Heads were spinning during the judging before the prizes were awarded and everyone gathered for dinner in the auditorium.

The Digital Challenge Kiel is organized by the Chair of Technology Management at the Institute for Innovation Research, the Center for Entrepreneurship at the CAUKiel University of Applied Sciences, Flensburg University of Applied Sciences and Dicide GmbH from Kiel ended on the premises of the Schleswig-Holstein Business Academy, where the students pitched their ideas to the board from science and business.

A week of hard work lay behind the 26 students and their supervisors in the companies. The Bay Areas e.V. was involved as a support team for the success of the Digital Challenge. Most teams had at least an hour of work under their belts by the start of the daily morning briefing. Idea generation and evaluation, jobs-to-be-done, product and business model mock-up, business canvas and business plan were on the agenda for the five days of morning briefings. The board meetings, in which the board members examined the students' work for potential improvements, usually lasted longer than the scheduled half hour and led to rework on the concept. "Of course, we would rather do without the board meetings and continue working. But at the end of the day, these meetings have advanced and sharpened our idea." says Henry Wendisch, one of the participants. His team colleague Arne Becker confirms: "The concept with the morning briefings is a great support and a great way to get through the week."

Among the Flensburg teams, first place was taken twice this year. New distribution channels for a sailmaker were able to prevail in the pitch against an expansion of the business model in circuit board construction. Just how close the result was is reflected in the prize money: at €2,500.00 each, the top two places were only €500.00 ahead of 3rd place, which was endowed with €2,000.00.

An innovative approach to implementing predictive maintenance in the pump market was rewarded with 1st place and €3,000.00 in Kiel. The team not only distinguished itself through its intensive involvement with sensor technology and the use of a Hololens on the technical side, but also dealt intensively with the market for pumps and its various players. Second place, which was endowed with €2,500.00, enables end users to manage their data conveniently and securely online. Third place went to a new financing solution for mobile phone contracts and mobile devices from Klarmobil GmbH, just ahead of a platform designed to make it easier for plant manufacturers to access plant components.

We would like to congratulate all the winners and look forward to welcoming them to The Bay Areas with an additional one-year membership!

Photo: Thomas Rohwedder