Project Showcases:
1st Semester: Innovation Project - Once
The aim of the first semester project is to learn the process of design thinking on a given topic and with a newly assigned team.
The topic of Annabell, Jonathan, Jeremy and Anoy from Generation 5 was: “wearables that enable remote work”. Within the process, numerous interviews were conducted and evaluated extensively in order to develop a prototype from an initial idea, which was then finally presented at the DemoDay. The idea called Once was a pen that makes it possible to digitally transfer analog written content from nurses into the respective hospital system. The team was able to convince the crowd at the event, even after critical questions, and emerged as the winner of the 5th YETI DemoDay.
The DemoDays take place every semester and are an insanely cool event to find out for yourself what YETI is all about. The next DemoDay is on July 17, 2025.
2nd Semester: Industry Project - FootSense
The aim of the second semester project is to cement our Design Thinking skills and practice working with an industry “board” partner in a startup-style environment.
For this challenge, TU Dresden provided the team with a flexible pressure sensor whose original startup went bankrupt. The task was to identify and develop a promising healthcare application for this technology.
The team followed the classic Design Thinking process: conducting dozens of user interviews with doctors or patients, synthesizing key insights, ideating potential solutions, and rapidly building prototypes. Throughout, they ran regular workshops with TU Dresden to share progress and let them guide which opportunity area they pursued. The outcome of our project is a functional smart-shoe prototype designed to support individuals with lower-limb paralysis in relearning how to walk. The shoe tracks how you walk and provides real-time feedback to the user’s shoulders.
The team secured 2nd place at Demo Day and received highly positive feedback, not only from TU Dresden, but also from physiotherapists. This is highlighting the potential for continued research and further development.
3rd Semester: Start-up Project - COBACK
The third semester project offers students the opportunity to take their first steps towards founding a company. The knowledge acquired in the first two semesters forms a solid basis for becoming familiar with basic business processes.
Benjamin and Etienne, who had already developed a business idea in their innovation project, refocused it in the third semester. The name and the central theme of sustainability remained from the original idea. Through interviews, they identified a gap in the market: there is a lack of accessible services for creating sustainability reports.
The answer is COBACK: an educational platform that enables small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to create their own sustainability reports. The special thing about it is that even employees with no prior knowledge of sustainability can be trained using the learning platform and simultaneously record the necessary data for the report.
The team behind COBACK has already benefited from the YETI network on several occasions. They have had the opportunity to present their idea to investors, take part in trade fairs and events and generally benefit from the broad network. This supportive environment is crucial for turning a promising idea into an actual company.
If you would like to find out more about Benjamin and Etienne’s project and follow the further development of the now former YETIs, please visit their Website or their LinkedIn account.
