The Agile Design Lab (ADL) is ready to be discovered! The motto is research and learning by hands on experience and experimentation. Like the billiard table, where balls are played using a self-constructed striking unit. Or a 3D printer that, filled with chocolate, prints delicious figures, as well as a washing station for small plastic ducks. Here, the numbered yellow toys are cleaned for their next race on the water.
With the ADL, the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) opens a new place for innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and application-oriented research. Together, the Institute for Smart Engineering and Machine Elements (ISEM) and the Institute for Organizational Design and Collaboration Engineering
(ODCE) have created a modern working and research environment where students, scientists, companies, and start-ups are invited to jointly develop ideas, build prototypes, and bring innovations faster into practice. With the ceremonial opening by Prof. Nikola Bursac (ISEM), Prof. Tim Schweisfurth (ODCE), TU President Andreas Timm-Giel, Vice President Irina Smirnova, as well as numerous sponsors—such as Christoph Birkel, Managing Director of the Tempowerk Technology Park—the ADL is now officially inaugurated as a place of encounter.
An Open Experimental Space
The ADL is designed as a so-called “Living Lab” — an open experimental space where new products and working methods are not only developed but also directly tested and further developed together with future users. Before every process, the question arises of how an innovation comes about and how an innovation process can be accompanied to derive general principles. In the end, creative processes are meant to emerge in the Agile Design Lab and new solutions found—solutions that would not be possible in either an engineering lab or a business lab alone. The ADL is designed so that ISEM provides the technical framework and ODCE delivers the methodology, such as field experiments, observation, and causal-analytical designs.
“Innovations arise where ideas can be quickly tried out, tested, and improved. That is exactly why we created the Agile Design Lab. Here, concepts become tangible as prototypes within a very short time, are tested, feedback is gathered from customers, and based on the insights gained, continuously further developed. This shortens the path from idea to product and makes research directly experienceable,” says Prof. Bursac.
Prof. Schweisfurth also sees the new lab as an important building block for the strategic development of TU Hamburg: “The Agile Design Lab combines research, teaching, transfer, and science communication in one place. Students work here together with companies and researchers on real-world issues. This not only creates innovative solutions but also valuable learning experiences and new impulses for science and society.”
The Lab and Its Equipment Are Already in Active Use
Since the completion of the lab, seminars and lectures for students have already been taking place here, but the equipment is also used by school pupils: Workstations equipped with electronics and tools, as well as extensive technical equipment with 3D printers and laser cutters, enable ideas to be put into practice within a short time. The infrastructure is complemented by modern workshop and presentation areas that provide spaces for user feedback, tests, and agile teamwork.
Moreover, the Agile Design Lab sees itself as a platform for knowledge and technology transfer. Companies can develop innovative solutions together with researchers and students, start-ups receive support in implementing new business ideas, and public events make current research accessible to a broad audience. At the opening, the staff presented the ideas behind the lab as well as the individual research topics and projects at 17 exhibition booths. During the fair, the numerous visitors—refreshed by a large buffet—gathered information and took the opportunity to network.
