Our society is constantly changing. Global megatrends such as urbanization, an ageing population and new forms of work are influencing our daily life and are also having an impact on our mobility behavior. Due to progressive digitalization and new vehicle technologies, opportunities are arising for rethinking mobility in cities and individually aligning this to the mobility behavior of those living there.
Naturally, the safety and sustainability of transport modes play a significant role. However, in spite of these challenges and the new opportunities – offered, for instance, by the Internet of Things (IoT) – the mobility solutions available to date are not yet ready for the market. What is currently lacking are clever ideas for tackling this failing and for demonstrating solutions with improved concepts.
For this reason, a three-day ideas competition from TU Berlin entitled “Hackathon” was held in 2018 for school pupils and university students. During this competition, an idea in the form of a concept for new, urban mobility needed to be developed and implemented in a prototype (e.g. new intelligent type of vehicle or traffic light controls with sensors).
Prize money was awarded to the winning team for their “Cube2” idea, which involved the development of an autonomously driven gondola for senior citizens. The assessment was based on the criteria of “added value for those involved, degree of innovation, sustainability and feasibility”.
The practical implementation of the ideas will then be pursued further in collaboration with the “Center for Entrepreneurship” at TU Berlin and used for university teaching.
The idea process of the Hackathon will also be analyzed scientifically beyond the results of the competition. As part of the “EcoMaker” project funded by the German Federal Foundation for the Environment (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt), the knowledge will be passed on and used during the development of products in the prototype workshop “MakerSpace”. The Frank Hirschvogel Foundation is delighted to assume the costs of concept development, material, space rent and cash prizes for the innovative project.
