For the 3rd year in in a row, students from the E³UDRES² institutions engaged in an I Living Lab. They searched for solutions with their trans-disciplinary teams for the complex problems that rise with entrepreneurs within the regions. The online teams worked on challenges such as Making Information accessible in a rapid changing world or Integrating sustainability in students life or Communicating science to the public. During 5 weeks, eight teams were challenged to get acquainted with their subject, empathize with the target group, dive deep into the needs, collaborate through design thinking with all stakeholders and work together with their team from different backgrounds cultures and study programmes - a challenge in many ways.
As usual, students could also choose, besides the online I Living Labs, for the Hybrid version. The students of the hybrid format took their I Living Lab one step further: Besides working online, they also met each other during one week in Belgium. Visits to Brussels, Hasselt, Genk and Diepenbeek showed them what is moving in the region of E³UDRES² university UC Leuven-Limburg (UCLL) UAS. Their journey started at the Liquid Studio from Accenture. Students and coaches took a glimpse into the future. What about the evolution of technology? Should we accept all progress without question? How can AI help us now? They showcased the Apple Vision Pro and Boston Dynamics and made students think about how to get further. An eye-opening experience for many!
During the next days of the local week in Belgium, the 40 Hybrid I Living Labs students and their coaches took the challenges from the E³UDRES² Hackathon to a next level. Two teams worked on the Talent Challenge: How to match GenZ with the job market of today. Two other teams took the Health challenge from a local hospital (ZOL) near the UCLL campus. ZOL aims to improve healthcare by easing administrative tasks for nurses through the use of AI. Up to 40% of their time goes to filling out patients files. This means that several hours a day are spent behind a laptop, instead of beside the bed of their patients. How can AI help us solve this burning question? An interesting quest for an I Living Lab!
Students exploring Virtual Reality at Accenture's Liquid Studio in Belgium.
After a total of five weeks, it was time for the participants of the I Living Labs to show their results during the Showdown, an online moment to present their results to the other teams and to the challengers. The coaches were very happy with the results shown. However, what E³UDRES² foremost is about, is the changing mindset the alliance wants to achieve with the participating students. Therefore, the organizing team was very happy to see students take a step into the unknown, pushing their limits and getting out of their comfort zone without losing sight of their team and ever taking care of their peers. 118 students did it again - that also means the E³UDRES² community welcomes 118 new E³UDRES² citizens.