Nils Emilio Peppler and Lukas Mayer were awarded a special prize in the ideas competition for the further development of the MAINZ app. Released in 2018, the MAINZ app is considered one of the most renowned city apps in Germany. Over the past few weeks, ideas and approaches for further developing the app were collected during a public “hackathon” and evaluated by a panel of experts.
The two students in the Time-Based Media program received the award for their idea of an “Optimainzer,” a concept developed in the “Create the Future” seminar led by Prof. Anja Stöffler. It is a kind of “problem-reporting tool” that allows users to document issues in the Mainz city area directly via a digital application. The jury deemed the idea worthy of an award, even though the MAINZ app takes a different approach due to its focus on tourism. As a prize, the team will receive an overnight stay package at the Hyatt Regency Mainz and an invitation to the VRM Summer Business Evening—provided by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Rheinhessen.
The grand prize went to the concept “Mainzer Eltern #gemainzam” by Julia Mehr, which aims to create an information and inspiration platform for “like-minded” parents while connecting and highlighting the city’s existing offerings for a broad target audience.
The initiators of the MAINZ app—mainzplus CITYMARKETING, the Economic Development Agency of the State Capital of Mainz, and Tourismusfonds Mainz e.V.—will now sort and prioritize the winning ideas as well as all other submitted entries. The first ideas from the “hackathon” are to be taken up and evaluated for implementation before the end of this year. At the same time, other existing and previously communicated ideas—such as the digitization of the popular mainzcardplus visitor card—will be considered. The expert jury and the initiators of the MAINZ app will now immediately continue the further development process launched by the “hackathon.” They will be supported in this effort by the “Innenstadt-Impulse” funding program of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the state capital of Mainz.
Background information on the #Hackathon is available at: www.mainz-app.de/hackathon
