An ideas hackathon on the topic of hardwood and value chains in timber construction took place at the University of Stuttgart from 23 to 25 May. Under the motto #hackinghardwood, 53 students from the subjects of business administration, architecture, technical cybernetics, computer science and some other engineering sciences developed ideas and concepts on current topics in the timber construction industry. The students were particularly interested in raw material utilisation, upcycling and data exchange.
Hackathon
“For a building turnaround, we need you and your inspiring and realisable visions!” encouraged Minister Peter Hauk MdL the students at the beginning of the event. As part of the course, the students had the opportunity to dive deep into the topics of the industry and to work practically in interdisciplinary teams as part of the course at the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research (ENI).
They were supported by the companies Holzwerk Keck, Holzbau Schaible, HolzBauWerk Schwarzwald and müllerblaustein HolzBauWerke, among others, who gave them insights into the day-to-day work of the industry during company tours and acted as mentors throughout the event.
In the workshops that followed, the students worked in teams to develop their ideas for future business models and presented them in a five-minute pitch. An expert jury then selected the three best concepts and awarded recognition. The jury awarded first place to the Kata Wood project, in which offcuts and residual wood are digitally recorded and offered to wood-processing trades via a platform or even calculated for further use using AI.
Partner
The event was organised by the knowledge transfer platform digitize wood and the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research (ENI) at the University of Stuttgart. digitize wood, in cooperation with the Holzbau-Offensive Baden-Württemberg, establishes the knowledge transfer between the Cluster of Excellence Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture (IntCDC) and the timber construction industry in Baden-Württemberg.
The ENI promotes entrepreneurship in theory and practice with an interdisciplinary approach that combines new technologies, innovation and science with the idea of sustainability, focusing above all on practice-oriented courses.
The ideas and concepts at a glance
Kata Wood, 1st place
About 75% of a deciduous tree is currently not processed to a high quality. Instead of burning offcuts and residual wood, the wood is to be recorded by means of 3D scans and offered on a platform for access by wood-processing trades. In this way, even small pieces of wood can be cut and dried. Furthermore, the use of the pieces of wood can be calculated by AI. The timber is stored in the sawmills.
digital forester, 2nd place
During the Corona pandemic, the number of citizens who regularly visited the forest increased. The digital forester app combines awareness-raising and information about the forest with the simultaneous collection of data about it. Users can, for example, provide information about the condition of trees, dead animals, pollen count and much more to the forestry office through photos and comments.
Artemis, 3rd place
Artemis provides a communication platform for better networking of planning and production in timber construction. This is intended to bring together not only all the value chains involved in an overarching platform, but also politics and research. In a forum, questions can be clarified and timber offcuts can be offered.
Tree Top, recognition
Not only does wood production generate a lot of waste, but also the demolition of houses results in the disposal of a lot of high-quality waste wood. Tree Top provides a platform for buying, processing and reselling this waste wood, not as a trader but as a intermediary for existing trading relationships, while increasing the use of waste wood.
