Future journey for engineers: Siemens is calling for the Immersive Design Challenge!

Future journey for engineers: Siemens is calling for the Immersive Design Challenge!

On April 8, 2025, it was announced that students from the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) had successfully participated in the international Immersive Design Challenge. This challenge, launched by Siemens and Sony, aims to inspire and implement future engineers and innovators on how immersive engineering technologies can be used in the field of sustainable design. Loud FAU The students' commitment shows how creative minds can deal with the challenges of today and develop innovative solutions.

The competition, which ran from October 2024 to February 2025, was a global initiative that offered students from all disciplines the opportunity to explore immersive engineering technologies. The application deadline has already passed, but interested parties can still be informed about future opportunities by email.

The participants had to form teams of 3 to 5 students, with at least one member having experience in the field of CAD/NX. The challenges spanned three rounds: In the first round, teams answered five short questions about immersive engineering and their chosen product. In the second round, they created a visualization or prototype. The final round required demonstrating sustainability integration and creative use of technology.

Technology and sustainability combined

The Immersive Design Challenge not only tasked team members with improving the sustainability of a chosen product, but also demonstrating the use of cutting-edge technology. Immersive Engineering connects the real and digital worlds and uses 3D CAD within the industrial metaverse. In this context, both the software from Siemens and the XR head-mounted displays from Sony are used. These technologies enable teams to create digital twins of products or processes, which is particularly important in the aviation, manufacturing and automotive sectors.

Examples of the application of these technologies include real-time interaction with 3D models for adjustments in prototyping and the creation of virtual factory layouts that precede the physical production phases. Participants can initially experience design collaboration across different locations and increase the effectiveness of their concepts through live changes and virtual customer presentations.

Benefits of Participation

Participating in the Immersive Design Challenge offers students numerous benefits. These range from the opportunity to learn from global experts in digital design and sustainability to increasing your own employability and digital skills. Additionally, the competition allows participants to network with industry leaders and offers them the chance to become part of a global community of design enthusiasts. Another incentive is the opportunity to win prizes, including an XR head-mounted display for their university.

The official key dates of the competition are as follows:

• 15. Oktober 2024: Offizieller Start während des NX Student Day 2024.
• 20. Dezember 2024: Frist für Runde 1.
• Januar 2025: Ende von Runde 2.
• Februar 2025: Finale.

Siemens With this initiative, we have taken an important step to promote young talent and support their creative solutions for sustainable design. With their commitment, the FAU students have proven that they are ready to develop innovative approaches that are both creative and future-oriented.