The 5-HT Digital Qualifier- successful final event possible even in times of crisis

"How are supply chains for chemical products designed?

How can target groups be better subdivided?

How can the success of market entry measures be measured in a timely manner?"

is a fraction of the real questions that not only start-ups but all other players on the market have to face in order not to be overtaken by the competition in times of digital change, but also to be able to grow continuously. In order for students to be able to work on these and other real tasks of companies in a practical way, Prof Dr Stephan Haubold from the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences Idstein is now offering his business chemistry students this great opportunity for the second time - this semester, however, for the first time virtually.

As the final event in mid-January 2021 showed, this did not detract from the quality of the work. The students worked on concrete challenges from the practice of start-ups throughout the semester. They also received support from experienced mentors from the network of the co-organiser Wissensfabrik. The student teams worked brilliantly on the different topics of the start-ups and presented well-founded results at the conclusion. They succeeded in creating real added value for the challenge donors with their professionally presented papers. Some of the students' recommendations have already been put into practice.

Prof. Dr. Stephan Haubold emphasised: "The format demanded a lot from the students within the 16 weeks of active collaboration, however, I am proud of the performance and personal growth of my students. The need for virtual collaboration enabled them to strengthen their cooperation and achieve the best possible results, even internationally, as one challenge giver was from Singapore."

Five teams, in cooperation with experienced mentors from the Knowledge Factory network, actively tinkered with innovative ideas and solution approaches to support the following start-ups, among which even three are part of the 5-HT network, in their tasks.

ARXUM (Kaiserslautern) – is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider for the automated execution of cross-company business logic. With its own blockchain-based infrastructure, ARXUM offers its customers access to data silos of different companies in a supplier network without requiring complex user management.

Fermatics (Singapur) – researches and produces sustainable bioactive molecules through fermentation. Access to high-quality feedstocks is limited due to the complex chemical structures and thus almost impossible to synthesise via conventional chemical routes.

Genie Enterprise (Ludwigshafen) – is an independent, owner-managed engineering and consulting company with experience from more than 200 projects for the pharmaceutical industry with a project volume of around one billion euros. Process [.-ING] has extensive experience in the development and optimisation of processes for the production of biopharmaceuticals and manufacturing of sterile drugs.

Process[.-ING] is an independent, owner-managed engineering and consulting company with experience from more than 200 projects for the pharmaceutical industry with a project volume of around one billion euros. Process [.-ING] has extensive experience in the development and optimisation of processes for the production of biopharmaceuticals and manufacturing of sterile drugs.

Quantum on Demand Technologies (Berlin) - democratises the use of chemical and pharmaceutical simulations based on quantum simulation and artificial intelligence in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. To achieve this goal, the startup is developing a cloud-based platform that will enable customers to accelerate their product development cycles, shorten the time-to-market of new products and significantly reduce their research and development costs.

"When the right people come together, synergies and positive impulses arise to create added value for specific tasks," said Prof. Dr. Stephan Haubold and thanked the startups and the mentors for their trust and cooperation.

At the end of the event, Stefan Kohl from 5-HT pointed out the growing importance of the efficient exchange of ideas as a necessity for the innovative capacity of every learning organisation and, together with the co-organisers of the Digital Qualifier- the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences with Prof. Dr. Stephan Haubold and Julia Frensch from the Wissensfabrik Unternehmen für Deutschland e.V. (Knowledge Factory Companies for Germany), was pleased with the results that the students were able to set up in cooperation with the start-ups.

The feedback from this edition of the 5-HT Digital Qualifier also showed that valuable results were achieved for the founders, the students gained important experience and further contacts were established between start-ups and students. Everyone emphasised the work, but also the fun of the work. Who knows? Maybe one or two of them will be inspired to start up their own business.