Pressure Cooker Day

To find a solution for a current problem of a local company: A task, which challenged eleven students from the four faculties of the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences during the Pressure Cooker Day. The interactive workshop brings together students from different degree programmes and creates space for innovative ideas under the lead of a creativity coach.

The flower retailer "Eurofleurs Elbers GmbH & Co KG" would like to expand their production, logistics and distribution areas, with a special focus on sustainability. How can water resources be used as sustainably as possible despite long periods of heat and sinking groundwater levels? Many companies are currently facing this challenge. At a workshop initiated by the "StartGlocal" project, students from the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences discussed these questions and developed initial ideas in discussion with the Kevelaer-based company.

Head of Business, Ann Elbers, is impressed by the creativity and expertise of the students: "On one hand, the project has strengthened our own ideas for a more sustainable use of water, and on the other hand, it has also allowed us to think outside the box. It was very exciting to learn about new perspectives and new expertise, and it was a lot of fun.” Students were also excited about this opportunity to work on "real" problems in "real" companies.

Resulting from the "Pressure Cooker Day", one of the eleven students will write her final thesis and pursue an internship at the flower retailer. Student Ruvimbo Munashe Kapurura sees this as an unique opportunity: "At the beginning, I had no idea what exactly to expect from the workshop and now I am totally happy to have taken part. Working on real business problems and coming up with proposals that could actually be implemented in the end, is an absolutely unique experience for me."

Sustainability is a top priority for the project team: for every milestone in this project, a tree is being planted in the "StartGlocal Forest". " Also,  it is very important to us to establish the university as an innovation partner for sustainability topics in the region and at the same time to involve our students and promote them in this way. As a sign of this, the "Gravensteiner Herbstapfel" has been planted together with Eurofleurs as the next tree in our StartGlocal Forest," says Dr Gerhard Heusipp, Head of the Centre for Research, Innovation and Transfer at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.