Our IoT Talent Program at the ITQ Makeathon 2023
OUR IOT TECH TALENTS AT THE ITQ MAKEATHON 2023
How to make urban development in the Canary Islands more sustainable? And What do our IoT Talent Program participants have to do with this question?
How to make urban development in the Canary Islands more sustainable?
How to make urban development in the Canary Islands more sustainable? And What do our IoT Talent Program participants have to do with this question and with the development of possible solutions?
In the beginning of March, ITQ GmbH organized a makeathon for over 200 business and engineering students: The 6th Smart Green Island Makeathon 2023. As part of our IoT Talent Program, three selected students out of our talent pool were able to participate in the makeathon together with our hardtech program coach Thibault and travelled to the sunny island of Gran Canaria.
WHAT EXACTLY IS A MAKEATHON?
ITQ GmbH describes it as follows: “A “MAKEATHON” is an innovative educational event in which several teams (also from different fields of studies) create and develop technological prototypes as well as innovative solutions during a short period of time. The challenges or problems could be provided whether by the sponsored companies or within the participating teams” (Source: ITQ GmbH, 2021).
ITQ GmbH describes it as follows: “A “MAKEATHON” is an innovative educational event in which several teams (also from different fields of studies) create and develop technological prototypes as well as innovative solutions during a short period of time. The challenges or problems could be provided whether by the sponsored companies or within the participating teams” (Source: ITQ GmbH, 2021).
OUR EXPERIENCE AT THE ITQ MAKEATHON
Our IoT talent program joined the event to learn, work, brainstorm, make, hack and create together!
We didn’t want to deprive our IoT talents of this opportunity and started the journey on Tuesday the 28th of February from Berlin to Gran Canaria. Our startup coach Thibault Hermitte and three selected students from our IoT talent program joined the makeathon to learn, work, brainstorm, make, hack and create together! All four, Khushi, Lennart, Hannes and Thibault, enjoyed not only the event, but also the change of location, the cooperation with the local students and the beautiful sun.
The sunny days were full of networking, hacking, making, creating, presentations and team building sessions. But there were also input sessions like the one held by Rainer Muemmler and Conrado Ramírez García from MathWorks: “Fast prototyping using Model-Based Design to integrate AI on (low-cost) hardware”.
During day two and three, the focus was on workshops and input sessions as well as on the making and the hacking. Central topics and challenges of the makeathon were among others the areas: Improving clean water measurements, trash recycling, autonomous garbage collection, green energy, smart farming and smart watering trucks. These challenges were provided by corporates like B&R Industrial Automation, igus GmbH, Beckhoff Automation, Murrelektronik, Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG, MathWorks and more. In these four days 200 students from all over the world worked on innovative ideas together. On the last day of the makeathon the students presented their prototypes and pitched their ideas.
BIGGEST LEARNINGS & SUCCESSES
But not only the workshops, input sessions and the development of ideas and prototypes provided new insights and learnings! The biggest learnings for our hardtech coach Thibault Hermitte at the Smart Green Island Makeathon were:
- Even big corporations can have sustainable development and environmental consciousness at heart, it all comes down to the company’s culture and what they are willing to truly invest in.
- We still have a long way to go when it comes to more diversity in the Tech industry.
- Your friends from university can really become your business partners in the future.
To top it all off, our IoT Program participant Khushi Mehta won the Social Media Award for the most liked photo: https://lnkd.in/eUKhK4XG
OUR SUMMARY - SMART GREEN ISLAND MAKEATHON 2023
Looking back, this trip was an unforgettable experience for our IoT talents, who all returned with big smiles on their faces. It was an experience that helped the three future IoT professionals to develop their skills and to face new challenges. An experience that will always remain positive in their memories. But above all, the trip to the Smart Green Island Makeathon shows once again, with how much joy and professionalism the participants of our iot program can implement the skills they have learned and how well they can tackle complex problems in a team, even with a slight language barrier. Experiences, which we will continue making possible for the participants of our IoT Talent Program!
Special thanks for this opportunity to ITQ GmbH, Dr. Stetter ITQ, Dr. Rainer Stetter and Lars Bornecke for organizing such a multi-day event. See you next year on the next makeathon!
Looking back, this trip was an unforgettable experience for our IoT talents, who all returned with big smiles on their faces. It was an experience that helped the three future IoT professionals to develop their skills and to face new challenges. An experience that will always remain positive in their memories. But above all, the trip to the Smart Green Island Makeathon shows once again, with how much joy and professionalism the participants of our iot program can implement the skills they have learned and how well they can tackle complex problems in a team, even with a slight language barrier. Experiences, which we will continue making possible for the participants of our IoT Talent Program!
Special thanks for this opportunity to ITQ GmbH, Dr. Stetter ITQ, Dr. Rainer Stetter and Lars Bornecke for organizing such a multi-day event. See you next year on the next makeathon!
