NRW Makerthon: students develop ideas for sustainable business

At the MittelstandsMAKERTHON NRW from 9 to 11 May 2023, co-organised by the BioSC, interdisciplinary student teams developed surprising, creative and above all professional solutions for current entrepreneurial challenges. The winning team convinced with an almost market-ready approach for the production of customised and highly stable shipping materials made of paper.

Makerthons are innovative development formats in which young people - mostly interdisciplinary student teams - develop creative concepts to solve individual problems with the support of experts.

The "MittelstandsMAKERTHON NRW - Station Rheinisches Revier" from 9 to 11 May 2023 was organised by the Zukunftsagentur Rheinisches Revier, the Bio4MatPro competence platform, the Bioeconomy Science Center, the BioeconomyREVIER coordination office, the Aachen Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Mittelstandsplattform NRW.Innovationspartner at the "Stiftung Fabrik für Kultur und Stadtteil" in Düren and supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of NRW. Around 30 students from NRW, mainly from RWTH Aachen University, took part. "Sustainability" was the overarching motto for which six companies from the region formulated their current challenges.

For example, the Aachen-based start-up Aixponic was looking for an answer to the question of how best to communicate to end consumers, while the municipality of Merzenich needed a solution for self-sufficient and sustainable energy supply. Faktor-X Agentur, which is active in the field of climate- and resource-friendly construction, asked for help in establishing its products made from renewable raw materials with potential customers. The Zerkall paper factory was represented with two challenges - firstly, the need to produce new, recyclable and sustainable products and, secondly, the concrete task of ensuring energy-efficient paper production on its production site with ecologically sensible flood protection. Finally, Modellfabrik Papier from Düren wanted a resource-saving process for dry fleece and paper laying.

On the afternoon of 11 May, the teams presented their ideas - such as the "Infoforum Ecobau", an information and event centre all about building with renewable raw materials, or the "Öcher Angelhaken", an interactive packaging for fish products that enables the company to engage in customer dialogue and loyalty in an entertaining way. Another idea was an integrated energy life-cycle concept that rearranged all steps in the value chain from energy production to consumption to end-user communication. One team developed the "Raue Rampe" (rough ramp), which is intended to enable fish, hikers and paper production to coexist on an equal footing along the river Kall. A very technically oriented design presented a completely new process step in paper production in which the energy consumption in paper drying can be reduced by 60%. The winner was the development team of the "Ecoframe" - a concept in which paper can be used in a highly compressed form as a precisely fitting, supportive packaging material for all kinds of shipping goods.

"The winning team's project idea impressed us enormously because it is almost ready for the market and we can easily test these approaches for our production and probably adopt them," says Hans-Wilhelm Hambloch, Managing Director of Papierfabrik Zerkall, highly satisfied with the result.

Planning for the next Makerthon in 2024 is already underway.

Source: Zukunftsagentur Rheinisches Revier