The 2nd International Demo Day, the final event of the second Open Innovation Lab cycle on a partnership level, was hold in Ulm, Germany. The event, hosted by bwcon and the Stadt Ulm, took place on May 14th 2019 in the premises of the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm.
The International Demo Day showcased the best solutions created by teams of young solvers from each of the partner countries. In seven different open innovation labs the teams have worked in a four months' period on challenges which were provided by seeking institutions. As a part of this process the open innovation method was used to find innovative solutions. During this time, the students benefited from entrepreneurship training, from the idea "generation process" and marketing to business models. The audience enjoyed the presentations. At the final conference on May 15th 2019 the two best teams have presented their ideas and concepts to the public.
The final conference had interesting guest speakers as Andera Gadeib, who was talking on the topic „How can co-creation shape our future? The way of working with smart sustainable solutions and making a difference in collaboration“ and Kathrin Günther, who presented on the topic of „Digital Innovation meets Tradition“. All guest speakers concentrated on different aspects of the topic open innovation, so the audience received a broad variety of inputs. While Andera Gadeib was focusing on the implementation of innovation on the societal level, Kathrin Günther was talking about co-creation processes within an organisation.
During the Final Conference the participants had the chance to hear interesting panel discussions on the topic of „Using Open Innovation“ and „How can politics support open innovation and entrepreneurship?" In this discussion the Lord Major of Ulm, Gunter Czisch, warned that open innovation labs may be political labels without being used in the required way, what needs to be avoided. Furthermore, the importance of a human-centric approach to deal with innovation was strengthened throughout the day.
In the end also the results of the DA-SPACE project were presented in the final conference. It was an exciting conference, which gave all project members the great opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences not only of the second cycle of DA-SPACE Open Innovation Labs, but also experiences gained from the whole project. Since the final conference was open for the public also many experiences from other projects and institutions were shared among the participants.
Seven Open Innovation Labs from seven countries, Germany, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovak Republic and Romania, have presented their results to real entrepreneurship problems which they worked on during the project of open innovation labs.
After a successful three-year implementation of the Danube Transnational Programme Project DA-SPACE the final conference was a perfect occasion to present the results and experiences of the project and to have some last project member meetings. Within the three years of the DA-SPACE project many things have been done, some interesting key facts are presented below:
- 118 challenges
- 70 innovative seekers
- 109 working teams
- 440 young talents
- 560 hours of trainings and workshops
- several on site visits
Testimonials of the "BzzWatchers" team members (winning team of the 2nd International Demo Day; DA-SPACE "Dunarea de Jos" Open Innovation Lab Romania):
Valentina Dumitrascu:
"I had the chance to be part of an international project, which really broaden my academic experience and provided me a great opportunity to apply all the knowledge I gathered at university. Meeting students from so many European countries made it a memorable week even more, also because our project was ranked 1st at the International Demo Day."
Stefania Cantaragiu:
"It was a positive experience, which helped me to learn many aspects about entrepreneurship and how to include electronic designed prototypes on the market. Another relevant aspect of the International Demo Day was meeting several teams from other countries and talking about their projects, exchanging ideas and technical information as well. Therefore, the participation to the DA-SPACE "Dunarea de Jos" Open Innovation Lab is definitely one of the highlights of my university semester since it has improved several aspects in my personal development such as presentation skills and pitching an idea/project in an international event."
Mihai Vidrascu:
"I became a better presenter after participating both at the Local Demo Day and the International Demo Day in Ulm, Germany. The presentation skills taught during the Entrepreneurship training were a gain for me as I'm usually very nervous when I'm presenting to a large audience. I'm very glad that our project was appreciated as the best one at the International Demo Day. I intend to make our product saleable and to make it available to as many beekeepers as possible, to ease their work and also increase their productivity and the hives health."
Look what the students said about their experiences of the project DA-SPACE:
Students of Bulgaria - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlYZ-H_FBgA
Students of Romania - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luavNlp6Zy0
Students of Slovenia - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqH8WpdzrIc
Students of Germany - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQDOdp_CZl0
Students of Croatia - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRMwQ1NhomI
Students of Serbia - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOziC9ifbBw
Students of the Czech Republic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgAGVhTPdA0
