Virtual Brainstorming for New Technologies
Future Tech Bootcamp: New Ideas on the Internet of Things (IoT), Radar Tech-nology, Renewable Energies and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Supported by the Federation of Austrian Industries of Lower Austria (IV-Niederösterreich), the second Future Tech Bootcamp by the initiative “Digital Makers Hub” took place from 29 June to 2 July. This year, the event was not held at the St. Pölten UAS but online as the 1st Virtual Future Tech Bootcamp due to the corona event regulations. Within the framework of a four-day co-creation session, students as well as experts from the industry worked on practical solutions to the challenges of the future, which were presented on 6 July at a press conference at the St. Pölten UAS.
“Important Contribution to the Digital Future“
“The Digital Makers Hub brings together small and medium-sized companies, leading industrial enterprises, and innovative digitalisation experts to jointly develop creative ideas and solutions. Many thanks to all Digital Makers! They make a decisive contribution to help our businesses emerge from this crisis stronger and better prepared for the digital future”, emphasises Jochen Danninger, councillor of digitalisation at the Regional Government of Lower Austria.
The briefing partners from the industry include companies such as the headlight manufacturer ZKW from Wieselburg or Infineon. For the second time, the Future Tech Bootcamp was supported by the Federation of Austrian Industries of Lower Austria (IV-NÖ). “The solutions that were produced at the bootcamp are particularly important in times like these – we need innovative solutions to make our way out of the crisis in the best possible way and be internationally competitive. Places of innovation create more new jobs and have higher levels of productivity. This makes our companies more resilient in times of crisis”, says IV-NÖ President Thomas Salzer.
“Knowledge Transfer Is a Major Objective of the St. Pölten UAS”
“Intensive knowledge transfer with companies, other universities, exiting initiatives and a variety of other stakeholders has been a major objective of the St. Pölten UAS for many years. Together with our consortium partners, we offer our Digital Makers Hub as a platform to favour collaboration over competition and establish a digital culture of creative ideas, unconventional approaches and new forms of cooperation. Open formats for advancing innovations together play a pivotal role in this context”, says Hannes Raffaseder, Chief Research and Innovation Officer at the St. Pölten UAS.
International Guests
“Moving the bootcamp to a virtual space had the advantage that we were able to expand our outreach to participants from a wider geographical region. For the first time, we had international guests from Germany, France and India joining us. In those four days, the teams delved into areas such as solutions to decentralised self-organisation in the event of a total power cut, technical applications for keeping the necessary safety distance in times of corona, energy-saving measures in factories through intelligent data management, or the use of radar technology for smart and safe train control. Other solutions include the display of location data in the context of virtual reality, the best way to fuel a fireplace by using IoT technology as well as new light communication concepts for autonomous driving“, says bootcamp organiser Sandra Stromberger of the initiative Industry meets Makers.
About the Future Tech Bootcamp
The Future Tech Bootcamp is an open innovation community-building format by Industry meets Makers in partnership with the St. Pölten UAS, the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) of Lower Austria, Smartup St. Pölten, the Zukunftsakademie Mostviertel, DigitalCity.Vienna, and other partners.
The Future Tech Bootcamp takes place within the framework of the Digital Makers Hub. The Digital Makers Hub fosters a digital culture of open innovation, co-ideation and co-creation, supports SMEs in the digital transformation process and provides a platform for people and institutions dedicated to further transformation processes in Austria to allow for interaction, efficient exchange of experience and an Austria-wide coordination of activities. One of three projects throughout Austria, the hub is sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs within the framework of the programme "Digital Innovation Hubs in Austria" and implemented by the St. Pölten UAS together with the consortium partners Zukunftsakademie Mostviertel, Tabakfabrik Linz and the In2Make Industry meets Makers GmbH. Click here for further information.