20 international Femtec scholarship holders are working with Telekom for 5 months on the expansion of green, sustainable mobile sites. Similar to a modular model, solutions are to be offered that can be used at different locations within Germany and the EU. In concrete terms, it is about ideas on how renewable energies can be further expanded and new innovative technology solutions can be used. Local conditions such as wind currents on Greek islands or minimal space concepts in many European metropolis are to be taken into account.
Sustainability has top priority for Deutsche Telekom. We want to double energy efficiency gains by 2024 and reduce energy consumption all across Europe. In Germany, it should be at least ten percent lower in 2024 compared to 2020. The goals are ambitious, but it is precisely this challenge that the scholarship holders of the Femtec Career Building Programme want to take on.
The challenge - STEM powered by different disciplines:
At the kick-off event in Berlin in September, the young talents from the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) met for the first time and have since then dedicated themselves to the new challenge. The focus is on the expansion of renewable energies at existing locations and solutions to maximise energy generation and storage potential. For this, the group is dividing into three streams to research and contribute their expertise in the topics of Energy Tech, Energy AI and DT Sites. Further inspiring ideas are highly welcome, which only an outside team can provide in a fresh and unbiased way.
Board member for Technology and Innovation, Claudia Nemat, fosters young STEM talents and motivated the Femtec scholarship holders right at the beginning: "We want to create technologies that solve relevant problems and create great human experiences. I'm convinced that the best innovation is being developed by diverse teams."
With different backgrounds and skills ranging from data analytics, product development to energy technology, the international Master students have the chance to take a closer look at some European mobile sites right after the kick-off. In order to better assess the diversity of existing mobile sites, some of the scholarship holders have already travelled to Poland, Hungary and Greece and analysed data material on site and interviewed stakeholders and technical experts. Further visits to Austria and some locations in Germany are planned.
The team - Femtec@Telekom:
Some local challenges are quickly obvious: the repertoire ranges from weather influxes and high wind speeds, which could put additional strain on the statics of a radio tower and therefore massively complicate the installation of PV systems, to strictly limited space in urban centres. But what do solutions look like here and, above all, how can they be applied throughout the country? This is what the scholarship holders from the eight Femtec cooperation universities will be working on in the upcoming months. They will be accompanied by an external coach and the Telekom project team working on the energy efficiency and sustainability programme. The innovation programme aims to develop technical solutions for sustainable and energy-efficient network technologies and their operation.
Project Lead and idea provider of this year's Challenge Jack Tottingham can hardly wait: "We wish all the scholarship holders every success in the Challenge and are already very excited about the proposed solutions and further technology ideas that will be presented to us in February at the final presentation!”
More insights on the project will be published in December in our blog on Telekom.com. If you are interested in the Femtec career programme, you can find all the information on how to apply here.
More about the Femtec cooperation:
Since 2007, Telekom has been a cooperation partner of Femtec. This is a career-building programme for female STEM students. The goal: promote young female STEM talent. Telekom supports this project and offers female graduates of STEM subjects exciting entry and development opportunities. As part of the regular collaboration on innovation topics and digital growth areas, the scholarship holders learn first-hand about the diverse innovation topics and career prospects offered by Telekom.
