Task

As a re-examination task you will be required to work on a business challenge posed by practitioners. As last semester your will work as a group to

gather information about the practical context of the business challenge,
research information about the topic (state of research and practice),
identify and understand stakeholders that are affected by the problem as well as their needs,
develop an innovative, agent-based approach to tackle the problem,
detail the solution and create a running prototype,
create an implementation plan,
detail and reflect on the specific value creation mechanisms (e.g., monetarization opportunities, cost savings, etc.), and
discuss lessons learnt, contributions and practical recommendations for action.

Everyone shares responsibility for the results of the group. If you have problems in the cooperation that you cannot solve yourself, you must proactively indicate them.

The detailed briefing of the challenge is documented in the section Business challenge below.

Deliverables

As a group, you will deliver a final presentation and a seminar paper.

The presentation gets to the heart of your idea (25% of the grade):
- Short summary of your concept (i.e., elevator pitch)
- Presentation of the prototype of your design
The seminar paper is a detailed documentation of your approach and of the artefact (75%):
- An understanding of the problem and the needs of the stakeholders
- Your approach to IT-enabled value creation incl. boundary conditions
- Details of the artifact (i.e., the prototype) that you have developed
- Your implementation and value-realization plan
- Lessons learnt, contributions and practical recommendations for action

The grade is the weighted average of the group score (60%) and the individual contributions (40%); the individual contributions must be indicated.

Presentation

You have 10 minutes for the presentation (date please see the schedule)

Every group member needs to take a part of the presentation.
Please make sure that the speaking time is distributed equally.
Set-up the presentation as a convincing pitch.
Show your prototype in action.
There are no formal requirements on the slides.
Slides must be handed in as PDF (Moodle).
There will be a Q&A at the end (incl. hands-on with the prototype).

Evaluation criteria

The main criteria is how convincing your pitch and solution is.

In addition, I look at the following criteria:

The problem is clearly and comprehensively defined, with a strong understanding of the stakeholder(s) and their needs.
The proposed approach to value creation is logical, complete, and well-aligned with the problem and stakeholder needs.
The solution is well-developed, addresses the problem effectively, and reflects the characteristics of a viable MVP.
The team communicates clearly, confidently, and professionally, telling a convincing story and using effective visuals.
The presentation is well-structured with clear flow, transitions, and effective use of time.
The presentation is free from language, spelling, or formatting errors and demonstrates high attention to quality.

Seminar paper

Contents and structure

Abstract: Gives a short elevator pitch of the approach that sums up your concept in a nutshell.
Introduction: Provides an introduction that piques the reader’s interest or curiosity for what is to come by indicating the main challenge.
Problem definition: Outlines the specific problems that you have identified and that your solution is intended to address, as well as the stakeholders that will be affected and their needs. Also be clear about the consequences of failing to solve the challenge. You synthesise these into a concise problem statement. There is a need for reference to (scientific) literature here.
Approach: Describe and discuss your approach to using IT to address the challenge and to create value for the organisation. You also need to consider alternatives to what you propose. Show why your approach is different from the alternatives and why it is more promising.
Solution: Provides a detailed description of the solution, including technical details. In this section you should clearly show how the (characteristics of the) solution will support or enable your approach to IT-enabled value creation. Please also be specific in your description of the innovative nature of your solution.
Implementation: This section covers how the organisation should and has implemented your solution, including a discussion of any potential hurdles that may need to be overcome. Also include how you plan to evaluate effectiveness.
Discussion: Presents lessons learned, contributions and practical recommendations for action that go beyond the specific challenge. This involves looking at (scientific) literature.
Appendix: Provides information that may help to gain an even better understanding of your solution.

Formal requirements

Use the template offered here
The paper should contain min. 6 pages of text per person, maximum 10 (details see template)
The paper must be uploaded as PDF (Moodle)
Individual contributions must be identified (listed in a table in the Appendix)

Evaluation criteria

An exemplary seminar paper has the following characteristics

The intro makes the reader want to read further
The problem definition is concise and comprehensive
The reader is able to picture the stakeholder and their needs
The approach to value creation is fully elaborated, complete and makes sense
The characteristics of the solution relate well to the problem and the approach
The solution has the maturity level of an MVP (value creation can be demonstrated)
The description of the solution allow for a detailed understanding
The recommendations for value realization as well as their rationale make sense
The solution and the process are well reflected (lessons learned and contributions)
There are very few errors, the writing is clear, and easy to read and engaging
The originality of the solution is clear and the used sources are evident

A note on grades

It is unlikely that every student will receive a very good grade, i.e. deliver an outstanding performance - see the meaning of grades. Instead, it is to be expected that the grades will spread across the spectrum.

Grade	Meaning
`1` — very good	A truly outstanding achievement that (not only) shows no deficiencies in the criteria mentioned, but also gives both the supervisor and external assessors an excellent impression.
`2` — good	Work that exceeds the average requirements/performance and is easily recognizable and presentable to the outside world as a “good performance”.
Note	2.5 is the average of passed assessments, i.e., an “average performance”
`3` — satisfactory	A performance that achieves the desired goal “to a satisfactory extent”; however, deficiencies can be identified here and there.
`4` — sufficient	A performance that “still adequately satisfies” the requirements, but deviates from the expectations placed on it in several ways.
`5` — not sufficient	A performance that does not meet several of the criteria mentioned.

Business challenge

General Briefing

Alongside teaching and research, transfer is the third strategic core task of Hochschule Neu-Ulm (HNU). Transfer is understood as the continuous exchange of ideas, knowledge and technologies between the university and actors from business, society, research and politics.

The Referat Projektentwicklung, Transfer und Kooperationen (Office for Project Development, Transfer and Cooperation) supports this exchange by bringing together enquiries, contacts, cooperations and activities from inside and outside the university. Its aim is to connect people, knowledge and ideas, and to turn these connections into value for teaching, research and practice.

The Challenge

Every day, HNU’s transfer activities generate new contacts, cooperations, project ideas and insights. At the same time, the sheer number of actors, topics and processes is becoming an organisational challenge.

Enquiries from inside and outside the university reach the office through many channels: e-mail, telephone, personal contact. They concern cooperation opportunities, research and practice projects, knowledge transfer, third-party funded projects, events or networking activities. Matching an enquiry to the right counterpart largely depends on personal experience and individual networks.

Information on contacts, competencies, interests, existing cooperations and ongoing activities is scattered across people, departments and systems, and is therefore only partly visible
Suitable people, departments or partners may be overlooked, and valuable synergies remain unused
Knowledge that is not followed up immediately is easily forgotten, although other researchers, lecturers, students or units might benefit from it

This is particularly relevant when third-party funded projects are initiated. Most funding programmes require suitable partners from business, research or society. The search for them currently builds on existing contacts and personal experience, as a consolidated overview of networks, competencies, earlier cooperations and potential project partners exists only to a limited extent.

The transfer area also hosts the Career Service. Companies and organisations regularly want to offer job vacancies, internships, thesis topics, guest lectures or excursions to students. These offers are currently distributed and maintained across several channels. For companies it is not always evident how to place their offer best, while the university carries a high communication and administration effort.

In addition, numerous transfer events are organised by professors, faculties, competence centres and central units. They are important touchpoints between university, business and society and continuously produce new ideas, contacts, questions and cooperation opportunities. So far, the insights gained are captured and processed only in a limited and unstructured way. Standardised means are missing to

record feedback and needs of participants,
make new topics and challenges visible,
track follow-up activities and cooperations,
make insights available university-wide, and
assess the long-term impact of individual events.

Valuable hints on current challenges in companies and society, new research ideas or cooperation potential arise especially in personal conversations before, during or after an event, and usually stay with the person who had the conversation.

This raises the question of how knowledge gained in transfer can flow back into the university. Insights from events, conversations, cooperation projects or third-party funded projects could provide important impulses for new transfer formats, research activities, project ideas or course offerings. Currently there is no systematic way of making these connections visible and of tracing how knowledge from business and society actually influences teaching, research and future transfer activities.

HNU already operates a CRM system (Adito) for managing contact and partner data. The diverse requirements of the transfer area can be mapped in it only to a limited extent, while relevant contacts must still be maintained centrally and in compliance with data protection law. Capturing new contacts and updating existing records currently requires considerable manual effort, which undermines sustainable data quality and reduces the timeliness and usability of the available information.

Finally, there is the wish to evaluate transfer activities and their impact systematically. Among others, the following questions arise:

From which areas do enquiries and cooperations originate?
Which topics and fields of competence are in particularly high demand?
Which target groups are reached?
Which contacts, projects or cooperations emerge from them?
Which partners are suitable for future third-party funded and research projects?
Which topics are developing into future fields of demand?
What effects do transfer activities have on research, teaching and further transfer formats?
Which activities create the greatest value for HNU and its partners?

Considering these challenges, the Referat Projektentwicklung, Transfer und Kooperationen raises the following question:

How can agentic AI be leveraged to capture, connect and evaluate enquiries, contacts, knowledge, events and cooperation opportunities, so that relevant knowledge is not lost, suitable actors are brought together, new cooperations emerge, and the impact of transfer activities becomes visible?

Mandatory Questions

The following questions should definitely be answered as part of your concept and addressed by your MVP:

Who are the relevant stakeholders and what are their (unmet) needs?
How can enquiries, contacts, knowledge and cooperation opportunities be captured and connected transparently?
What data is available and can be used, and which data has to be created in the first place?
What capabilities do AI agents bring in and how can these effectively used?
How can knowledge from transfer activities be made usable for future events, cooperations, research and teaching?
How can contact and partner data be managed efficiently while sensibly taking existing systems (in particular the CRM in use) into account?
How can we ensure the solution complies with relevant data protection regulations while handling personal contact and conversation data?
Which open-source components are suitable for an MIT/Apache-2.0-licensed system?
What is the potential impact (i.e., business value) of your solution for HNU and its stakeholders, and how can this value be measured?
How does the MVP proof your concept, particularly regarding technical feasability and value add?
What factors must be taken into consideration to ensure the successful implementation and ongoing maintenance of the solution, especially regarding data quality and adoption?

Requirements

Networking of actors: The solution should connect actors, contacts and enquiries efficiently and support the identification of suitable counterparts and cooperation partners.
Knowledge retention: Knowledge and insights from transfer activities (events, conversations, projects) must be secured sustainably, i.e., they remain findable and reusable beyond the person who gathered them.
Low-effort data maintenance: The solution should simplify the maintenance of contact and partner data and reduce manual effort; existing systems must be taken into account rather than replaced light-heartedly.
Measure of impact: It is essential to introduce metrics that allow to evaluate the effectiveness and performance of the solution as well as to create transparency about transfer activities and their effects.
Security and data privacy: The solution processes personal data of internal and external stakeholders and must implement appropriate security measures and comply with the GDPR.
Technology foundation: The solution should utilize open-source technologies for core AI/ML components and follow modern software architecture principles (API-first, microservices).

Goals and Outcome

The goal of this challenge is to develop new approaches for HNU’s transfer management: solutions that effectively connect people, knowledge, ideas and cooperation opportunities. A successful solution will:

Make knowledge from transfer activities usable in the long term
Improve the exchange between internal and external stakeholders
Foster cooperations and third-party funded activities
Strengthen the data basis for strategic decisions
Support the flow of insights back into teaching, research and future transfer formats

Knowledge Base

Details about transfer at HNU and the services of the Referat Projektentwicklung, Transfer und Kooperationen can be found here
No real contact or enquiry data can be handed out for data protection reasons; work with anonymised or synthetic data that you derive from the documented enquiry types
Documentation on common transfer enquiries (see below)

In addition, Tanja Maucher (Referat Projektentwicklung, Transfer und Kooperationen) is available for Q&A sessions (on demand; contact details).

Common Transfer Enquiries

To better understand the types of requests the solution needs to address, here are common examples from the transfer office:

Cooperation & Networking

We are looking for a university partner for a joint research or development project.
Who at HNU works on artificial intelligence / sustainability / cyber security?
Are there researchers or students with expertise in our field of interest?
Can you support us in finding a project partner?

Third-Party Funding & Research

We would like to submit a funding proposal and are looking for suitable practice or research partners.
Which competencies exist at HNU in the field of X?
Are there previous projects or experiences on this topic?
Who could become part of a project consortium?

Career Service

We would like to advertise an internship or a working student position.
How can we attract students for our thesis topic?
We would like to offer a guest lecture or an excursion.
Which options are there to make our company visible to students?

Events & Knowledge Transfer

We are looking for speakers for an event on a specific topic.
Which topics are currently of particular interest to companies?
Is there demand for a new transfer or event format?
Which contacts or follow-up activities emerged from a past event?

General Transfer Enquiries

We have a challenge in our company and are looking for scientific support.
Is there expertise at HNU on our topic?
Who could be the right contact person for our enquiry?
Which options for collaboration with HNU exist?