DataLab WestSax

Short description – The project “DataLab WestSax” aims to tap into the previously untapped potential of data to create value. The team led by Prof. Heiko Gebauer at the Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy (IMW, Leipzig) and the team led by Prof. Christoph Laroque at the West Saxon University of Applied Sciences in Zwickau will receive a total of 1.5 million euros in funding from the Saxon State Ministry for Infrastructure and Regional Development (SMIL). This will enable us to help companies (both private and public) in the West Saxony region test digital technologies and data utilization methods tailored to their specific needs. Through conceptual work, experimental data processing, and analysis, our project team will work with and for these companies to identify new value-creation potential and support their integration into business practice.

as part of the simul+ InnovationHub

Project Duration:
Jan 1, 2022 to Apr 30, 2025

Project Management:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Laroque

Partner:
Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW

The "Sächsische Staatsministerium für Infrastruktur und Landesentwicklung (SMIL)" is supporting the project as part of the simul+InnovationHub.

As part of this research initiative, a hybrid (virtual and on-site at the project partners’ locations) real-world laboratory called "DataLab WestSax" will be established to demonstrate the potential of data-driven value creation for regional public and private companies in Western Saxony and to leverage that potential in the long term. DataLab WestSax brings together two strong research partners with complementary resources who have conducted excellent preliminary work on data-driven value creation. At DataLab WestSax, companies can work closely with experienced staff from Fh-IMW and WHZ—away from their day-to-day operations—to collaboratively conduct highly relevant real-world experiments on data-driven value creation. The research partners contribute their own extensive insights from research projects and industry collaborations and ensure an “outside-in” challenge to the companies’ ideas. Beyond the real-world experiments defined at the outset (with the partner companies in our consortium), the goal is to achieve ongoing networking and visibility through a cross-cutting DataLab WestSax think tank, as well as to organize the system and objective knowledge of the West Saxony region in such a way that it provides valuable and meaningful benefits for the various stakeholders in the context of data-driven value creation. The think tank serves to develop ideas, formats, demonstrators, and concepts that are to be sustained beyond the project’s duration and used for the further development of the lab.