Maximilian von Hohenbühel has been studying Artificial Intelligence at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT) since 2020. For his practical semester, he was looking for a very special place. Now the student from Deggendorf is working for a year at CERN, an internationally renowned large-scale research facility near Geneva.

Since September 2022, von Hohenbühel has been completing his practical semester at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, or CERN for short. This is located partly in France and partly in Switzerland. Basic research in physics is carried out there. In particular, the structure of matter is researched with the help of large particle accelerators. The most important one at present is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which went into operation in 2008. Von Hohenbühel works there on the development of software for the CERN Control Centre, from which the particle accelerators are monitored and controlled. "The size of CERN," says the 21-year-old, "is impressive. I can actively contribute here and the software I developed is used directly here." Since the previous internship went very well, he was able to extend it. He is now writing his Bachelor's thesis on an AI topic in this environment at CERN.

Von Hohenbühel became aware of the possibility of an internship at CERN through DIT Professor Dr. Patrick Glauner. The former CERN employee sums up his experience there positively: "For me, my three years at CERN were very enriching from a professional and personal perspective." In addition, he says, the time there was a real career accelerator. After taking up his professorship three years ago, Glauner therefore set himself the goal of "establishing a cooperation between the Deggendorf Institute of Technology and CERN". The AI scientist is pleased that these efforts are now bearing real fruit thanks to what is now the second intern. Further cooperation for the next twelve months has only recently been agreed, according to Prof. Glauner.

Students of the Bachelor's programme International Tourism Management of the European Campus Rottal-Inn (ECRI) visited the tourism destination Oberschwaben-Allgäu in Baden-Württemberg together with students of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) for a field internship. There they gained extensive insight into what the region has to offer, the cooperation between the individual partners and developed product innovations.

The tourism students from both universities travelled to Oberschwaben-Allgäu together with Prof. Dr. Marcus Herntrei and Prof. Dr. Georg Christian Steckenbauer from ECRI and Prof. Roland Lymann and Lisa Fickel from HSLU. The region is not only halfway between Pfarrkirchen and Lucerne, but with its thermal and mud baths and its focus on health tourism, it offers the ideal conditions for a field placement. The aim was to get to know the diverse offer of the region and the different stakeholders such as hotels, spas, tourism destination and municipalities. Among other things, the group visited the Adelindis Therme, the feelMOOR Gesundresort in Bad Wurzach, the Waldsee-Therme health centre and exchanged views with Petra Misch, the managing director of Oberschwaben Tourismus GmbH. This formed the basis for an analysis of the offer by the students, who developed product innovations based on this, coordinated with the tourism master plan of the destination Oberschwaben-Allgäu.

From 15 to 17 May, the World Conference of the Hanseatic League of Universities (HLU) took place in Fort Myers, Florida, USA. There, the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT) and the BITZ Oberschneiding were voted number 1 in the worldwide ranking of the most innovative universities in the field of Entrepreneurial Spirit.

After a five-stage evaluation process, DIT was named the best university in the world in the area of entrepreneurial spirit. With this award, the university prevailed over more than 500 participating universities, including renowned competitors such as Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Yale, Harvard and TU Munich. The decisive factor for the jury was DIT's 360-degree ecosystem, which is now universal. In particular, the trend-setting developments at the BITZ Oberschneiding, most recently the integration of venture studios for intensive support and financing of teams in the crucial phases of scaling, were judged to be unique worldwide.

The award took place as part of the WURI Ranking (The World University Rankings for Innovation), which was held during the HLU Conference in Florida. The WURI Rankings recognise universities and colleges whose innovative work has had a significant impact on the pressing challenges of transforming technology and shaping the economy and society.

This year, after a two-year break from Corona, the HLU conference was hosted by the renowned Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). DIT, with President Prof. Peter Sperber and Prof. Peter Schmieder, opened the Entrepreneurial Spirit part of the conference with a keynote speech and a case presentation.

DIT President Prof. Dr. Peter Sperber was newly appointed to the HLU Board of Directors this year. The reason for this was, among other things, the outstanding ranking successes from 8th, 5th and 2nd place in the years 2020 to 2022. "Even more than for me personally," said President Sperber, "this is a confirmation of the outstanding development of DIT, which thus receives worldwide recognition."

In a final ceremony, the baton was passed from FGCU to Franklin University in Lucerne, Switzerland, which will host the next HLU World Conference in 2024.