20 December 2022 marked the highlight of the third round of E³UDRES² I Living Labs: For six weeks, students from all E³UDRES² institutions and disciplines were working together in small teams to find solutions for real-life challenges. During this time, they were accompanied by educational entrepreneurs and stakeholders and dived deeper in the Design Thinking method. During the Showdown event at the end of December, all teams presented their solutions in form of a short video pitch followed by questions from a jury.
The Showdown event on-site
Several universities invited their participants to join the Showdown at their local hubs. At St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences in Austria, the showdown was celebrated on-site with a special program. Before the official event, two student hosted a discussion with other students and educational entrepreneurs to give an insight into the characteristics of an I Living Lab and skills they learned from it. Then, the official presentations started, where all hubs and participants connected online to watch the video pitches and participate in a Q&A round from the Jury. At the end, three teams were awarded prizes in the three categories: Circular Economy, Human Contribution to AI and Active Ageing & Wellbeing. The successful end of the I Living Labs was celebrated afterwards with food and drinks.
Different I Living Lab formats
In this round of I Living Labs, E³UDRES² launched two new formats which included on-site exchange with students and stakeholders. Besides the classic six-week online format, E³UDRES² also offered the Umbrella I Living Labs with a trip to UC Leuven-Limburg UAS in Belgium, and an Intensive I Living Lab as a shorter format, where the entire work was concentrated into one full week on-site at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences in Latvia.
The next I Living Labs are just around the corner!
With this round of I Living Labs coming to an end, E³UDRES² is already planning the next round. The successful formats of Classic (online), Blended (online & on-site) and Intensive (on-site) I Living Labs in the summer term 2023 will be continued. The registration will take place from 10 February to 03 March.
