INNOVATION AND CO-CREATION SEMINAR MSC RENEWABLE ENERGIES (RENE) 2019

[eng] Living Lab LOW3 and its director Torsten Masseck welcomed for the sixth year students of the InnoEnergy MSc Program "Renewable Energies" (RENE) from 8 different countries for a 2-day innovation seminar under the title “Holistic Sustainability Approach for Innovations”.

This year 21 students, divided into two groups worked on the ambitious goal to develop "Sustainable Lifestyle Scenarios 2030" including technological, environmental and socioeconomic forecasting as a result of the presented projects and generated discussions.

The first day was dedicated to Innovation through the presentation and analysis of research projects in the three main focus areas of Housing, Energy and Lifestyle.

HOUSING: Students got known to the innovative concepts of UPC's nearly zero energy buildings, exploring and analyzing the technological concepts of the LOW3 prototype house in the fields of solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, HVAC, bioclimatic building management and energy monitoring systems. A forecasting exercise, projecting the analyzed technologies to 2030 allowed to enter fully into the discussion about the relationships between housing, energy and sustainability.

ENERGY: Students got introduced into the results of the  R4E - Roadmaps for Energy project (www.roadmapsforenergy.eu), getting known to the developed energy roadmaps for European partner cities in the field of Smart Buildings and Smart Urban Spaces and Smart Mobility in order to discuss energy transition of society in the coming decades.

LIFESTYLE: Students got introduced to a holistic transition to sustainability through the international Sustainable Lifestyle Accelerator project 2018-2020 (www.suslifespain.blogspot.com, www.suslife.info), where UPC collaborates with international partners from 7 counties under the lead of the Wuppertal Institute in the reduction of the environmental impact of private households. 

The second day was dedicated to co-creation, applying the R4E methodology of complexity maps and roadmapping for the generation of innovative product or service concepts for a “more sustainable urban life in 2030”. 

Finally, students co-created in dynamic group sessions through a story telling approach concepts for “a more sustainable urban life in 2030”.  The holistic visioning and presentation through small performances of a more sustainable future urban life, generated ambitious discussions and allowed to foster the creative potential of these future “game changers” of InnoEnergy. 

Despite of hot weather, the domestic atmosphere of Living Lab LOW3 with its efficient cross ventilation contributed to the success of two days full of technology exploration, inspiring conversations and intense discussions about innovations in the field of renewable energies within a wider environmental and cultural context.

This sixth collaboration with the MSc Program RENE of KIC InnoEnergy confirms again that LOW3 offers a valuable contribution to engineer students’ education through its holistic approach to sustainability within a unique, real-world environment of a Living Lab bringing together in one place the important topics of Housing, Energy and Lifestyle.