11. April 2019.

The University of Applied Sciences Munich (HM) will start the Digital Transformation Lab within the innovation network M:UniverCity next winter semester. In the future, the Digital Transformation Lab will offer students of all subjects the opportunity to work on digital projects together with partners from the public sector in Munich.

Digital skills for students in the future market Cloud-Computing

Cloud computing is one of the key technologies of digitalization, one of the largest growth markets in the IT industry and of great relevance for digital start-ups. The Digital Transformation Lab aims to develop entrepreneurial, technical and methodological skills for students working on real problems in the field of digitalization.

In addition to the goal of imparting digital skills to students, the aim is to support institutions in the metropolitan region in their digitalization processes. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cooperation partner of the lab and provides technical infrastructure and methodological support for teachers and students. The results are published under an open-source license and thus made available to the general public.

M:UniverCity and AWS: Driving forward digitalization processes in the Munich Metropolitan Region

The Digital Transformation Lab, located at HM and the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE), complements the existing Living Labs of the innovation network M:UniverCity. Scientists there work together with players from Munich institutions on solutions in the areas of "Health and Participation", "Civil Security" and "Climate Neutral Metropolis". In the Digital Transformation Lab, lecturers and students are now working together with actors from public sector institutions in the Munich Metropolitan Region to promote digitalization.

"It is our goal to fulfill our mission to have an economic and social impact through innovative forms of knowledge and technology transfer", says Prof. Dr. Thomas Stumpp, Vice President for Economics at the Munich University of Applied Sciences. "I am very pleased that we have now been able to conclude an agreement with AWS on this. Not only the case sponsors from the public sector, but also our students, lecturers and researchers can benefit greatly from this cooperation".

Project start with real use cases and actors

The Digital Transformation Lab will start in the winter semester 2018/2019, with AWS providing a contingent of cloud computing capacity for students and offering technical and methodological support. Cloud computing enables users to quickly access resources for hosting websites, storing and editing data, and to flexibly expand these resources as needed. In addition, AWS allows users to access existing cloud-based solutions in areas such as data analysis, artificial intelligence and voice-driven interfaces and quickly integrate them into their own solutions.

At the same time as HM's Digital Transformation Lab, AWS in Germany also supports the CODE University of Applied Sciences in Berlin - both as part of its "Cloud Innovation Center" (CIC) program. The program was developed at California Polytechnic State University, a partner university of HM.

The Digital Transformation Lab is one of the Living Labs of the innovation network M:UniverCity.

Christiane Taddigs-Hirsch