The Otto Group, Bikini Berlin and the EU project Textile and Clothing Business Labs are the challenge hosts of the Thinkathon during Neonyt, the hub for fashion, sustainability and innovation to be held during January 15-17 January 2019. The challenges are on the circular economy, new relationships between consumers and the retail trade and industry 4.0.
A marathon of thinking: The “Thinkathon” is taking place this January, behind the scenes of Neonyt. This successful format brings together forward-looking companies with the Neonyt network, which is unique in its diversity and professional expertise. The companies involved – in January, the Otto Group, concept shopping mall Bikini Berlin and EU project TCBL (Textile and Clothing Business Labs) – are the challenge hosts and set a specific task for the Neonyt community. Within just 48 hours, the participants work on prototype solutions for the set challenges and then hand them over to the challenge hosts for further interpretation.The Otto Group, Bikini Berlin and the EU project Textile and Clothing Business Labs are the challenge hosts of the Thinkathon during Neonyt, the hub for fashion, sustainability and innovation to be held during January 15-17 January 2019. The challenges are on the circular economy, new relationships between consumers and the retail trade and industry 4.0.#
In order to guarantee solution-oriented working and a high-quality result, Sourcebook, who are organising the Thinkathon on behalf of Messe Frankfurt, has already put together six multidisciplinary groups of small teams prior to the event. Under the professional guidance of a coach and a knowledge partner, using design-thinking methods they each take on a task, meaning that every challenge host will be presented with two completely different solutions on January 16, 2019.
The 40 participants have been selected from more than 120 applications and over 50 other network nominees. They come from 19 countries including India, the US, Japan, Ghana, Israel, France, the UK and Germany. The interdisciplinary teams are made up of experts from areas as diverse as research, development, academia, consultancy, design and business development. They will work in the system-thinking format for two full days. They will present their solutions to the challenge hosts behind closed doors at the end of the workshop and then to the audience of the Fashionsustain conference on January 16, 2019.
With the Otto Group, Bikini Berlin and TCBL, this year’s challenge hosts represent the contemporary fashion aspects of circularity, consumer empowerment, experience retail and short runs/industry 4.0. In challenge #1 – The Circular Experience – the Otto Group will be asking how the concept of the circular economy can be made more accessible, appealing and tangible for its customers. Under the title “The Future of Retail – for Good”, challenge host #2 – Bikini Berlin – will be asking the question: in a time when sustainability is a key factor, how can shopping centres change the whole shopping experience to involve and activate customers? “Sustainable Short Runs” – challenge #3 and host TCBL are looking for approaches to map European manufacturing capacities for sustainable nearshoring, small-batch production and short delivery times. The challenge hosts of the two Thinkathons in 2018 were: Fashion Council Berlin, Hugo Boss, KPMG, Microsoft HoloLens, Techtextil/Texprocess and Zalando.
The ideas think-tank of the future – the Thinkathon is a space for open exchange and creative thinking processes during the global hub Neonyt. In this collaborative design-thinking format, twice a year multidisciplinary teams develop neo-new approaches for the sustainability transformation of the fashion and textile industry. Industry experts work intensively on the tasks set by leading industry, retail and technology companies as well as associations and organisations, which revolve around the topics of fashion, sustainability, innovation and technology. In the shortest time and ensuring mutual confidentiality, the Thinkathon teams come up with highly innovative and industry-relevant solutions. (SV)
ALCHEMPro News Desk – India
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