Neu-Ulm University Puts Sustainable Innovation to the Test
The University of Applied Sciences Neu-Ulm and the SAP AppHaus co-created a UX curriculum on sustainable innovation
Written by Julia Jakob and Katharina Hoeschele, SAP AppHaus, Heidelberg.
Today’s students are the workforce of tomorrow and the drivers of the change we want to see in the world. The SAP AppHaus recognizes the importance of future generations and has a long-standing commitment to inspire students’ passion for innovation. We want to enable mutual learning opportunities and promote human-centered innovation in a way that feels tangible and achievable.
One project that recently came to fruition was the co-creation of a curriculum on Design Thinking and human-centered innovation methods together with the University of Applied Sciences Neu-Ulm (HNU), located in the southwest of Germany. The groundwork for this collaboration was laid back in 2018 when Beate Riefer, Design Strategist at the SAP AppHaus Heidelberg, held a guest lecture at the HNU. Following her visit, Beate was invited by Patricia Franzreb, Professor for User Experience and Design and Head of Innovation Space at HNU, to intensify their cooperation and offer students of Information Management and Corporate Communications the opportunity to participate in a new course on user experience design.
A hands-on learning experience for sustainable UX design
The course kicked off in October of 2021 with a strong focus on sustainable innovation. As part of the curriculum, students were split into one of eight competing project groups and tasked with redesigning a sustainable event experience for a business context. The project asked students to apply the methods they learned along the way, such as conducting research, generating ideas, prototyping, and pitching their results. All developed solutions needed to ideally leverage ideas and products that were economically viable and applied environmentally-aware designs and practices. At SAP, sustainability is embedded as core value in the company’s purpose statement, and SAP supported the course at HNU with research materials and information about existing sustainability measures and initiatives.
“Human-centered innovation and sustainability go hand in hand,” explains Beate Riefer. “In general, it’s important to contribute to overcoming challenges related to climate change, also in the business context. Thus, it was one of the main goals of the UX project to develop solutions and concepts that ensure the responsible utilization of resources and increase the positive impact of business events on society and the environment. It was also a great way for the students to practice their skills in real-life scenarios.”
Award ceremony for the top UX projects
The highlight of the UX course was an award ceremony where the top projects were chosen by Beate Riefer, Patricia Franzreb as well as through student voting. The winning group would receive vouchers for the SAP Learning Hub or openSAP online courses provided by SAP University Alliances.
Amongst the top contenders, project groups presented concepts such as tote bags generated out of recycled roll-up posters, a smart trash can with a gamification approach, and modular cubes that could be used interchangeably for seating, stands, or shelving. The top prize ultimately went to the team who had the foresight to save electricity by making use of the simplest and most common given during large events: walking. Their concept envisaged equipping main routes with sensors that generate electricity to supply the building’s energy.
To get to the top spot, the winning team began by conducting 360° research to decide on their focus area. They settled on the minimization of external energy consumption and the optimization of energy usage during events. They then carried out interviews with important stakeholders such as caterers and concert visitors to find out about their pain points. This also helped the team to ensure a user-centric approach while creating a persona and the respective customer journey, in which every touchpoint with the users gets defined. After conducting a market analysis and designing prototypes for their favorite concepts, the team decided to push forward with the idea for electricity generating sensors. As the course focused on information management and corporate communications, the students were also commissioned to prepare a branding for their fictitious companies by providing a corporate design, including website, social media, logo, teaser, first product variations, slogan, and a style guide.
Learning goes both ways
The cooperation between the SAP AppHaus and universities like HNU is what we like to call a win-win situation. For the students, it was a unique opportunity to improve their design thinking skills with a practical hands-on approach. As Professor Patricia Franzreb describes, “the cooperation with the SAP AppHaus has enriched the ‘User Experience Project’ immensely. Problems are given a higher priority, processes are understood in practice, internalized and are fun, and abstract theory becomes comprehensible practice.”
For the SAP AppHaus, the collaboration was also very valuable as it helped to contribute to the further development of the methodologies for future workshops. It was also an opportunity to not only spread the word about SAP’s Human-Centered Approach to Innovation, but to also practically demonstrate how the approach can be implemented and can contribute to sustainable innovation projects. This way, younger generations can be inspired about user-centric design.
Learn more
The winning project was inspired by a similar idea on a larger scale: How Technology Tunes Coldplay’s Eco-Friendly Tour to Hit the Right Note.
Learn more about other Academia Engagements of the SAP AppHaus.
The Innovation Space of the HNU was designed on the basis of Prof. Patricia Franzreb’s research and conception and her Creative Toolkit and SAP’s Mosaic method, which can be found in the Innovation Toolkit.
Learn more about the SAP AppHaus Network and related projects.
Experience matters. Follow our journey as we transform the way we build products for enterprise on www.sap.com/design.
