Are you up for a unique research experience that can help us develop great solutions to improve people’s lives? 

The EC-funded FRANCIS project (www.francis-project.eu) is looking for students interested in supporting an international Open Innovation challenge. Together with BSH Home Appliances, the Open Innovation challenge invites citizens from Turkey, Germany, and India to develop novel and unique ideas related to the culinary world and home care. BSH has grown enormously in their over 50-year history. Today, it is one of the world’s leading home appliance manufacturers with around 40 factories worldwide. The product portfolio ranges from large home appliances – such as cooktops, ovens, extractor hoods, dishwashers, washers, dryers, fridges, and freezers – to small home appliances, such as vacuum cleaners, espresso machines as well as small kitchen appliances.

Innovator teams we intend to recruit will include: 

  • Challenged families (families with budget and/ or space restraints, refugees) 
  • Green minimalists (students, startup entrepreneurs) 
  • Independent senior citizens (elderly people/couples living on their own) 

Your job will be to assist the citizens throughout the Open Innovation challenge with creative discussions, the preparation of presentations and the handling of the IT platform. The challenge runs from January to August 2023. You should be ready to invest approximately five hours per week in the challenge during this time (except for holidays etc.). We will start the buddy training in late Nov/Dec 2022 

Your benefits 

We cannot offer financial support but invite you to have a unique experience. You will…  

  • Contribute to the social inclusion of groups with unmet needs, for example by helping senior citizens and refugees get involved in the challenge.  
  • Learn about and get practical experience in areas that are at the forefront of today’s science such as Open Innovation, Frugal Innovation and Citizen Science.  
  • Establish an international network of renowned scientists, top-level industry representatives and other students. 
  • Get lots of training and support to become a proficient buddy.  
  • Get invited to inspiring seminars and workshops to enrich your experience. 
  • Receive a certificate detailing your contribution.  

Top students will get a letter of recommendation and  – if interested – a mentoring session with our project partners. 

Your profile 

We are looking for students from fields such as engineering, industrial design, business administration, social sciences, who are curious, open-minded and motivated. Students from other disciplines with an interest in the challenge are also welcome. You are both a team player and at the same time self-reliant and well-organised. The following interests, abilities and commitments are helpful: 

  • Interest in innovation management, especially Frugal Innovation and Citizen Science  
  • International focus and English language skills
  • For the Indian Buddies, we are looking for buddies who have different mother tongue languages primarily as Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam. We also would welcome people with Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, and Punjabi as their mother tongue. 
  • Basic IT abilities for supporting participants in the use of the platform  
  • Problem solving skills and patience in dealing with citizens  
  • Readiness to stay involved over the course of the challenge (January to August 2023) 

Apply 

Apply via Google Forms at this link.

Contact 

If you have any questions, please feel free to talk to

  • Venkata/Gencer, our Regional Managers for India/ Turkey (info-india@francis-project.eu /  info-turkey@francis-project.eu), or
  • to one of our German student buddies Till, Aahash, or Marcel (buddies-de@francis-project.eu).