At the end of the year, we are pleased to give you a brief retrospective and status update on the ongoing Water Innovation Challenge:
At the beginning of the year, the IHK Berlin and the Startup Incubator of HWR Berlin launched the ‘Water Innovation Challenge Berlin’. Initially, extensive interviews were conducted with stakeholders from the business community, from which problem statements and challenges on the topic of “Sustainable Water Management” emerged.
In the subsequent cooperation and transfer formats, stakeholders from business, research, and society were able to network and develop joint projects.
Thanks to the newly gained cooperation partners, the Berlin University Network “Zukunft findet Stadt“, Berlin Partner, and the Kompetenzzentrum Wasser Berlin gGmbH, it was possible to initiate a diverse range of events and projects. We would like to briefly introduce a few selected ones:
Kick-off Event “Water Innovation Challenge”
At a kick-off and networking event on October 11 at HWR Berlin, interested stakeholders from business and research were able to meet and exchange ideas in several working groups on the previously identified focus topics of Sponge City, Legionella, and Water Reuse.
Innovation Work Retreat (IWR)
In a two-day workshop, business and practice partners (including Berliner Wasserbetriebe) and researchers (BHT, HTW, HWR) approached the topic of Legionella in an interdisciplinary manner and jointly discussed approaches to problem-solving. The result: an agreement on a research proposal to explore the topic in greater depth. The IWR is a format of the transfer project “Zukunft findet Stadt”.
Research Projects & Thesis Papers
Small and medium-sized as well as large companies are involved. Discussions and initial implementations of research proposals and thesis papers are underway and ongoing on topics such as water reuse in hydrogen electrolysis, tracing wastewater flows, and the potential for their recycling. Here, “trao – die Transfer-Roadshow”, another format of “Zukunft findet Stadt”, is being utilized.
A first major research proposal for the establishment of a real-world laboratory has already been submitted. This concerns the testing of multiple uses of urban agri-photovoltaic areas for integrative and local agricultural, energy, and mobility solutions including irrigation concepts.
Student Projects
As part of the module “Engagement for Sustainability and Social Responsibility”, six student teams from HWR Berlin developed innovative solution approaches to questions posed by three practice partners in a semester project using Service Design / Design Thinking methods. As part of the concept development, the students conducted various interviews and on-site visits. The extensively prepared results presentation before the three project partners, as well as further in-depth discussions, took place on December 1 at HWR Berlin’s Campus Lichtenberg.
Startup Challenge ‘Sustainable Water Management’
For 2024, the Startup Incubator of HWR Berlin, together with Kompetenzzentrum Wasser gGmbH, is planning a startup challenge format in which Berlin startup teams & prospective founders will develop innovative prototypes & concepts addressing challenges from practice partners in the field of ‘sustainable water management’. If you would like to participate as a challenge provider or sponsor, please feel free to contact us.
We would like to thank all those involved for their ideas and the strong collaboration thus far.
If your company is not yet in contact with us but might be interested, please feel free to get in touch. Contact: Sandra Thumm sandra.thumm@hwr-berlin.de and Falko Carl falko.carl@hwr-berlin.de.
