“Fresh thinking to allow new ideas to flow” is the 2017 theme of the “Places of Excellence in the Land of Ideas” competition. This was the motto under which the open innovation laboratory JOSEPHS® was named one of the hundred best projects out of around 1000 applications.

Germany is an imaginative country: the “Places of Excellence in the Land of Ideas” competition is intended to highlight that fact. Outstanding ideas for towns, the countryside, the digital world, and the visual appearance of neighborhoods were all premiered over the last four years. The aim of the competition is to design tangible projects to provide answers to important social questions of the future. The jury’s verdict was that JOSEPHS® takes advantage of openness and makes an outstanding contribution to Germany’s innovativeness and future sustainability.

In a space of over 400 m², visitors can aid in developing and optimizing current innovative corporate concepts such as new services, products, and business models. The JOSEPHS® hands-on laboratory is free of charge and is open from Monday to Saturday for everyone who is interested. Since it opened in 2014, there have been 13 themed areas and 72 innovation projects. Over 33,000 co-creators and visitors have made an active contribution to these projects. JOSEPHS® hosts over 250 events each year. JOSEPHS® also offers workshops and lectures in the think tank, inspiration in the gadget shop next door (Ultra Comix), and relaxation in the world of enjoyment operated by Caffè CORRETTO.

JOSEPHS® is a project run by the Fraunhofer Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services SCS in conjunction with Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen- Nürnberg, and is funded by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology.