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

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:

“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

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

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

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.”

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

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.”