Category: DTLab_Coop

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

Step-by-step to your perfect event with the Catering Studio Event Planner

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

Together with the TAMK Catering Studio, the Digital Transformation Lab and the Co-Innovation Lab, a student team from Hochschule München and Tampere University of Applied Sciences designed a recommendation engine for the TAMK Catering Studio. The solution simplifies the process of organizing an event in Tampere University’s catering studio by guiding customers through all important steps of the catering planning process. In the end, the engine recommends suitable and sustainable catering options based on the customer’s preferences.

TAMK Catering Studio Event Planner: Catering recommendations example

Create memorable events at TAMK

The Catering Studio Event Planner helps customers to easily find the best catering services available to them by making recommendations tailored to their wants and needs – so everyone can experience a memorable event at TAMK Catering Studio. This way, there is no need for the customer to mail or call the catering studio anymore when planning an event at TAMK, saving precious time and effort. A simple step-by-step guide requests the most important information about the event, for example the number of guests, preferred date, and budget. In the end, the customer gets three personal catering recommendations – with the most sustainable one highlighted. Plan your event – and do good at the same time!

Happy customer, happy staff

The perfect event for your needs: That’s what the TAMK Catering Studio wants to offer to every single one of their customers. However, consulting every customer individually takes the catering studio staff quite some time – time that could be more effectively used for the event preparation itself. By offering the standardized step-by-step guide, the most important information about the event is clear from the beginning, so that the Catering Studio’s staff can then focus on the details that make the event unforgettable. The staff at TAMK Catering Studio is convinced: “The step-by-step recommendation engine really streamlines the booking process. It has been joyful and rewarding to follow along the team’s competence and their persevering effort for the given assignment. We are truly happy for this product that has been designed to correspond our exact needs. Vielen Dank!”, client Reetta Tuomikoski says about the student team’s innovation.

The interdisciplinary team consisting of Business Administration students from Hochschule München (Arthur Reschke, Maria Gutierrez Escoffie, Nicolas Angel, Saskia Kuzlik, Timon Leuchtmann) and Informatics students from Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Aki Helin, Daniel Bardo, Hilla Härkönen, Hilla Kähkölä, Riku Vesanto) is proud to offer a solution that simplifies the life of both the clients and their customers at the same time.

The interdisciplinary team from TAMK and HM: Maria Lorena Gutierrez Escoffie, Saskia Kuzlik, Timon Leuchtmann, Hilla Kähkölä, Aki Helin, Nicolas Angel, Daniel Bardo, Arthur Reschke, Hilla Hörkönen (from top left to bottom right).

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 Catering Studio Event Planner, 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 Catering Studio

“WeAssist” – a digital companion that helps to find the right information at the trade fair “Gemeinsam stark!”

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

Information overflow on the trade fair „Gemeinsam stark!“? Not with the Digital Companion „WeAssist“! It guides the visitor through the trade fair and helps them to find the information they need at the right place. The web-app was developed by students of HM in cooperation with the University of Tampere (Finland) for the organizer of the trade fair, Rössler Consult GmbH. It is one component to transform the trade fair to the digital age.

HM Project Team: Polina Protsenko (Developer), Pauline Böttcher (Developer), Farhad Muradi (Scrum Master), Jonas Moser (Product Owner), Muhammad Ahmed (Developer)

Background of the trade fair “Gemeinsam stark!”

The consulting firm Rössler Consult GmbH together with the local working group Altbayerisches Donaumoos e.V. organize the regional trade show “Gemeinsam stark!” every two years. Due to the advancing digitalization and the restrictions during the Corona pandemic, digitalization is now to be integrated into the trade fair concept. Klaus Rössler, CEO of Rössler Consult, emphasizes on the importance of the evolution of the fair: “We are still planning our trade and regional show, which has been in place for decades, as a face-to-face event, because personal contact is still very important, especially in rural areas, especially after the low-contact Corona period. Equally imperative, however, is the integration of digital elements in the process, communication, the communication of common cross-sectional goals and especially gamification, which enables fast, flexible and target group-specific action that increases the attractiveness across generations.” The digital web-app could be one component of the new concept.

The problem: Information overflow on the trade fair “Gemeinsam stark!”

Navigating trade fairs in general can be overwhelming, with lots of exhibitors and a packed schedule of events. At the fair “Gemeinsam stark!”, over 8.000 visitors have to find their way around the 1.500 square meter exhibition area with over 60 exhibitors. The problem that visitors are often facing is finding relevant information such as the exact location of each exhibitor, exhibitor’s offers, and an overview presenting this information in a concise and simple way. What was missing, is a guide who helps visitors find the right information at the right place.

The solution: “WeAssist”, the digital companion

The product vision was clear: The Digital Companion WeAssist should help visitors to find the right information at the right place – so they would never get lost. The developed prototype of the digital companion web-app offers a range of features that help visitors to get a structured overview of all areas of the fair. First, one receives detailed information about each exhibitor and even gives the possibility to st personal favorites. Furthermore, “WeAssist” includes a digital trade show map that provides users with a complete overview of the site and shows the exact location of exhibitors and food stands. The different food options are also shown and described in detail. In addition, visitors can find a schedule of events and lectures that will take place during the fair. For possible questions or problems, a FAQ page is available.

International Cooperationin an Agile Environment

An interdisciplinary student team of 9 students from HM and University of Tampere (Finland) worked together on the prototype. To determine the needs of visitors, the students used the “Working Backwards” method of AWS and furthermore conducted an online survey with trade fair visitors. Based on the results, the students developed the app in an agile way, using the Scrum framework. Maximilian Vogl, Project Manager and assistant to the CEO of Lokale Aktionsgruppe Altbayerisches Donaumoos e.V. cherished the approach:“The close cooperation between students, lecturers and our agency was profitable for all sides. Determined and with methodical competence, the interdisciplinary project team developed a functional prototype app for our trade show ‘Gemeinsam stark!’”.

Home Screen of the digital companion “WeAssist”

The professors from Munich University of Applied Science were Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Günzel and Prof. Dr. Lars Brehm. Hans Jürgen Haak was the coach concerning agile methods. Anne-Mari Sainio was the lecturer for the Finish students from Tampere University of Applied Sciences.

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 Tradeshow

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

“PredictiveBMS” helps preserve art at the Museum of London

CIL projects, DTLab_Coop

In a project of the Co-innovation lab of the Munich University of Applied Sciences, a team of bachelor and master students together with the Museum of London tackled the challenge of introducing predictive maintenance to the museum’s Air Handling Units (AHUs). The “predictiveBMS” application developed in the project uses data from the many sensors in the museum’s AHUs and is able to predict when failures will occur based on the already available data. This addresses the problem of AHU downtime, which can damage the museum’s art in the long run, as the museum can currently only react to failures after they occured as there is no way to predict them at the moment.

Possibility to avoid failures and downtimes of the Air Handling Units

So far, the MoL has not been able to predict failures and defects in its AHUs. The AHUs ensure that the environmental conditions in the museum remain within the set parameters that provide an optimal indoor climate for the artworks and protect them from, for example, temperature fluctuations and humidity-related damage. However, AHU failures occur frequently and can cause damage to the museum’s artworks if they fail for an extended period of time.

Co-Innovation Lab develops “predictiveBMS” to forecast failures in Air Handling Units

To improve workflow and detect damage in advance, the new application “predictiveBMS” was developed  for the AHU maintenance at MoL. Building on the continuously collected data from various sensors in the AHUs, the MoL has taken the opportunity to further develop the smart buildings applications. predictiveBMS is based on machine learning and artificial intelligence and provides the engineers of the MoL with an opportunity  to be proactive, as it is now possible to predict failures and outages of the AHUs. The predictiveBMS system provides engineers with a web dashboard that displays all potential failures and sends alerts for faults that might occur. For on the go, predictiveBMS offers an app that can be used from anywhere and informs about potential outages through push notifications.

Facility managers and engineers are looking forward to integrating the solution into their work processes

“The move to use sophisticated learning, forecasting and prediction models in building maintenance is long overdue. We’re excited at the Museum of London to implement predictiveBMS to predict failures and improve operational knowledge and efficiency. This will be a key piece of Facilities Management software going forward.” – Steve Watson, Technical Building Lead (New Museum)

The Museum of London is striving to be carbon free by 2040

The development of a smart building management system that precisely meets the museum’s needs is intended to help achieve the target. The museum wants to be a pioneer in this field, but also a positive influence on other museums in terms of its public responsibility. Smart building management can save not only costs but also large amounts of greenhouse gasses and help to achieve the net zero emissions target set by the British government. In addition, the construction of the new museum, which is currently being designed, offers great potential to make processes and working methods more efficient. The Director of Museum of London (MoL), Sharon Ament has stated that her aim for the New Museum at Smithfield is to build “a new civic space, that is sustainable, for millions of visitors to enjoy, 24 hours a day”

     Project team: (front from left to right:) Ishak Hagi, Fabian Halbig, Jannis Unkrig. (Back from left to right:)
Jana Caven, Lea Neureither, Kathrin Wetzels, Ana Babovic, Tobias Schwarzer, Pascal Severin

Support through Amazon Web Services for project teams

During the development process of the product, the project team was supported by partners from Amazon Web Services (AWS). Lars Schmitz coached the teams at the beginning of the project in Amazon’s “Working Backwards” approach. An approach in which the customer’s problem is fundamentally analyzed and understood prior to the development phase. This process helped the team to thoroughly understand the client’s problem and thus develop an effective solution.

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: Team MOL 1