Transfer 2024 Innovation Award: A look back
Premiere at Vöhlinschloss in Illertissen: On 24 April 2024, the universities of Augsburg, Kempten and Neu-Ulm awarded their first Transfer Innovation Prize, which is endowed with a total of 15,000 euros. Three outstanding examples of application- and society-oriented transfer achievements by non-academic partners in cooperation with one of the three universities were honoured. The town of Illertissen also awarded an audience prize.
The announcement
‘Society meets Science’: This was the motto of the first call for entries for the Bavarian-Swabian Transfer Innovation Award in December 2023, which addressed application- and society-oriented transfer achievements by non-academic partners in cooperation with the respective university - projects of social, technological and/or economic relevance were sought. The prize money of 5,000 euros per university was provided by the respective sponsoring organisations. In total, more than 30 project teams applied for the innovation prize. The ten submissions from HNU covered a broad spectrum of transfer activities, including inclusive design, virtual negotiation training and impact entrepreneurship.
The knowledge and technology transfer that takes place at universities of applied sciences is invaluable, as it initiates and accompanies social, technological and economic change.
The award ceremony
Full house: Around 50 guests came to Illertissen on 24 April. In addition to the award winners, representatives from the universities, the town of Illertissen and the practice partners as well as members of the public attended the award ceremony.
The HNU award winners
The HNU trophy went to Prof Dr Klaus Lang, Prof Manfred Plechaty, Prof Dr Daniel Schallmo and Prof Dr Alexander Bartel for building a very special bridge between science and SMEs: The Open Lab of the Institute for Digital Transformation (IDT Open Lab), which takes place twice a year in the Innovation Space at HNU, offers keynote speeches from science and practice on trends, technologies and best practices of digital transformation and promotes the exchange between experts from business and science.
Through the targeted selection of topics and speakers, the IDT Open Lab actively supports SMEs in overcoming the challenges and utilising the potential of digital transformation.
More about the IDT Open Lab
In the video interview, Prof Dr Klaus Lang and Prof Dr Daniel Schallmo answer the following questions: How did the idea for the IDT Open Lab come about and what are the objectives of the format? What does transfer mean for the scientists involved - and what plans do they have for the future?
Everything worth knowing about the IDT Open Lab was prepared in poster format for the award ceremony. All project posters are currently on display at Vöhlinschloss. The exhibition is open until 28 June from Monday to Friday from 8.00 am to 4.30 pm.
Transfer at HNU
Alongside teaching and research, transfer is the third main strategic task of the HNU. We understand transfer to mean the continuous and reciprocal (recursive) exchange of ideas, knowledge and technologies in a network with regional, national and international players from research, business, society and politics. Our aim is to make an effective contribution to social and economic development and change.
As an international business school focussing on innovation, sustainable entrepreneurship and digital transformation, HNU has been involved in transfer since its foundation in 1994 and has been intensively networked in the region and internationally ever since. This has led to the realisation and experience that successful innovations arise from the combination of knowledge from different sources and from the cooperation of different players in a network. This is the only way to generate sustainable solutions for complex problems and issues in business and society.
The award winners from Augsburg and Kempten
At Augsburg University of Applied Sciences, the project ‘Architecture. In a circle. Circular building: Shaping, designing and building with existing building materials’ emerged as the winner of the Transfer 2024 innovation prize. The Augsburg State Building Authority, Augsburg University of Applied Sciences and Concular, a developer and provider of databases for circular building materials, pooled their expertise in this project to recycle the Alte Stadtbücherei building in Augsburg in the best possible way.
More about this project (opens in a new window)
At Kempten University of Applied Sciences, the project ‘Digitalisation of planning boards - digitalisation for a paperless company’ was a convincing example of how paperless processes in factories can be replaced by electronic solutions to enable a paperless company. This innovation not only contributes to a more efficient way of working and better adaptability to change, but also reduces the ecological footprint.
More about this project (opens in a new window)
The audience award
One of the three winning projects was able to look forward to an additional prize: the town of Illertissen had offered an audience award worth 1,000 euros, which could be voted for live during the award ceremony. The winner was Augsburg University of Applied Sciences with its project ‘Architecture. In a circle’.
