The H2pro3sprint.

Creating Innovation in 6 days with the coac Design Sprint.

About the Hydrogen Design Sprint.

In the summer of 2019, we gathered a multi-disciplinary team of representatives from politics, science, business and NGOs to come together with our developers at coac to create a digital concept with the goal to advocate for the use of hydrogen technologies in the Rhenish lignite mining region. While the region discovered hydrogen as an alternative to lignite as an energy source and an economical driver, local companies are struggling with the widespread establishment. In this context the hydrogen design sprint took place to identify problems and find a solution. The result was the prototype for the digital “H2pro3” platform which connects the different players involved with hydrogen.

The H2pro3sprint prototype.

For the first iteration of the H2pro3 prototype we visualised the most important functions of the platform based on the ideation phase. This includes product profiles, information sites on technology service providers and best practise as well as studies.We also included an intelligent search function to filter for specific information and an intelligent suggested article system based on the users past behaviour.

After TheH2pro3 sprint.

After we completed the H2pro3 sprint, the findings were clustered and digitized.

The documentation was shared with the participants. It also provided us a reference guide for the further project development.As organizers, it was possible to improve the process of the design sprint even further through our learnings and with the help of feedback from the participants.

What participants of the H2pro3 Design Sprint think about the concept.

"The Design Sprint was methodically and personally a new, very positive experience for me. Right from the beginning there was an atmosphere of 'We will do this together'. All participants were able to contribute with their points of view from very different disciplines, and it was fun to experience and reflect on completely different perspectives. This quickly created a trusting work atmosphere that led to fruitful discussions and successful results."

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dipl. Wirt.-Ing. Thorsten Schneiders - Faculty of Plant, Energy and Machine Systems, TH Köln

"Design Sprints are especially valuable when dealing with complex tasks: The organised-creative interaction of many sprint participants with complementary competencies leads to comprehensive tailor-made solutions within a very short time. The design of a hydrogen platform resulted in an exciting process in which everyone was very committed and inspired. It was fun to interact in an efficient and spontaneous way with very different partners. The result, a requirements and functional profile for the versatile platform, is very promising and can make a decisive contribution responding to the needs of the various players in the hydrogen ecosystem in an integrated way."

Marie-Luise Schaller - Project coordinator, Zukunftsagentur Rheinisches Revier