Digitization – Page 2 – The Co-Innovation Lab

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

19. February 2023 Holger Günzel 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.

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:

Website Co-Innovation Lab: https://www.co-inno-lab.org/
Website DTLab: https://hm.edu/dt-lab/ & Challenge auf der DTLab-Website

Autoren: Team MeetGreen

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

19. February 2023 Holger Günzel 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

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:

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

Website Co-Innovation Lab: https://www.co-inno-lab.org/
Website DTLab: https://hm.edu/dt-lab/ & Challenge auf der DTLab-Website

Autoren: Team Catering Studio

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

19. February 2023 Holger Günzel 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 Stenbacka 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:

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

Website Co-Innovation Lab: https://www.co-inno-lab.org/
Website DTLab: https://hm.edu/dt-lab/ & Challenge auf der DTLab-Website

Autoren: Team Tradeshow

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

19. February 2023 Holger Günzel 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:

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

Website Co-Innovation Lab: https://www.co-inno-lab.org/
Website DTLab: https://hm.edu/dt-lab/ & Challenge auf der DTLab-Website

Autoren: Team Docuware

“PredictiveBMS” helps preserve art at the Museum of London

5. September 2022 Lars Brehm 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:

Webseite Co-Innovation Lab: https://www.co-inno-lab.org/
Webseite DTLab: https://hm.edu/dt-lab/ & Challenge auf der DTLab-Website

Autoren: Team MOL 1

The voice assistant that gives facility management a refreshing appeal

5. September 2022 Holger Günzel 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.”

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

Webseite Co-Innovation Lab: https://www.co-inno-lab.org/
Webseite DTLab: https://hm.edu/dt-lab/ & Challenge auf der DTLab-Website

Autoren: Mai Linh Tran

Paths to the Future at Leop. Siegle: From Process Improvement to Cultural Change

5. March 2021 Holger Günzel CIL projects

The Co-Innovation Lab supports Leop. Siegle GmbH & Co. KG in Augsburg in optimizing its internal processes and lays the foundation for further digitization activities.

Virtual final presentation: The project team Martin Flöß (1st from top), Benedikt Fischer (3rd from top) and Anara Abylova (5th from top) present the results of the project to Prof. Holger Günzel (2nd from top), Christian Ultsch and Christopher Ultsch (3rd from top).

With several thousand different products, the company Leop. Siegle GmbH & Co.KG, as a medium-sized technical wholesaler in the field of rubber, plastics, industrial safety and environmental protection, has a very large stock. Numerous packages enter and leave the company every day. To improve internal logistics, companies often use warehouse management systems. Efficient use is only possible if existing processes have been analyzed and optimized in advance.

Leop. Siegle GmbH & Co. KG expects great added value in the digitalization of its logistics processes and the warehouse management system derived from them. For this reason, Anara Abylova, Benedikt Fischer and Martin Flöß, three students at Munich University of Applied Sciences and part of the Co-Innovation Lab, worked on optimizing the goods processes with coaching from Prof. Holger Günzel. It quickly became clear that long-term change management would be necessary to enable the cultural change that comes with digitization.

The team’s proposed solutions were well received by Leop. Siegle. “The consulting team did an excellent job. Thanks to the team’s work, we now have not only short-term “hands-on” solutions, but also a long-term solution that will definitely help us move forward,” Christian Ultsch, member of the management board, is enthusiastic. With their project, the consulting team has created a basis on which Leop. Siegle can build in the future. Christopher Ultsch, assistant to the management, is also satisfied with the result: “Optimizing deliveries to our customers, that was our goal! We are highly satisfied with the work of the team. We had a very good collaboration and will be happy to draw on the expertise of the Co-Innovation Lab in the future as well.”

Promoting digital skills in the social sector

3. March 2021 Holger Günzel CIL projects

The Co-Innovation Lab is developing an innovative competency model for measuring and expanding employees’ digital competencies for Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn gGmbH.

**Presentation of the project results by the Co-Innovation Lab consulting team to the client Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn in December 2020.** Participants from top left to bottom right: Miriam von Meyeren (HM), Prof. Dr. Holger Günzel (HM), Johannes Bahl (Head of Education and Consulting, Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn), Julian Speidel (HM), Sandra Pavleka (HM) and Thomas Raudzus (Head of Organizational Development and ICT Services, Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn) Photographer: Miriam von Meyeren

The change processes triggered by digital technologies offer companies in all sectors a wide range of optimization opportunities. The expansion of digital solution approaches represents great potential for more effective use of the limited time resources of personnel, especially in the social sector. The digital skills of employees play a decisive role in the successful implementation of digital solution concepts. The social enterprise Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn gGmbH would like to expand precisely these competencies within its organization with a digital competence model and an associated innovative training concept and has commissioned the consulting team of the Co-Innovation Lab to develop the concept.

Digitization of administrative processes as a strategy for the future
Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn is a non-profit institution for living, learning and working for people with intellectual disabilities. Since its founding in 1861 by Viktoria von Butler, the mission of the sisters, caregivers and employees working there has been to provide an inclusive and barrier-free social space for people with disabilities. The organization’s strategic goals for the future include the digitization of administrative processes through the use of digital applications, such as an electronic documentation system in care and administration. This is intended to relieve employees in their day-to-day work and increase time capacities for the facility’s residents. From the client’s point of view, this initially requires the acquisition and expansion of digital competencies of the employees through a creative training concept that is based on the blended learning concept.

Using an agile creative process to create a customized competency model to promote digital skills among employees
The team of consultants consisting of Julian Speidel (project manager), Sandra Pavleka (consultant) and Miriam von Meyeren (consultant) received approval for the project assignment from the clients of Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn Thomas Raudzus (head of organizational development and ICT services) and Johannes Bahl (head of education and consulting). Based on the initial situation, the Co-Innovation Lab consultants presented a concept idea to the client. “Due to the pandemic, our collaboration was appropriate to the topic, purely digital (web conferences, digital project room), highly effective and yet always personally approached” explains Mr. Thomas Raudzus from Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn.

The three-month project resulted in a digital competence model tailored to Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn, which consists of seven dimensions and four degrees of competence. Based on the competency model, the consulting team developed a questionnaire that the client can use to determine the competency levels of employees in the sense of a location assessment. In order to expand the digital competencies, additional requirement profiles were created to define target values. In the future, the client will be able to use a developed tool to independently perform variance analyses of employee digital competencies in order to use these as a starting point for determining employee learning paths. With the training concept developed and the forms of training it contains, which are differentiated according to competence levels and stages, Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn can promote the development of digital competencies among its employees on an individual basis.

Satisfaction with the project results delivered can be described in the words of Mr. Thomas Raudzus as follows: “Our co-innovation team delivered custom-fit concepts, tools, and valuable impetus for planning and implementing a “digital competencies” PE concept for our company in the field of integration assistance. We will benefit greatly from this.” As a thank you to the consulting team, Wichtel clay figures handmade by residents in the Schönbrunn workshop were handed over.

Wichtel clay figures of the Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn. Photographer: Sandra Pavleka

Automatically clean!

22. February 2021 Holger Günzel CIL projects

In collaboration with the Abfallwirtschaftsbetrieb München (AWM), students from the Munich University of Applied Sciences have developed a business case as part of the Co-Innovation Lab to automate the manual cleaning of mobile waste compactors.

Mobile waste compactors have become an indispensable part of German waste management operations. They are used not only at recycling centers but also at major events such as the Oktoberfest. The advantage of these compactors is that waste and recyclables can be compacted more efficiently. The space saved during storage and transport enables economical and environmentally friendly disposal.

As part of the project, the consulting team of the Co-Innovation Lab at Munich University of Applied Sciences cooperated with “Kea Robotics” . The startup from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) specializes in the development of modular robots. Automating the cleaning process would relieve the employees of the waste management service provider AWM, as the robot would take over the manual, repetitive and physically demanding cleaning using a high-pressure cleaner.

Gerald Stutz (Head of Innovations and Projects at AWM) was extremely satisfied with the cooperation with the Co-Innovation Lab and the results of the project: “Technical, organizational and business aspects were intensively examined. As a result, the work result represents a good basis for further planning in this area.“

In collaboration with Gerald Stutz and Roman Hölzl (co-founder & managing director of Kea Robotics), the three student consultants of the Co-Innovation Lab Amel Fazlovic, Philipp Rathke and Florian Zinsbacher – with coaching from Prof. Holger Günzel – prepared a decision document that shows AWM whether the robots are suitable for use in the cleaning process. The decision paper confirmed a basic technical feasibility and shows financial cost advantages that can be achieved by automating the process.

Digitizing Munich’s Used Clothing Drives – The Co-Innovation Lab Makes Recycling Fit for the Future

8. May 2020 Holger Günzel CIL projects

Students at Munich University of Applied Sciences are paving the way for digitization in municipal used clothing collection and enabling plannable recycling with the help of the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.

Munich: Students in close contact with the collection of old clothes. If you want to achieve change and sustainability, you have to enter the field of the current situation yourself. Marlene Piper during her accompaniment of the old clothes collection.

As part of a student consulting project of the Co-Innovation Lab at the Munich University of Applied Sciences, an interdisciplinary team of students developed a holistic concept for emptying used clothing containers at the Abfallwirtschaftsbetrieb München (AWM) in line with demand. The aim was to optimize the previously rigid emptying schedule, which takes into account the respective emptying requirements of the containers, and thus to improve the quality of the clothing and make more efficient use of existing resources. The focus was thus on moving toward digitization with the help of the Internet of Things (IoT), thereby creating data-based, demand-driven planability with a digital planning tool.

The team consisted of students from three degree programs at Munich University of Applied Sciences and was divided into a consulting team consisting of Mahboob Elahi Noor, Gilbert Muhumuza and Marlene Piper and a development team consisting of industrial engineering students Agnesa Xhemaili, Majlinda Sllamniku and Stefan An. Prof. Dr. Holger Günzel and Prof. Dr. Olav Hinz assisted the team as coaches.

The client Rudolph Schmid (department head of bulky waste and depot container collection AWM) was impressed by the solution that was finally presented: “From the department’s point of view, all requirements for the project, which was presented in an exciting presentation, were exceeded.”