ZHAW digital supports exceptional Covid-19 projects with 500,000 francs
In response to the current situation, ZHAW digital supports projects that provide a greater overall benefit during the pandemic. Twenty-seven proposals that deal with digital transformation at the ZHAW as well as externally will be funded.
The call for projects at the beginning of April was a complete success. In total, 109 projects from the fields of research, education, management, and administration were submitted. In the current situation, they would all like to provide value and to maintain the university culture and the culture of collaboration. Twenty-seven projects have been given the green light and will be funded with up to 20,000 francs per proposal.
"Just a few hours after our call, we received the first project proposals,” says Daniel Baumann, managing director of ZHAW digital, delightedly. “It was clear, things now need to move quickly. Within a month, we launched the call and all funding was secured. The broad participation and speed are a good example of the ZHAW digital motto: together and different.”
From digital aperitifs to video games
One of the funded projects develops a video game, which illustrates the correlation between pandemics and urban spaces. It was submitted by Andri Gerber from the Institut Urban Landscape . The game is meant to demonstrate in which urban areas, based on dense population, there is an increased risk of infection. The player has to traverse various urban areas while adhering to the rule of keeping two meters distance. The more advanced the level, the less room the player has to avoid others.
A project from the School of Management and Law deals with digital events. Even though teaching and internal collaboration at the ZHAW were digitalized more rapidly due to Covid-19, many events had to be canceled. Thanks to Daniel Hardegger’s project, templates should be created to facilitate digital events including networking at the entire ZHAW. “We are currently collecting events which had to be canceled and could benefit from the expansion of social interaction into the digital space,” says Hardegger. Digital events can therefore enhance existing “real” events with the digital space. Alternatively, if needed, events can be relocated into the digital space entirely.
Implementation by the end of the year
ZHAW digital will fund twenty-seven projects by means of Digital Futures Fund (DFF). DFF aims to support the needs of the ZHAW digital community. DFF is part of the efforts to establish encouraging conditions for ZHAW employees and to support collaboration and networking within the ZHAW digital community. All projects concerning Covid-19 will be completed by the end of 2020.