CSTI – Creative Space for Technical Innovations at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences

The CSTI – Creative Space for Technical Innovations is an interdisciplinary platform for research and knowledge transfer in areas such as human-computer-interaction (HCI) or smart systems at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. The lab is part of the Computer Science department and collaborates with areas such as mechatronics, design, art, social and culture studies. It takes part in a network of other facilities at Hamburg universities, e.g. base.camp at Hamburg University, TUHH Lab at Hamburg University of Technology and the City Science Lab at HafenCity University Hamburg (HCU) in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab.

The main goal of the lab is to provide a workspace for development of innovative ideas and agile prototyping in collaboration with small and medium sized enterprises (SME). The main fields of research are virtual reality / augmented reality, smart objects / user interface, machine learning / data mining or science and technology studies. Furthermore the lab focusses on design methods and reflective discussion of “digital transformation” phenomena. The CSTI Academy offers workshops, hackathons, keynotes and seminars with a special focus on STEM promotion (MINT in German) and education among others.

Design Fiction

In 2016 I collaborated with Jessica Broscheit and Hannes Sieg on a design fiction prototype that is associated to the CSTI lab. The Air Mask was developed to measure environmental data in realtime in context of open data paradigms, decentralised data mining and data driven narratives. I have written about the project before and also published a report on knowledge discovery in open government data for air quality to exemplify the data collection process.

Jessica ist now part of the CSTI team as a research associate and furthers her work in speculative design. One of her latest smart object projects is called Ivory and again deals with environmental data and tangible interfaces.

Digital Transformation Phenomena

As a reflective contention of digital transformation, my current PhD project about entrepreneurial ecosystems, public policy agendas and sociotechnical imaginaries is also associated with the CSTI lab. The study is done in collaboration with the University of West Scotland (UWS) School of Business & Enterprise and builds on previous entrepreneurship policy research done at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and University of New South Wales (UNSW) Business School in Sydney, Australia.