General Assembly of TRR 402 DediGrad in Dresden

Three intensive days in TRR 402 were all about exchange, new ideas, and networking.

The “Creative Thinking Lab for Researchers” workshop provided doctoral students with a space to develop new perspectives. During the “Rotating Research Dialogue,” all subprojects finally had time to talk to one another, even if only briefly. It also demonstrated just how valuable such structured brief conversations can be for strengthening collaborations and joint publications.

Beyond that, the meeting offered many opportunities for professional and personal exchange, ranging from discussions at the project level to dialogue with the Industrial Advisory Board. Direct exchange is and remains a key driver for new ideas and successful collaboration in research as well as in knowledge transfer.

Methodological and analytical thinking are among the core competencies of engineers. Creativity is not always evident in the day-to-day research work of engineers.

The interactive workshop therefore addressed a number of key questions: How can one think outside the box? How can creativity be fostered when developing research questions and ideas? How can research findings be shared and communicated? What can I do to improve my skills to enjoy my specific research works?

Within the framework of the TRR 402 DediGrad, the investigation and development of highly efficient manufacturing technologies is in the focus. But the development of young researchers is also of high importance. Thus, we created a workshop format which brings the topics of the TRR 402 and the principles of creative thinking together.

The workshop “Creative Thinking Lab for Researchers” held by Frances Blüml and Verena Frohs gave the young researches the possibility to learn new creative skills to generate and evaluate new ideas as well as share and communicate them.

Over the course of two half days, the principles of creative mindsets, frameworks, methods and tools were tested. Personas and analogies were explored in very interactive team works. Unlike the analytical and clearly structured methods that mechanical, chemical and other engineers generally adhere to, the researchers learned to break away from their usual daily routine and visualize their ideas and tasks far removed from their beloved Excel spreadsheets.

In the end the workshop helped the team of the TRR402 to strengthen the individual capabilities of the researchers and the collaboration between us all. We look forward to integrating these approaches into our daily research work!

The annual meeting of the Industry Advisory Board clearly demonstrated that the ideas and concepts being researched and developed within TRR 402 are generating significant interest among companies. It is widely known that the rib foot is the weak point in ribbed structures, and research aimed at eliminating this weak point is of great economic interest.

To this end, the DFG’s SFB program includes transfer projects designed to facilitate industrial implementation.