**Our challenge**  
Students, senior citizens and other interested citizens will work together to design and produce 3D printed solutions using sustainable filament from a local company. The aim is to address the challenges associated with ageing, such as mobility impairments, hearing loss, balance problems and visual impairments. During this challenge, senior citizens from a facility in the Hamburg district of Harburg will give feedback on their needs in direct conversations. For the project, in addition to product development, the focus is on the social aspect of intergenerational neighbourly help and on working in interdisciplinary and intercultural teams.

**Expected impact**  
One of the social responsibilities of engineers is to consider the safety of people and the protection of the environment in their designs and manufacturing processes. Unfortunately, such responsibilities sometimes collide with companies whose primary (or only) motivation is profit rather than social impact. Therefore, this challenge, which provides socially conscious engineering practices by fostering intergenerational collaboration between engineering students, citizens and seniors in nursing homes to find engineering solutions to the challenges of ageing, is of the greatest importance.  
  
**Target groups**  
Students (i.e. engineering, nursing school, social sector), social care employees (i.e. nurses, social sector), seniors.

**Supported by**  
“Landesinnovationsförderung Hamburg" (State Innovation Promotion Hamburg).

Motivation Letter

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Transcript of Records

Hamburg University of Technology

Engineering solutions for a more inclusive society

3D-printed solutions for the needs of elderly people

Social capital is important to make communities resilient. European urban areas can learn lessons from this. It is clear that rural and rurban areas face demographic challenges. It has been recognised that although a high-quality digital infrastructure and capacity is a must for achieving resilience in rural areas, equally important is that such an infrastructure carries vital services. There is still no clear understanding of which services are useful and needed, and specifically those that lead to resilient rurban communities. Yet there are great opportunities to improve community resilience through self-sustained digitalisation. These include services for alternative forms of transportation and mobility, services that expand the delivery ranges of local shops, specialised e- health services, and advanced privacy-aware social-media services. Likewise, the digital government facilitated by online services strongly supports the resiliency of rural communities, improves quality-of-life and reduces road traffic. In the wider context, the role of digitalisation in resilience planning in rurban communities to mitigate the impact of climate change is becoming of increasing importance. In general, all services for the other pillars can help improve resilience if they exploit locality.

Member university

Hamburg University of Technology

Member university

Hamburg University of Technology

Learning opportunities of Hamburg University of Technology