Digital future: TUM students win with an innovative project!

Digital future: TUM students win with an innovative project!

München, Deutschland - On February 24, 2025, the fifth Digital Future Challenge took place, organized by the initiative D21 and the Deloitte Foundation. Under the motto "Digital Future", more than 70 teams gathered to present innovative approaches in the areas of "Europe", "Climate & Environment" and "Inclusion". The competition aims to illuminate the responsibility of companies in digital change and to promote awareness of digital responsibility.

The winners of this competition are the students of TUM and LMU, who, with their “Gridnaition” project, developed a AI supported approach to using district heating networks as an energy storage. This solution shows how digital technologies can be used in order to advance technical innovations and to manage social challenges.

technology in the context of human values ​​

The Federal Minister of Digital and Transport, Volker Wissing, emphasized that technology should be based on a order of values ​​that focuses on people and their dignity. This aspect was underlined by the organizers of the Challenge by highlighting the importance of an effort in society as a whole in order to anchor responsible action in the digital world.

The Digital Future Challenge emphasizes that companies not only create innovations through their actions in the digitized world, but also cause social changes. These changes have both opportunities and risks, which are often not adequately considered. Therefore, the challenge must also be called up to students, creative and sustainable ideas that encounter these challenges.

digital technologies in climate change and development cooperation

Digital technologies are crucial for the implementation of the 2030 agenda, as BMZ . They improve access to public services, especially in remote regions, and promote participation in democratic processes. In addition, digital solutions play an important role in the fight against climate change because they help to recognize droughts and extreme weather events at an early stage and enable effective irrigation and climate-friendly traffic planning.