Designing the House of the Future - Thanks to Crowd
As part of an EU pilot action, the Cluster of Excellence MERGE at Chemnitz University of Technology is looking for innovative 3D printing solutions to make life at home easier - Challenge for teams and individuals with the option to win 1,250 euros in project start-up funding
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Designing innovative approaches for the house of the future - that is what a pilot action by the EU project "SYNERGY" is all about. The Cluster of Excellence MERGE is a project partner. Photo: geralt/pixabay.com (CC 0)
The EU project Synergy, located at Chemnitz University of Technology and supported by Interreg Central Europe, aims at establishing innovative networks in different areas of society and thus strengthening Crowd Innovations. For this purpose, the Cluster of Excellence MERGE at Chemnitz University of Technology (https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/MERGE/) is announcing a challenge for creative researchers, students, but also private individuals or companies. Interested parties can upload their ideas for 3D printed design elements, household objects or furniture to the Synergy Crowd Innovation Platform from 1 September until 30 September 2020. By enabling the integration of advanced technologies such as sensors or AI, these innovative objects will be designed to help people in their daily activities and thus improve the quality of life. The objective is to develop a vision for the "house of the future."
Three prizes will be awarded to the most successful participants: The first prize includes a voucher for project financing of 1,250 euros. The second place winner will receive a voucher for 1,000 euros, the third place winner will receive a voucher for 750 euros.
3D printing promotes potential - pilot campaign to spark new ideas
3D printing is booming. Especially in times of Corona, numerous visors, mask holders, respirator accessories and much more were and still are produced in large quantities. Actors from research, industry and politics are establishing networks and working closely together - new ideas and perspectives are emerging to help people during the pandemic. The keyword here is crowdsourcing innovation.
"When it comes to developing innovative projects and financing ideas, joint potential is often not fully exploited," explains Katharina Götz. Götz is a research associate at the Cluster of Excellence MERGE at Chemnitz University of Technology. "This is where Synergy comes into play. We want to release and utilize this potential in a targeted manner and for the benefit of all". The Cluster of Excellence MERGE is one of the seven research partners of the project, which come from six EU countries in total. As part of a pilot action, the project's organizers want to promote new ideas in the field of 3D printing and are looking for creative people who have contributions to make to the "House of the Future". The target audience is researchers, students, but also private individuals or companies.
Background: Additional details on the challenge - project financing between 1,250 and 750 euros possible
The project partners call for the "House of the Future" to be designed. The aim of this campaign is to create intelligent design elements, objects, and pieces of furniture. Participation is possible in a team or as an individual. For this purpose, a printable 3D CAD model of a prototype must be designed. Together with a description of the object and the innovation behind it, it will then have to be uploaded to the Synergy Crowd Innovation Platform, which has been specially designed and tested for such pilot actions. Once registered, participants are asked to promote their project on their social media channels. The project with the most Likes wins.
At the end of the campaign, a total of three prizes will be awarded. The participant or team with the most Likes will win a voucher for project financing of 1,250 euros. The runner-up will receive a voucher for EUR 1,000, while the third place winner will receive a voucher for EUR 750. All winners will also receive ten plastic printed prototypes of their CAD model.
Background: SYNERGY project
The Interreg Central Europe project Synergy aims to strengthen the currently underused links, cooperation and synergies between business, industry, research, intermediaries and policy makers in Central Europe. To this end, the partners involved in Synergy analyze innovation projects and institutions in the three key areas of Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing, Micro- and Nanotechnological Processes and Materials, and Industry 4.0, covering the most promising modern industrial technologies. One of the partners is the Cluster of Excellence MERGE at Chemnitz University of Technology.
Additional information is available on the project's Facebook page. For questions, please contact Katharina Götz by phone at +49 351/531-30497 or by e-mail at katharina.goetz@mb.tu-chemnitz.de.
(Author: Elisa Sommer / Matthias Fejes / Translation: Chelsea Burris / Eva Laurie)
Mario Steinebach
07.09.2020
