In the Smart Solution Labs, students from different disciplines and
universities work together in an 8-week R&D sprint on real current tasks
from companies in the region and develop innovative inspirations and solutions.
Tasks include optimising or automating processes, analysing markets in their
own or neighbouring countries, or reusing waste products in a circular economy.
The R&D Sprint has a deliberately short duration of 8 weeks in order to
provide companies with a short but intensive external stimulus. Students are
given the opportunity to generate added value for the companies and at the same
time gain valuable practical experience in an interdisciplinary and
international team. They also gain an insight into the innovative work of
companies in the region, which should encourage them to consider this border
region as a future labour market.
Together with the Saxion Hogeschool, FH Münster and Westfälische
Hochschule, the Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft für den Kreis Borken (WFG)
and the Verenigde Maakindustrie Oost (VMO) want to open the doors to
cross-border knowledge transfer in the EUREGIO.
Students and companies are given the opportunity to look beyond their own
horizons. They learn more about how innovations are developed in the respective
neighbouring country and at the same time lose their fear of the labour market.
In addition, small and medium-sized enterprises that do not have sufficient
resources of their own for R&D projects receive valuable support in
realising their projects.
By the beginning of 2025, 48 students and 14 companies had already
actively participated in SSL. The tasks demonstrate the wide range of SSL,
including market expansion strategies, technical challenges such as optimising
a cooling system, and various applications with the aim of increasing
automation. Sustainability also plays an important role.
Further Smart Labs were launched in March 2025.
