TU Dresden is participating in the EUTOPIA TeamWork program for the second time and this year has gained a regional partner with an international reputation in corporate friends®, an innovative manufacturer of miniature LED lights from Kamenz.

TeamWork: practical, interdisciplinary, online

As part of the TeamWork programme, international student teams with up to six participants from universities in the EUTOPIA alliance work online for four weeks on real projects from companies and organizations. In addition to the project phase, they attend practice-oriented workshops and lectures on topics such as intercultural communication, storytelling, project management and presentation techniques. The aim is to promote interdisciplinary cooperation and intercultural competence in a targeted manner.

This year, nine students from TU Dresden took part in the program.

corporate friends®: Customized work with light

For one of this year's projects, the Kamenz-based manufacturer corporate friends® was won as a cooperation partner. The company has been developing LED luminaires and lighting systems for museums, architecture and exhibition design since 2011 - with a particular focus on showcasing exhibits in display cases.

The multi-award-winning manufacturer combines traditional craftsmanship with contemporary lighting design and supplies its products worldwide, including to the Al Shindagha Museum in Dubai, the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Vatican Museums.

The challenge

In the joint project, the students, led by Gesine Kutter, developed a targeted marketing strategy for new products and investigated ways of tapping into new customer segments. In the process, they not only gained valuable insights into the impact of professional lighting design, but also into sales strategies and brand positioning in a highly specialized market.

The collaboration provided creative impetus for the presentation, sales and strategic development of the corporate friends® brand and opened up a lively exchange between academic thinking and entrepreneurial practice.

A win-win situation for both sides

For the students, the cooperation meant a realistic, interdisciplinary learning environment with a European dimension, while for corporate friends® it offered the opportunity to introduce fresh and, above all, non-specialist perspectives into internal processes. This is in keeping with the spirit of the company, which - locally rooted but internationally oriented - sees regional, sustainable production as a matter of course and an expression of future-oriented work.

Added value for TU Dresden

For TU Dresden, TeamWork is more than just an international exchange format: it is a space for innovative, interdisciplinary forms of learning in which students acquire knowledge in real application contexts and test their skills. Following successful collaborations with companies such as Lipotype in the previous year, it once again demonstrates how university teaching and professional practice can interact profitably.

Peter Rosenbaum, Head of the International Office, and Henriette Greulich, Head of the Center for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching (ZiLL), emphasize:

"TeamWork creates a creative learning environment in which students test their knowledge on real-life challenges. It strengthens the internationalization of teaching and promotes the European networking of TU Dresden within the EUTOPIA alliance."

For a university that sees itself as globally networked and regionally committed, TeamWork is an outstanding example of knowledge transfer in action - between disciplines, regions and countries.