apetito: New business fields through smart products
In the Cross Innovation Class interdisciplinary student teams developed smart products
In Cross Innovation Class #2, interdisciplinary teams of students worked together with companies to develop solutions in a smart city context.
The challenge
In times of environmental challenges, a smart city should also endeavour to dispose of its waste with the lowest possible emissions and the highest possible recycling rate.
In the Cross Innovation Class, Remondis relied on the input of interdisciplinary student teams to develop new solutions in this field.
An important market for Remondis is the disposal of commercial waste from large office complexes. The problem with our waste lies in its incorrect collection - we humans simply do not separate it well enough. This results in high sorting costs or low quality recyclable materials during subsequent recycling.
Output
The team of students from five different universities and colleges worked on a solution for the company in the Cross Innovation Class. Thanks to the various team competences, technically functional prototypes were created in just one semester.
The team developed a waste container for large building complexes that automatically recognises the type of waste and sorts it into the appropriate bins. Inside, a camera works to optically detect the waste. The image is then analysed by an AI algorithm, allowing the waste to be sorted into the correct bin.
The students also adapted the concept of early waste separation to construction sites: With the help of a newly designed container, waste can be separated directly on site, which means less sorting work at the recycling centre.
Team: Amanda Loebel, Christoph Loose, Timur Omurzakov, Pia Schwarz, Jeannine Marques, Mia Meister, Sascha Heinsen, Heiko Jedamski
"The format creates an exchange between students from different disciplines and companies in order to shed light on real-life problems from different perspectives. Prototype solutions were developed to solve the problems, which enable further benefits for the companies."
Format & method
In the Cross Innovation Class, students from three to six different universities work in interdisciplinary teams on the practical challenges of the project partners.
- The process follows the logic of design thinking: in iterative feedback loops with the partners, the teams approach a solution step by step.
- The entire process is managed by the Cross Innovation Hub team and accompanied by trained facilitators.
- Prototypes can be created and tested in the workshops of the partner universities.
Cross Innovation Class #2 took place in the winter semester 2019/20 on the topic of Smart City Solutions.
Our partner: Remondis
Remondis is one of the world's largest providers of recycling, service and water services. The Lünen-based family business with an eighty-year tradition works at around 800 locations on four continents with over 30,000 employees for the benefit of more than 30 million citizens and many thousands of companies.
