A worthy conclusion: The final event of the Jugend Inde Lab

Actually, I should have been sitting on the premises of the FH Aachen on August 20th. Because of the corona pandemic, however, I'm sitting in my home office and looking at the screen of my computer and still feel like I'm there. A digital trade fair makes it possible.

I step through the entrance of the large building and find myself in the foyer. The exhibition stands and the lecture hall are clearly signposted there. A few dozen other visitors are already waiting in the digital lecture hall. The moderators initiate the event and the students present their results after a year of project work in the JugendIndeLab. 

But the global corona pandemic continues to ensure that larger events cannot take place. For this reason, visitors to the digital final event were able to navigate through a digital image of the FH Aachen. After a year of project work, the five participating teams presented their results in a live stream.

Youth IndeLab: Structurechange as a project topic

It is the aim of the JIL, young people in the development process related to structural and climate change to be included, since the young people have to live with the consequences for the longest, as well as with a different perspective as adults work on the task. 
The schools of the participating students lieen in the Rhenish lignite mining area, a region that is facing major structural changes as a result of the coal phase-out. The young people had the task of developing sustainable concepts for their region Digitization, innovation, mobility, energy and construction to develop.  

From ideas of using the water of the emerging lake landscape to produce hydrogen to intelligent control of road traffic in the region, the students have given many and profound thoughts to their future and the future of the region. In their project work, the students were supported by godparents from politics, business and science. The sponsors include Dr. Patricia Peill MdL, Jens Bröker (Indeland Society), Alexandra Landsberg from the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Economic Affairs, Dr. Werner Pfeil, MdL, and Ralph Sterck (Rheinisches Revier region of the future).

Funding from sponsors and ERDFzdi  

The efforts of the students have not gone unnoticed this year. Both the Energy Informatics Foundation and Sparkasse Düren have agreed to sponsor the project with prize money.  
The sponsors and supporters of the project who were present affirmed that the development of new concepts is important for the region, because in addition to the great challenges, there are also great opportunities for the region.  
The digital school laboratory was brought to life by the FH Aachen and ANTalive - zdi-Zentrum. It is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the ERDF-zdi program.  

The second project round has already started. Six schools are participating in the new run. Next year, the final event will also take place digitally. So next year we can look forward to more solutions to deal with the structural change in the Rhenish coalfields.