What the

Together with six members of the research campus, student teams developed and implemented innovative solutions for exciting challenges from July 6 to 8, 2022. ARENA2036 invited students from universities in the Stuttgart area to take part. After the kick-off on Wednesday afternoon, the teams had a total of 48 hours to solve the challenges set by the participating members. These ranged from blockchain-supported production software to the control of camper vans. The diversity of the challenge providers also had a corresponding effect on the tasks set: BALLUF, Mercedes-Benz, NAiSE, SIEMENS, SPIE and ThingOS not only brought extensive working materials and a great deal of expertise with them, but also had plenty of attractive prizes up their sleeves. At the end of the event, these were handed out to the tired but very proud students, who were able to take valuable learning and contacts home with them. "Close contact with students is extremely important for us at ARENA2036, because they are the future for us and our partners. The earlier we can establish close contacts here, the greater the chance of being able to recruit them for our own company later on," says Niklas Kiefl, the organizer of the event, with great satisfaction. He and his team had ensured in advance that the guests had round-the-clock access to the research campus during the event and were well looked after. In addition to the prizes from the challenge sponsors, ARENA2036 provided a care package, as well as certificates of participation and goodies for all participants in the hackathon.

We would like to thank all students, challengers and colleagues for the great, intensive collaboration and are already looking forward to the next time when it's "What the Häck?"!