Number 3 for 2018 – Three teams from three different states win in the South-West

“Did you know that the spaghetti ice cream was invented in Mannheim in the 1960s?” Achim Wambach, President of the ZEW Mannheim, opened the Regional Final South-West with this question, pointing out that it is essential for everyone to learn at least some basic knowledge on economics. Just ask the inventor of the spaghetti ice: He didn’t patent it, and thus never got any licence fees from the ice cafés serving his idea.

Our teams, however, proved that they had understood the economic impact of the problems they wanted to tackle – and of course the solutions they developed.

The first team, Otto-Schott-Gymnasium Mainz-Gonsenheim, took the stage with their solution “Citizen’s Assistant”. Their topic was promoting eGoverning in Germany. Their idea was simple and straightforward: Improve the existing eGoverning systems and establish a client-oriented service based on a single point of contact – preferably an app/website. Starting with informing the citizens about expiration dates of ID-cards, the system could expand over time to more services.

“High Five” – the name for the solution of team 2 of the Fritz-Erler-Schule Mannheim already transforms a positive approach to a critical topic: How to combat child poverty? Their idea is to get in touch with the respective children directly at the school and provide them with contact to institutions and organisations to get support.

The second group dealing with the child poverty topic was Windeck Gymnasium Bühl. They want more “Schülerlotsen,” as they call them, social workers who accompany children and their families over the span of their time at school. They should support them with bureaucratic tasks and for better social integration.

After the first break, team 1 of Fritz-Erler-School Pforzheim presented their idea on how to help highly-skilled migrants to stay in Germany. Their “International Center” is based on existing programs, but they identified several issues they believe could be solved with their ideas.

The next team dealt with the same topic. “The solution is using a device everybody has got in their pocket – a smartphone” – or even more specific, it’s an app called “Itermentor”, and it’s a concept of the team Johann-Philipp-Bronner-Schule Wiesloch. They wanted this app to be a connecting spot of highly-skilled people from all over the world and mentors in Germany to deliver trustful information for the potential migrants to come to work to join the labour market.

The following two presentations dealt with the topic “Promoting Digitisation in Business”. The concept of Dietrich-Bonhöffer-Gymnasium Metzingen combines a learning platform for necessary digital skills with the motivation of donating money to charities the more training the employees make.

“M.I.T.” is the name of a certificate that was developed by the team 1 Saarpfalz Gymnasium from Homburg.  It also provides training for fundamental digital skills for employees ranging from word processing to programming.

The last group of the day was the second team of the Saarpfalz Gymnasium. Their topic was “Media Usage in the Digital World”. Their proposal was focused on fighting cyberbullying at their school.

That was our long day in Mannheim: Eight presentations, eight discussions, one voting and three teams advancing to the final in Hamburg.

We were happy to have Dr Ulrike Freundlieb, Mayor of Mannheim, and Prof. Achim Wambach, Ph.D., to award the winning teams. The teams that got the most votes were Otto-Schott-Gymnasium Mainz-Gonsenberg, Team 1 Saarpfalz Gymnasium Homburg and Team 2 Fritz-Erler-Schule Pforzheim.

We are proud that we again have had so many teams with such innovative ideas at this year’s regional final South-West. We say thank you to the great team of the ZEW for hosting this event and supporting us so brilliantly.

So, nine of the twelve finalists are set. Three more to come at the Regional Final West in Essen – the last stop on our tour.

Your YES! team