The new Saxony5 Co-Creation Lab at the HSZG was presented to the public for the first time. Minister President Michael Kretschmer also informed himself about the progress made in the transfer lab.
One hundred years ago, more than a thousand people produced spun cotton, sewing thread and sizing chains in the former Schubert factory in Zittau. Which worker from back then would have thought that the university would now set up a laboratory there focusing on supply infrastructure?
With this in mind, the Saxony5 project team at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences warmly invited guests to the Mandau-Höfe on November 21 to hand over the keys to the new CELSIUZ co-creation lab.
After the welcoming speeches by Professor Tobias Zschunke (Vice-Rector Research HSZG and Project Manager Saxony5 at HSZG), Michael Kretschmer (Minister President of Saxony), Thomas Zenker (Mayor of Zittau) and Dr. Markus Binder (Chairman of the Lusatia Economic Initiative), the keys were handed over by Jana Rudolph (Verwaltung Berliner Grundstücke GmbH) to the Chancellor of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, Karin Hollstein.
The future heart of the laboratory, the large experimentation and training control center, was then unveiled. This is where entrepreneurs and researchers can come together to visualize, virtualize and test processes and develop new products and services.
Afterwards, guests were able to put on VR goggles or observe artificial intelligence in action during damage detection in a medium-sized company. Both came from projects of the Institute of Process Engineering, Process Automation and Metrology, which was able to use them to effectively present its research.
In the adjoining room, colleagues from the "Life and Technology" project used elaborately designed shadow plays to show how the Mandau-Höfe can be further developed into a diverse location for knowledge and technology transfer. For more information on this project, please contact Ms. Sabine Scholz (Head of Research). We are delighted about so much interest, media presence, the support of the Saxon Real Estate and Construction Management(SIB) and, above all, the confirmation from our guests that we are continuing on our chosen path and making the transfer of knowledge visible and tangible.
In the afternoon, the second event of the day attracted university employees and entrepreneurs to take a first look at the premises. The CHEESE & mulled wine was accompanied by the chance to present their own research projects, business ideas or future plans in an elevator pitch. The basic idea of the format is to present your idea to an interlocutor as well and as clearly as possible in one minute, just like using an elevator. Afterwards, the guests networked with each other over gingerbread, cheese snacks and a late-autumn mulled wine.
There will still be a lot to do in the CELSIUZ premises over the next few months - a server room and two small offices will be built at the back, and electrical, lighting and data lines will be installed.
By the middle of next year at the latest, we want to start operations and be available in the CELSIUZ as a scientific point of contact for the Saxony5 transfer network for topics relating to supply infrastructure - i.e. electricity, water, heating, cooling, gas and data, among others. In future, CELSIUZ will be a place for finding ideas, sharing simulation technology and working together in an inspiring way, inviting employees of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and their partners from business and society.
The team around sub-project leader and newly crowned Science Slam winner Dr. Clemens Schneider (YouTube video) would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the preparation and implementation of the event.
Text: Martin Kunack/Kristin Sprechert
