Two innovation sprints at the Kamp-Lintfort campus: creative solutions for real challenges
Two innovation sprints with regional companies took place as part of the speed dating event on 9 April 2025 at the Kamp-Lintfort campus. The aim was to bring students into contact with practical problems from the corporate world, while at the same time offering the companies new perspectives – and enabling both sides to get to know each other better.
WaTH IS AN Innovation Sprint?
An Innovation Sprint is a compact, interactive workshop format in which students work in interdisciplinary teams on a real entrepreneurial challenge within 2 to 3 hours. The focus is not on immediate solutions, but on understanding the problem, thinking together across disciplinary boundaries and developing initial creative approaches.
Digitalisation in a reality check: students work with Inconsult GmbH from Duisburg on a challenging automation task
In co-operation with the innovative company Inconsult from Duisburg, students worked on a complex and exciting task:
How can a highly complex test environment in companies be automated – while complying with strict regulatory requirements that often demand manual checks by qualified personnel to ensure safety?
The technical challenge was that the underlying test data had been recorded over many years in different formats and by different people. At the same time, there was the question of how the process could be organised: Who takes on which roles?
Many students gained deep insights into the real processes and difficulties of digitalisation – and recognised how many non-technical factors play a role, such as communication, documentation and regulatory requirements. Initial ideas for rule-based, intelligent automation of such test environments were developed.
Even though the task was too complex to be completed in just a few hours, valuable approaches and new ways of thinking emerged. Inconsult particularly praised the composition of the interdisciplinary and international teams.
Sustainability meets innovation: students develop concepts for ALTANA AG from Wesel
A second Innovation Sprint took place in parallel with ALTANA AG from Wesel. The challenge was:
How can international companies sustainably organise personal exchanges between colleagues from different locations?
Two student teams spent around 2.5 hours working on creative solutions. The first team developed an AI-supported app concept designed to support the sustainable planning and efficiency of international employee events. The second team designed a concept for decentralised โsustainability hubsโ that enable a structural reorganisation of international meetings and promote sustainable encounters in smaller, regional groups.
Here, too, it became clear that practical collaboration with companies at eye level offers a valuable learning space – and enables fresh ideas that go beyond traditional ways of thinking.
CONCLUSION: Innovation Sprints create real connections between universities and industry
Both sprints impressively demonstrated how creative collaboration between students and companies generates new impetus – and how important it is to create space for real interaction. For companies, such formats offer an opportunity to experience fresh thinking, present themselves as an attractive employer and recognise talent at an early stage.
Innovation Sprints are also a valuable experience for students: they gain insights into real challenges, can exchange ideas with companies and get a feel for what it would be like to work there – very different from traditional career events.
Interested in an Innovation Sprint?
If you as a company are interested in holding an Innovation Sprint – be it on a technical, organisational or sustainability-related topic – please get in touch with us! A sprint can take place at the university, in your company or as part of a study project. Our innovation manager Julia Roelfsen will be happy to support you with problem definition, moderation and implementation.
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