Moving the Cities 2023 ― EN
We are looking forward to Moving the Cities 2023 - a student-centered entrepreneurship challenge that brings together students, professors, industry and universities from three continents! Originally conceived by Unisinos in partnership with FH Münster and UAS7, Moving the Cities participants compete to find best solutions to regional urban challenges in international teams.
In 2023, Moving the Cities will be taking place for the sixth time. The project has many supporters. It includes Brazilian universities Unisinos, UFRGS and PUCRS's Alliance for Innovation, which seeks to leverage high-impact initiatives for the advancement of the innovation ecosystem and development. The Polytechnic School of Unisinos, FH Münster, UAS7, Tecnosinos, SAP, INACAP, the UFRGS School of Engineering, PUCRS, Tecnopuc, Santiago Universidad de Chile (USACH), University Pontificia Bolivariana, Coventry University, the University of Minnesota, University of Pittsburgh, and Northeastern University are all co-organizers, with the DWIH São Paulo as main supporter.
Since its founding, the project underlined the networking character and helped accelerate the larger international initiative "xRegions". xRegions was named one of Germany's 30 best ideas for education, science and innovation by the Stifterverband in 2020. is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
In October 2023 the Moving the Cities project will be moving to Germany for the first time and again be offered in a hybrid format. The project will be based in Münster and starts with a virtual integration week, followed by the sprint week. The goal is to develop a concept, a solution or an approach to the proposed challenge. As the Peace of Westphalia was signed in Münster 375 years ago, this year's challenge will focus on SDG 17 - in the spirit of friendship between nations and global partnerships.
Last year, in October 2022, the Moving the Cities project was carried out in a hybrid format. While all students worked together online, business and academia representatives met on-site in São Leopoldo.
In 2020 the project migrated to a virtual format and expanded its scope of action and partner institutions, changing its name to Moving the Cities. The third edition aimed to develop solutions through international and intercultural cooperation between science, entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, and society. The teams were made up of academics from more than 6 countries, including Germany, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, England, and the United States - with the participation of approximately 135 students, 28 teams, and 10 different universities. In this edition the challenges were proposed by industry partners such as SAP, Fraport, Tecnosinos, Fiege and Münster Osnabrück International Airport. Over a week of activities, the teams received mentoring, in online sessions, from 28 coaches and 15 expert mentors from various parts around the world, who followed their progress and assisted in the development of their ideas.
The year before, in 2019, the event was titled Moving the City and was held in São Leopoldo. The goal was to promote the development of young talents in their ability to create innovative solutions for challenges in the regional context. In its second edition, Moving the City was made up of international and multidisciplinary teams - approximately 30 students from Unisinos, 15 from Germany, and 5 from Chile. During this period, the teams received mentoring on business modeling, innovation techniques, market and technology in the city of São Leopoldo, from professionals from Germany, Brazil, and Chile. The project took place on the campus flair of Tecnosinos and the SAP offices and was also supported by the City Hall of São Leopoldo.
In 2018 the first event was a seminar only for Unisinos students in the city of Porto Alegre, called “Unisinos-UAS7: Laboratory Internships - a missing link between academia and industry”. It consisted in the integration between professors and German representatives from UAS7 universities (FH Münster, HS Osnabrück, HS Bremen and TH Köln). In this event, each German professor was paired with a Brazilian professor, to present their lines of action and cooperation possibilities were presented. Approximately 80 students participated in the event. Further, some representatives from Tecnosinos and Tecnopuc startups also joined.
