Digitainability Award: Students present digital solutions for a sustainable future
from Laura Eigbrecht
The challenges of a sustainable future are more urgent today than ever before – we need to initiate transformations in all areas of society in order to counter the risks of climate change, social inequality and political tensions. At the same time, we are experiencing unprecedented change in all areas of life and work as a result of digitalization. But how can we combine the two? How can we use digitalization to meet sustainability goals? And how can we work towards a desirable future in the process?
These were the key questions of the Grand Challenge 2023, a final student conference with contributions from student groups of Business Informatics at DHBW Karlsruhe, organized and carried out by the NextEducation working group under the direction of Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, Professor of Education Management and Lifelong Learning at DHBW.
This year’s topic: Digitainability: thinking digitization and sustainability
together. Following a two-semester exploration and development phase based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
, students selected one of these sustainability goals for more intensive discussion in small groups. In order to tackle the challenges of achieving each goal, the students developed possible digital solutions.
Publicity creates relevance
The innovative course came to a fitting conclusion to this intensive development period with the student conference. The Grand Challenge 2023 took place on July 7 at the Badische Landesbibliothek and was supported by karlsruhe.digital. There, the student groups presented their solutions to interested visitors, press representatives and a jury of seven experts. “The Grand Challenge, which took place for the first time in the heart of Karlsruhe at the BLB, was a special experience for the students. Here, they were able to apply their technical skills to their own problems and experience what levers there are for a sustainable future. In this way, we encourage them not only to imagine a good future, but to actively work towards it,” says Professor Dr. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, explaining the relevance that the involvement of the public lends to the students’ work.
In the form of short films and pitches in TED format, the students invited the audience to take a look at a positive future. Six student groups presented the opportunities presented by digitalization to overcome the challenges. The working groups showed in a clear and understandable way, even for laypeople, how digitalization can be used to create the greatest possible benefit and what can be done today to make these visions a reality.
Digital solutions for the challenges of today and tomorrow
The high-calibre jury with expertise in digitalization, education and sustainability found it visibly difficult to select the winners of the Digitainability Award from the entries. Nevertheless, the jury – consisting of David Piesk (University of Marburg), Ronny Röwert (TU Hamburg), Patricia Bonaudo (karlsruhe.digital), Manfred Daniel (DHBW Karlsruhe), Julia Hufnagel (DHBW Center for Advanced Studies ) and Bettina Pfändner (Wissenschaftszentrum Kiel) – came to a unanimous decision.
Third place went to Michael Hudelmaier, Leonard Bechtold, Leon Steinbrenner and Tahani Al Furaih. They dealt with the SDG “Health and Well-being”. Their digital solution for providing medical care to small children in remote areas through the use of drones impressed the jury. The drones, equipped with first aid and AI for symptom recognition, are intended to significantly reduce the high infant mortality rates in these areas.
Kilian Sörries, Moritz Stefan Wolf, Svenja Staubringer, Lisa Zeilfelder and Nikola Stanczak took second place with the SDG “Sustainable consumption and production”. The students’ digital solution focuses on what at first glance appears to be an unusual area when it comes to sustainable consumption – the real estate sector. A central platform for the sustainable use and reuse of building materials aims to connect all those involved in construction. With the help of AI, it will offer corresponding recycling and upcycling options.
Sharing economy for more equality
The winners were Florian Dicker, Georg Daiberl, Simon Rumpl and Vivien Michalina Herget. They dealt with the challenges of the SDG “Less inequality”. The focus was on the topic of homelessness. The group addressed its relevance creatively on the one hand and presented a possible digital solution on the other. The concept of “Living as a Service” – an AI-supported sharing platform – which is based on the idea of desk sharing, won over the jury.
All video contributions and further information will soon be available on the research group’s website .
The three winning groups were presented with the “Digitainability Award”, which was donated by the DHBW Karlsruhe Sponsors’ Association and experimenta gGmbH.
Laura Eigbrecht is an academic assistant at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University at the Chair of Educational Management and Lifelong Learning. As a doctoral candidate, she conducts research in the field of transformative and participatory future skills in higher education. After completing her binational bachelor’s degree and her master’s degree in children’s and youth media, she worked at the children’s channel of ARD and ZDF as well as in teaching and consulting in the field of migration, language and education. She also produces podcasts and radio reports on topics such as the future of higher education and sustainability.