How CELSIUZ supports research projects in the Interaction Room - the example of CARBOUS
How does a promising idea develop into a viable research project or even a start-up project? The CELSIUZ Co-Creation Lab at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences addresses precisely these questions. The Interaction Room is a transfer space that actively supports researchers in the development, structuring and continuation of their projects - digitally, hybrid and professionally moderated.
One current example is the CARBOUS project consortium, which is led by the Institute of Process Engineering, Process Automation and Metrology (IPM) under the direction of Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Tobias Zschunke. Together with partners such as the DLR, the DBI Group, ULT AG and several SMEs, CARBOUS is pursuing the goal of developing innovative processes for the climate-friendly production of energy, technical gases and chemical base materials.
At the first project meeting, the CELSIUZ team took over the moderation and used interactive methods to actively involve all participants right from the start. Martin Herling, transfer employee at CELSIUZ, guided the participants by using room technology and at the same time structured the joint work process with a mind mapping format that made technical ideas, roles, interfaces and open questions visible in real time. The aim was to visually structure both the technical ideas and the roles, interfaces and open questions involved. It was particularly important to actively involve all participants - whether on site or online. Thanks to modern technology in the Interaction Room, contributions from the plenary session, chat messages and digital whiteboard notes could be seamlessly combined. Short surveys, votes and direct additions to the mind map by all participants ensured dynamism and a shared understanding of the next steps.
The setting was tested for the first time in a hybrid format: Thanks to improved camera, sound and transmission technology as well as the integrated collaboration platforms, the discussion between face-to-face and online participants was seamless.
In addition to digital whiteboards, tools such as Kialo (for structured argumentation) or notepad functions can also be used. The jointly developed mind map not only served as a basis for discussion, but was also continuously supplemented and documented - and can be used as a basis for further application texts in the future.
The feedback from the participants was clear: the combination of professional moderation, visual structuring and technically flexible room design helps to concretize ideas and develop them further together. However, potential for improvement was also reported, which the Celsiuz team will address.
One thing is clear for the further development of the transfer room: formats such as the Practitioner Circle or instruments such as the Interaction Room must be dynamically adapted to the needs of research teams and constantly rethought in order to enable collaborative work at eye level - from the idea to the application or spin-off.
With the CELSIUZ Interaction Room, Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences is creating a space that not only facilitates technology transfer, but also promotes new forms of scientific collaboration. Support services such as moderation, methodological input or follow-up advice are available to project groups - whether for applications, workshops or start-up projects. The staff of the Saxony⁵ transfer project have developed a range of services for this purpose, which can also be booked online.
CELSIUZ shows that transfer occurs where exchange is actively shaped.
