards innovation methodology. We live digital transformation.”

More information about the Co-Innovation Lab and the Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

Authors: Project team

Introducing ZERO: A Multifunctional Energy Management System for it@M

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

Students from Hochschule München have developed ZERO, a multifunctional energy management system for the IT department of the City of Munich (it@M). This solution aims to track, visualize, and evaluate electricity consumption data of office spaces and devices so the department can make more informed decision-making for enhanced energy efficiency and sustainability. The team collaborated in a cross-functional setting for three months, comprising IT and Business students, to create the solution prototype. They applied the AWS working backward method and worked in an agile Scrum working environment throughout the solution development.

 Home Page of ZERO

it@M recognized the challenges associated with a lack of transparency and accessibility in energy consumption data of their buildings, hindering effective evaluation of energy usage behaviour in their office spaces. An innovative solution is needed to collect and visualize energy data for informed decision-making on energy savings strategies.

ZERO aims to provide the management within the department with a more tangible understanding of energy consumption, offering enhanced accessibility and traceability. Currently in its prototype phase, ZERO aims to improve and optimize energy management. Its unique selling points (USPs) include transparency, a centralized view of electricity consumption, the ability to compare energy consumption, its traceability, and increased awareness of energy consumption.

The main features of the ZERO prototype are the centralized overview of buildings and devices, which are offering transparent insights into energy consumption for management-level stakeholders. ZERO offers a comprehensive comparison of the office space’s energy consumption not only in isolation but also in relation to other examples from everyday life, such as energy consumption of private households or cruising range of an electric vehicle that can be reached with the same amount of energy. Furthermore, ZERO provides energy-saving tips that appear each time the  homepage of the dashboard is reloaded, ensuring that users, especially employees of it@M are consistently exposed to practical ways to reduce energy consumption at work.

Executive presentation at it@M with Dr. Stefanie Lämmle & Lena Barth of Innovationlab

On July 10th, the ZERO team had the opportunity to showcase their solution to it@M, and it was a resounding success. Dr. Stefanie Lämmle, the head of InnovationLab, expressed her admiration by stating: “We are impressed by the solution presented by Team ZERO. We would love to further explore the potential of the ZERO prototype”.

About the Digital Innovation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab

This solution was designed in a joint project between the Digital Transformation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab of Hochschule München guided by the lecturers Prof. Dr. Holger Günzel, Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm, Prof. Dr. Johannes Ebke and Hans-Jürgen Haak. The Co-Innovation Lab offers students a virtual platform for learning how to work as a consulting team by creating temporary partnerships between companies, students, and lecturers.

For more information about the Co-Innovation Lab, contact holger.guenzel@hm.edu or lars.brehm@hm.edu.

This Co-Innovation Lab project was carried out in cooperation with the Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

“The Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the major social challenges of our time. Together with stakeholders in the private sector, students develop future-oriented solutions. They are supported by Amazon Web Services with state-of-the-art cloud technologies and the Working Backwards innovation methodology. We live digital transformation.”

More information about the Co-Innovation Lab and the Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

Authors: Project team

PowerMate: Empowering Users To Save Gas By Using Real Time Consumption Tracking

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

In a world of increasing gas prices and sustainability concerns, private households are feeling more and more under pressure and are yearning for insights into their consumption and a way to reduce gas usage. For this reason, and to tackle the ubiquitous effects of climate change, the Umweltinstitut Munich has joined forces with Hochschule München to create a game-changing solution for monitoring household gas consumption.

Project team HM (from left to right: Nicolas Bissing; Bryan Liegsalz; Matthias Nieweg; Nicolas Dorenberg; Antonino Grasso)
Further team members: Moritz Stadler; Alexander Schreiner; Chi-Yuan Lee

Simplifying Gas Consumption Management

Today, the Bundesnetzagentur estimates that 85% of private households are unable to track their gas consumption during a year, leaving many surprised confused and ill-equipped to make informed decisions when receiving the annual gas bill from their gas provider. People are therefore seeking effective ways to better control their gas consumption and reduce their emissions as well as annual gas bill. The potential for savings in the private sector is immense, as Gunnar Luderer, leading researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, states that a “30 percent reduction in gas consumption is possible and important.”

Introducing the PowerMate App

That is where PowerMate comes into play. During the Co-Innovation Lab at Hochschule München, an interdisciplinary team of 8 computer science and business administration students has developed PowerMate. PowerMate, is a user-friendly app that provides customers with a compact device, seamlessly connected to their gas meter, along with an intuitive app interface to view real-time gas consumption data. The app not only offers valuable insights into gas usage habits. Users are able to identify spikes in gas consumption and, in case of above average gas consumption, are informed to change their heating behaviour, empowering them to reduce gas consumption. The aim is to simplify gas consumption management and empower users to adjust their heating behaviour to save energy.

User Interface of the PowerMate App

“At PowerMate, we believe that managing your gas consumption should be simple and easy,” says Antonino Grasso, member of the development team of PowerMate. “With PowerMate, users will be able to make quick decisions about their energy consumption and instantly adjust their energy usage, which will lead to a reduction in consumption, as well as cost-savings.”

Using PowerMate is simple and straightforward. Customers can easily connect an old smartphone or sensor to their gas counter and download the app to start visualizing their gas usage. The app provides personalized insights and tips for saving money on gas bills.

Leonard Burtscher from the Umweltinstitut München, who acted as client and advisor during the project states: ” am very satisfied with the cooperation with the student team and see a lot of potential in the developed solution”.

About the Digital Innovation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab

This solution was designed in a joint project between the Digital Transformation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab of Hochschule München guided by the lecturers Prof. Dr. Holger Günzel, Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm, Prof. Dr. Johannes Ebke and Hans-Jürgen Haak. The Co-Innovation Lab offers students a virtual platform for learning how to work as a consulting team by creating temporary partnerships between companies, students, and lecturers.

For more information about the Co-Innovation Lab, contact holger.guenzel@hm.edu or lars.brehm@hm.edu.

This Co-Innovation Lab project was carried out in cooperation with the Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

“The Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the major social challenges of our time. Together with stakeholders in the private sector, students develop future-oriented solutions. They are supported by Amazon Web Services with state-of-the-art cloud technologies and the Working Backwards innovation methodology. We live digital transformation.”

More information about the Co-Innovation Lab and the Digital Transformation Lab (DT.Lab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

Authors: Project team

UCON simplifies the administration process for the educational event the Digital Impact Day

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

Get ready for an electrifying experience at The Digital Impact Day (DID) where students from Mid Sweden University, Munich University of Applied Science, and Tampere University of Applied Science work in interdisciplinary teams to develop impactful solutions for the future. With the support of the Co-Innovation Lab, the universities are accelerating their cooperation to new heights through the digital platform UCON. The UCON team, consisting of ten students from Finland and Germany who are experts in computer science and business administration accomplished a great result during the past semester so that the process at the upcoming DID in April becomes simple and seamless for the participating students.

UCON prototype with profile in upper right corner

Innovate, develop concepts, and bring ideas to implementation

With the Digital Impact Day, the three universities want to give students the opportunity to build valuable experience, train their mindset and at the same time create innovative solutions. To further enhance the experience, Sweden, Germany, and Finland partnered up to give students the opportunity to work in international teams. The goal is that the Digital Impact Day becomes a well-recognized and established event at all three institutions and provides students with the opportunity to join multiple times. The UCON team wants to accelerate this goal by developing a central management platform that eases access to the event for students from all three universities.

The team at the final presentation (from left to right and top to bottom): Lea Cowlrick (UCON team), Anna Saam (UCON team), Hans-Jürgen Haak (lecturer), Anne-Mari Sainio (lecturer), Antti Perttula (project leader), Lars Brehm (lecturer), Paula Sutor (UCON team), David Schraudy (UCON team), Alicia Zierahn (UCON team), Karolina Rosdahl (project leader), Sten Wigert (project leader), Holger Günzel (lecturer), Jere Käpyaho (lecturer)

Removing barriers during the customer journey

Currently, students have limited knowledge about the event because the information is difficult to access. Additionally, the process of registering and receiving certificates after the event is completed through individual email correspondence, putting additional strain on the organizers. With the digital platform UCON, students can easily find the necessary information, and the process is streamlined for a better experience.

UCON landing page to access information

UCON leverages the power of automation

The profile is designed as a central point where students can manage all steps before, during, and after the event. The database created in the backend streamlines the work for the organizers so that they can focus on the actual happenings on the day of the event. Through the automatic group assignment, students get to work in an optimal team and enjoy a fun day. After the event they can easily download their UCON certificate and when the next event is just around, simply re-register to be part of the next DID. 

The organizers look forward to the implementation

The project leaders Karolina Rosdahl and Sten Wigert were excited about the solution at the final presentation. “This new system, UCON, will be a great benefit for Digital Impact Days events.”, said Karolina Rosdahl. Her colleague Sten Wigert is excited about trying the prototype at the next DID: “Now all the data is neatly organized turning it into a valuable management tool providing relevant information in a time-critical situation. Facilitating the DID has become considerably easier for management which in turn lifts the experience of participating students.”

About the Digital Innovation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab

This solution was designed in a joint project between the Digital Transformation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab of Hochschule München in cooperation with Tampere University of Applied Sciences guided by the lecturers Prof. Dr. Holger Günzel, Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm, Hans-Jürgen Haak, and Anne-Mari Sainio. The Co-Innovation Lab offers students a virtual platform for learning how to work as a consulting team by creating temporary partnerships between companies, students, and lecturers.

For more information about UCON, the Digital Transformation Lab or the Co-Innovation Lab, contact holger.guenzel@hm.edu or lars.brehm@hm.edu.

This Co-Innovation Lab project was carried out in cooperation with the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

“The Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the major social challenges of our time. Together with stakeholders in the private sector, students develop future-oriented solutions. They are supported by Amazon Web Services with state-of-the-art cloud technologies and the Working Backwards innovation methodology. We live digital transformation.”

More information about the Co-Innovation Lab and the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

Autoren: Team DID

Meet green? How GreenMeet helps to make business meetings more sustainable

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

Students from Tampere University of Applied Sciences and Munich University of Applied Sciences joined forces with Salesforce in the winter semester of 2023 to develop a solution which contributes to reducing CO2 emissions: GreenMeet.

Screenshot GreenMeet entry page

The digital assistant helps sales representatives to decide whether a meeting should be held virtually or in person and shows the user the emissions of a potential round trip. Based on the importance and sales stage of a potential customer as well as calculated CO2 emissions, a recommendation is given for the best-fitting meeting type.

The problem of conscious meeting decisions

Meetings were often held in person in the past but since the pandemic, they are increasingly conducted online, although personal contact is of great importance, especially in sales. But the world has to change. Companies, societies, and individuals are demanding more environmentally friendly actions instead of travelling around the world for a short business meeting.

Additionally, there are advanced possibilities for more personalized and interactive meetings online, enabled by virtual reality (VR). Hence, sales representatives face the issue of multiple meeting-type options when talking to their customers. Choosing the appropriate one is a challenge – the solution is GreenMeet.

GreenMeet considers all relevant meeting and transport types

In cooperation with the Co-Innovation Lab of Munich University of Applied Sciences, TAMK and Salesforce, the student team developed a digital assistant that calculates CO2 emissions and gives individual recommendations on the appropriate meeting format. For in-person meetings, GreenMeet calculates the CO2 emissions of a trip by plane, train, and car, both electric and gas-powered. For online meetings, the carbon emissions of VR and video meetings are considered. All values are based on trustworthy data provided by the German environmental agency and other scientific sources.                                                                                                                                 

Project team (from top left: Charlotte Sixt, Bastian Forster, Verlinda Ibraimi, Benjamin Schiff, Mona Seith, Joni Foss, Inka Lagerboom, Visa Keskinen, Lotta Viljamaa)  

GreenMeet provides the highest transparency and a meeting-type recommendation engine

Once all information is entered, a bar chart with the CO2 emissions values of each meeting type is shown. Based on this overview and the individual customer importance and sales stage, GreenMeet provides a recommendation for the meeting type. Besides that, it is also shown how much CO2 could be saved by choosing the most environmentally friendly method.

GreenMeet contributes to building a sustainable future together

“In the short project time, a solution with real added value has been created that can be used directly,” says Hans Paulini, Principal Solution Engineer at Salesforce. “By integrating GreenMeet into Salesforce’s travel approval process in the future, employees can be actively supported in making more conscious meeting decisions. And most importantly, they are contributing to the world’s journey to net zero. Many thanks to the student team for the great collaboration!”

About the Digital Innovation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab

This solution was designed in a joint project between the Digital Transformation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab of Hochschule München in cooperation with Tampere University of Applied Sciences guided by the lecturers Prof. Dr. Holger Günzel, Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm, Hans-Jürgen Haak, and Anne-Mari Sainio. The Co-Innovation Lab offers students a virtual platform for learning how to work as a consulting team by creating temporary partnerships between companies, students, and lecturers.

For more information about the MeetGreen, the Digital Transformation Lab or the Co-Innovation Lab, contact holger.guenzel@hm.edu or lars.brehm@hm.edu.

This Co-Innovation Lab project was carried out in cooperation with the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

“The Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the major social challenges of our time. Together with stakeholders in the private sector, students develop future-oriented solutions. They are supported by Amazon Web Services with state-of-the-art cloud technologies and the Working Backwards innovation methodology. We live digital transformation.”

More information about the Co-Innovation Lab and the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

Autoren: Team MeetGreen

DocuWare’s CO2 Analyzer – A Simple Way of Increasing Awareness for Hidden CO2 Saving Opportunities by Going Paperless

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

An easy-to-use CO2 calculation tool – the DocuWare CO2 Anaylzer – was developed by an international team of students to highlight CO2 saving potentials by moving towards digital business processes that supports the sales team of DocuWare, a cloud-based software-as-a-service company.

The Project Team (F.l.t.r.): Anna Minakova (Product Owner), Andreas Birnkammer (Scrum Master), Patrick Mann (Business Developer), Julian Osiander (Business Developer), Darina Kopacheva (Business Developer), Jenna Westerlund (IT Developer), Janika Kupila (IT Developer), Jyri Ruohoniemi (IT Developer), Aaro Kurki (IT Developer)

Saving CO2 Emissions as a Business Model
As firms must evaluate their business processes regarding caused CO2 emissions, DocuWare helps companies to achieve their sustainability goals of reducing carbon emissions. The software company offers smart solutions to digitize paper-intensive business processes to simplify complexity by process automation. DocuWare does not just want to use digitization for simplification but also as a step towards a more CO2-neutral office environment.

“With the CO2-Calculator, we want to provide our prospects and customers with a tool that calculates how much CO2 emissions they can specifically save by digitizing a business process. In other words, how much CO2 a digital process such as invoice processing emits in contrast to a paper-based process? So, in addition to saving paper and trees, you can also show this positive aspect of digitization.” Dr. Stefan Weinberger (DocuWare – Sr. Director Inside Sales)

Increasing Awareness of Saving Carbon Emissions
To date, the benefits of digitizing an office environment are abstract and concrete figures about potential CO2 savings are not given. Therefore, the DocuWare CO2-Anaylzer can inform the user, which will be the DocuWare sales team first and later on the client interested in using the DocuWare product, about the concrete sustainability benefits of going paperless is required. The user needs to know how much CO2 emissions they can reduce and how that benefits the environment by switching to a digital solution. Thereby, the application is easy to use while also quickly providing results with the use of a limited number of relevant parameters. It offers the user an estimation of how much CO2 they produce right now compared to implementing the digitized solution of DocuWare as well as how many trees can be saved in the process of manufacturing the necessary paper.

The CO2 Analyzer – An Internationally Developed Tool
The application was developed by a cross-cultural student team from the Munich University of Applied Sciences and Tampere University of Applied Sciences guided by Prof. Dr. Brehm, Prof. Dr. Günzel, Anne-Mari Sainio and Hans-Jürgen Haak. Furthermore, through the active engagement of DocuWare representatives during the development process the students were able to create a viable solution. Conclusively, the sales team of DocuWare as well as their potential customers are provided with a scientific-based calculation tool that highlights possible CO2 savings which can be used then as an additional selling point for their cloud solutions.

This Co-Innovation Lab project was carried out in cooperation with the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

“The Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the major social challenges of our time. Together with stakeholders in the private sector, students develop future-oriented solutions. They are supported by Amazon Web Services with state-of-the-art cloud technologies and the Working Backwards innovation methodology. We live digital transformation.”

More information about the Co-Innovation Lab and the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:

Autoren: Team Docuware

The voice assistant that gives facility management a refreshing appeal

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

The Museum of London stores the capital of England’s long history from its settlers to modern times and welcomes over one million visitors each year. To realize its vision of becoming a “smart museum” and making use of resources efficiently, once again in the summer semester of 2022, the Museum of London shakes hands with the University of Applied Science Munich students and works together on another project. Accompanying the museum on the way to achieving its goal, a group of ten students has teamed up and developed a solution to integrate the use of the voice assistant ALLRight into facility management at the museum.

The Vision for 2023

Committed to engaging more people and constantly transforming to be a “New Museum”, knowing exactly where and when a malfunction in the building occurs is of great importance for all stakeholders. Within the scope of the previous cooperation projects between the Museum of London and the student teams at MUAS (Andreas Meuser, Syed Muhammed Ali Raza, Tobias Kuch, Lukas Förner, Simon Meier, Richard Nefzger, Florian Kaiser, Daniel Eberhard, Mai Linh Tran, Florian Horder), the main goal always involved the efficient consumption of resources and maintaining the best environment not only for the visitors but also for the preservation of the historical artifacts.

Hurdles in the way

“Usually, when at work, I was constantly concerned about the museum’s condition. I could not quickly and easily get reliable information about the temperatures and humidities in the galleries. I wanted accurate, reliable, and valid information to know that everything was alright”, John, facility manager at the Museum of London said.” However, with ALLright I feel more confident at getting the information I need at any time. And all that can be done simultaneously while I am working on my desk!” However, facility managers at the Museum of London have been having difficulty in quickly finding out the state of the building. Due to various data points and limited access to these data, it involves an inefficient and time-consuming process to pinpoint the problems with the functionality of the building, as they have to check various systems or ask around to find out what is wrong. Instead of having to go through all these troubles, they want to be granted easy and quick access to insights into the building’s functionality, and the most convenient way to get the information they need is via a voice assistant.

Delivering a valuable solution to solve the client’s problem

The intuitive voice assistant ALLRight was developed as a “Skill” based on the foundation of Amazon’s infamous voice assistant Alexa. It answers the 8 critical questions about the condition of the buildings at the Museum of London and gives information about occurring technical problems. With the voice assistant, facility managers can conveniently get a fast and simple overview of the current state of the building. The special feature of ALLRight is the interaction between it and the user as the skill has been developed to be able to include personalization and naturally converse with users.

“The team has surpassed my expectation!”, the client from the Museum of London, Steve Watson – Technical Building Lead – and John Iaciofano – Facility Manager – are very thrilled about the development of the voice assistant ALLRight from the early days until the prototype is completed.

 “ALLright is an exciting game-changer, which makes accessing building information easy, fun, and reliable.  Managing buildings is all about decision-making and ALLright informs me quickly of the relevant information to support important decisions.  This app is a glimpse into the future of building management”, Steve said. He also added when asked about future implementation potentials, “I see a future where buildings become much better structured at the data layer and then voice assistants will have a very rich source of information and analysis available.  Then I see voice assistants becoming more adept at natural language and also having a back-end learning capability that improves with specific buildings, their datasets, and their interactions.”

Dieses Co-Innovation Lab Projekt wurde in Kooperation mit dem Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) an der Hochschule München durchgeführt:
Das Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) der Hochschule München widmet sich den großen gesellschaftlichen Herausforderungen unserer Zeit. Zusammen mit Akteuren im öffentlichen Sektor entwickeln Studierende zukunftsweisende Lösungsansätze. Hierbei werden sie von Amazon Web Services mit state-of-the-art Cloud-Technologien und der Innovationsmethodik Working Backwards unterstützt. Wir leben digitale Transformation.

Weitere Informationen über das Co-Innovation Lab und das Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) an der Hochschule München:

Autoren: Mai Linh Tran

Creation of Audio Reports for Facility Managers at the Museum of London

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

The Co-Innovation Lab of the Munich University of Applied Sciences enabled a team of its’ students to demonstrate their skills. As part of the project, they developed a web-based software solution for the Museum of London (MOL). The smartReport (SRP) application collects sensor data from the building and creates audio reports that are made available to the museums’ Facility Managers. The SRP provides a general overview, helps with long-term maintenance of the building, and supports day-to-day operations by providing building data in a convenient way.


Dashboard view to access the current status reports on the building data of the Museum of London Docklands.

Museum of London – A building full of history and innovative drive

The Museum of London Docklands is committed to maintaining its historical repertoire. The staff, as well as the public of London, share a great interest in presenting a part of their history to visitors from all over the world for years to come. With this in mind, it is important to roll out innovative technology and enable the facility managers to do so as best as possible.

A matter of heart – The need for novel software solutions in everyday life is apparent

Until now, facility managers struggled with cumbersome information processes: Long and complicated chains of communication, complex software systems, and a missing integrated overview. They wondered if it is possible to be informed more quickly about critical data such as the humidity or temperature. Enabled employees, that is exactly what the technical management of the Museum has at heart. They are behind a new innovative thrust and are willing to invest in new technical implementations.

Co-Innovation Lab develops a web app that informs the user about building data via audio

The user-friendly application makes the facility managers’ everyday work easier. They can flexibly access the status reports from any location in the building via web either on their mobile phones or on the desktop computers in the backoffice. For the facility managers, this means no more cumbersome trips to the backoffice and an immediate understanding of the health of the bulding conditions and risk exposures of important exhibits while on the museum floor. But SmartReport wouldn’t be smart if it didn’t have smart functions in it. In the case of the novel SmartReport app, they come in form of dynamically created audio reports from realtime building data. The big benefit: Facility managers can access and assess everything relevant while action and without any interruption of their ongoing tasks.

Build things people need – Amazon Web Services as technical and methodical support

The app was developed in cooperation with partners from Amazon AWS who coached the team throughout their project. A modern methodology called ‘Amazon Working Backwards’ was applied to emphasize and approach the need of the facility managers in London. Based on regular talks and reviews the prototype was created in small but quick iterations.

The management, as well as the facility managers, are enthusiastic about the new solution

During the solution presentation, the facility managers and more than ten other stakeholders from the Museum of London praised the successfully validated prototype. A lively review and enthusiastic discussion about the implementation and future use cases has proven that the project hit the needs and the students fullfilled the core philosophy behind the Co-Innovation approach.

“As far as I know, this is the very first time in the history of the Museum of London that audio reports were created from real data in London!” – Steve Watson,Technical Lead at the Museum of London Docklands

“I just wanted to say it has been great working with you on this. I really like how the team approached and recognized our need just to prove how it could be met in such a short time” – John Laciofano,Facility Manager of the MOL

Team members of the Co-Innovation project: Roles of the Scrum Process & Working Backward Process

This Co-Innovation Lab project was carried out in cooperation with the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences:
The Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences is dedicated to the major social challenges of our time. Together with stakeholders in the public sector, students develop forward-looking solutions. They are supported by Amazon Web Services with state-of-the-art cloud technologies and the Working Backwards innovation methodology. We live digital transformation.

More information about the Co-Innovation Lab and the Digital Transformation Lab (DTLab) at Munich University of Applied Sciences: