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Co­oper­a­tion with Uhl­mann: stu­dents de­velop ideas for to­mor­row's health care

24.02.2021, Press Release :

In the subject "UX Design", students developed individually adapted solutions for people who are dependent on medication or medical care in cooperation with the Uhlmann company. The three best teams designed prototypes for smart packaging, consumer apps and assistance systems and won donations for a charity of their choice.
 

The focus of Prof. Patricia Franzreb's subject "UX Design" (User Experience) in the winter semester 2020/2021 was the question "How can we optimise the medical treatment of people with regard to their individual needs and circumstances? The students competed against each other in an ideas competition. For the best suggestions, the cooperation partner, the company Uhlmann Pac-Systeme from Laupheim, provided a total of 1,000 euros in donation credit: The first place winners will receive 500 euros, second place will receive 350 euros and third place will receive 150 euros in donations for a non-profit organisation of their choice.

52 students of the Information Management and Corporate Communication (IMUK) degree programme, divided into nine groups, worked on answers to the question about the individual medical treatment of people. For this purpose, they developed so-called personas: fictitious members of a certain target group. Based on the imaginary personas, the students developed new ideas and implemented them as prototypes.

Cooperation projects as a win-win situation for students and companies

At an interim presentation, each group presented Prof. Franzreb and the representatives of Uhlmann with one idea that was realistically feasible and one idea that was described as a "future idea". The cooperation partners agreed on one of the ideas, on which the students continued to work. Finally, the final presentation of the groups took place at the end of January 2021. More than 70 people took part in the online event, including almost 20 from Uhlmann.

Student Peer Kieweg says: "The cooperation with Uhlmann was super, we were especially pleased how many Uhlmann employees followed our presentation." Prof. Patricia Franzreb was also very pleased with the cooperation with the company: "Especially in the area of user experience, cooperation projects are a clear win-win for companies and students. Open problems from practice help students to focus and develop really relevant solutions."

Cooling system for medicinal products, medicine cabinet for the blind and emergency kit for epileptics

Uhlmann representatives Jessica Wahl and Dr. Anna Hörner evaluated the projects presented according to the criteria of methodology (familiarisation, research), idea (uniqueness, innovativeness, relevance, potential/Uhlmann fit) and presentation (design, persuasiveness, prototype). The first two places were awarded by Uhlmann, the third place was decided by the students in a survey. First place went to "Clide", a smart cooling system for medicinal products, second place went to the team with the smart medicine cabinet "MEVA" and third place went to the team that thought up an emergency card for epilepsy.

Prof. Patrica Franzreb was impressed by the cooperation: "The cooperation with Uhlmann has greatly enriched the User Experience Project. We gained valuable insights into the medical industry, were able to develop visionary, human-centred ideas and, in the end, were able to convince with innovative pitch presentations. Thank you for this great collaboration and appreciation!"

Nicolas Mundbrod, who heads IT and the Digital Lab at the Uhlmann Group, is also positive: "We are very pleased that the cooperation between HNU and Uhlmann has once again produced such innovative results. The "out-of-the-box" thinking of the students and of Prof. Franzreb enriches our innovation process with completely new impulses, and the cooperation is simply a win-win for both sides. Finally, it is particularly noteworthy that we were able to combine the awarding of the best approaches with donations for a good cause.

Over­view of the win­ning pro­jects