Data Worlds has been running for one and a half years now, and Andreas Brandenberg has a positive view of all that's been accomplished so far. The next step involves intensifying the work with external partners, besides taking steps to reach across departmental borders internally.
The data+service national thematic network
Prof. Dr Christoph Heitz from Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) gave a presentation in this connection, outlining the Swiss Alliance for Data-Intensive Services he initiated. Funded by the Federal Commission for Technology and Innovation, the national thematic network connects universities and enterprises with the primary goal of helping Switzerland become an internationally recognised hub for creating value on the basis of data-driven processes and by focusing on training, innovation, and inspiration.
At the national level, the thematic network is dedicated to data-driven innovation. At the member level, the exchange of ideas takes place primarily at conferences, training seminars, discussions among experts, and through the media. And at the individual level, its members are encouraged to launch their own research projects, to contribute to the network, and to work with partners who share their interests.
Two interesting examples can be found in the Service Design Lab of Mobiliar, which has a strong emphasis on design thinking. Georg Fischer’s Smart Factory Lab, which adopts the principles of Industry 4.0, is still in the early stages.
Promotion of networks
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts hopes that getting the interdisciplinary Data Worlds project to participate in the thematic network will help build expertise in data-driven processes and foster a lively exchange of ideas with researchers in industry and at other universities.
Towards the end of the event of one and a half hours, three researchers presented their projects from Data Worlds:
- Fabio Sigrist from Lucerne School of Business presented the Recommender System Project, a collaborative effort with the Cantonal Bank of Schwyz that mainly looks into ways of implementing automated referral marketing by means of customer data.
- Urs Bucher from Lucerne School of Business told about his experience with a start-up that specialises in building electric trucks and that wants to become more profitable by also including trip data when marketing its vehicles.
- Aliaksei Andrushevich from Lucerne School of Architecture and Engieneering explained the latest developments in the -IoT, BigData & HomeCare- project and the use of related data for improving the quality of life for persons suffering from dementia.
Please refer to the Data Worlds website for information on further projects.
