Smart Case Lab

The smartcaselab project is funded by the state of NRW as a fellowship for innovations in digital university teaching.

The aim of the smartcaselab project is to further develop the "case method" for digital and interdisciplinary use in teaching on the future topic of "digital transformation". To this end, the project is designed to be interdisciplinary at the content and methodological interfaces of economics, mechanical engineering and computer science. This will enable several innovations and impulses for (digital) teaching:

• Developing interdisciplinary case studies on "Smart Industry" topics for digital use in the Faculties of Business Studies, Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering for the first time.
• Focus on industrial SMEs with a leading position in the global market, so-called hidden champions
• Development of "smart" case studies that are interactive in their preparation, integrated in their application and animated in their analysis, e.g. by means of video sequences and expert interviews
• Offered as an open, digital, interactive Open Educational Resource (OER) via ORCA and UAS resources
• Integrated and interdisciplinary teaching on future topics with an interdisciplinary project team

Digital transformation, particularly in value creation networks, increasingly requires interdisciplinary collaboration between business economists, engineers and computer scientists. At the same time, current courses in different disciplines are not sufficiently interlinked and coordinated, but offer potential for integrated teaching concepts with practical relevance, networked thinking and digital skills development.

"We are convinced that innovative teaching concept development based on the case method can increase the diversity of perspectives and improve networking within the university," explains Professor Jan-Philipp Büchler. By the end of 2023, the project aims to design, test and implement a needs-oriented, contemporary and practical digital teaching concept on future and interface topics, in particular digital transformation in value creation networks.