With their “Call for Innovation”, the Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart (WRS) and the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences (HFT) have supported six regional companies in improving innovative projects with acceptance research. Participants included the department store Breuninger, Daimler, Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen AG (SSB), the software company space one, Rho Data GmbH and Pilz GmbH & Co. KG for automation technology.
The projects were wide-ranging in terms of content: From the development of internal or customer-oriented apps to tools for digital collaboration or the question of how artificial intelligence (AI) can optimize the service offering for customers. For example, Daimler AG tested its corporate health management app “My Health” and space one improved it’s “Vispa” collaboration app, which is a virtual workshop room used with the help of avatars. On the other hand, SSB tweaked their “polygo” app, offering digital access to mobility services in the Stuttgart region and Breuninger submitted the “Instore View” app, showing offers and services of specific stores. Pilz GmbH & Co. KG investigated the worldwide acceptance of chatbots that provide customers with targeted information and Rho Data GmbH created a cloud-based solution that analyzes elements of internal communication such as emails and calendar entries to improve collaboration.
The different companies’ ideas, products and services were analyzed and optimized by selected students of business psychology at HFT for one semester from fall 2020 to Januaray 2021. The students developed individual approaches and solutions for the individual projects and investigated whether the planned products and services would be accepted by the respective customers.
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The “Call for Innovation” is an initiative of WRS and HFT. It took place as part of the M4_LAB project. M4_LAB stands for “Metropolregion 4.0 – Innovation and transfer from transdisciplinary research for energy-efficient urban development, sustainable management and production in the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region “. This transfer project at HFT Stuttgart is funded by the federal-state initiative “Innovative Hochschule “. The “Call for Innovation” is planned again for fall 2021.
