Understanding the energy of the future through play
The team from the University of Siegen is one of the ten winners of the nationwide university competition in the Science Year 2025 - Future Energy, awarded by Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD). With an innovative and interactive simulation game for young people on energy policy, the University of Siegen came out on top against almost 120 submitted projects. With the prize money of 10,000 euros, the project design can now be implemented by the end of 2025.
The "Energy Policy Simulation Game" at the University of Siegen is designed to teach pupils and students about the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition in an interactive and practical way. Participants take on different roles and represent fictitious countries for which they have to design a clean, stable and resource-efficient energy mix and play out an imaginary energy transition. In the discussion, the participants have to consider conflicts of interest and make decisions that take ecological, economic and social aspects into account. The simulation game primarily promotes interdisciplinary cooperation, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The aim of the project is to motivate young people to take a closer look at current energy policy issues and develop innovative solutions.
The interactive simulation game was developed as part of the dissertation of Dr. Manuel Froitzheim, who is responsible for Digital Business Education in Siegen (DiWiS) at the Chair of Marketing and Trade at the University of Siegen. He says of his project: "I am delighted about the many opportunities that arise from the simulation game - especially because we give pupils and students the opportunity to actively make data-based energy policy decisions and thus develop an understanding of how to shape the future." The simulation game can be found online at "Planspiel Energiepolitik".
The results of all ten projects will then be published and shared via a joint Instagram account. The choice of platform makes it possible to make the possibilities for future energy visible to the young target group and to interact with them. For the Siegen simulation game, for example, the individual participant perspectives and results could be visualized in short videos (reels) and stories.
In addition to the University of Siegen, nine other teams have won and will also receive the funding of 10,000 euros - these include the Berlin University of Applied Sciences, the University of Bonn, TU Dresden, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, FernUniversität in Hagen, TU Munich, the University of Münster, the University of Regensburg and Trier University of Applied Sciences.
About the university competition in the Science Year 2025
The university competition is organized annually by Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD) in cooperation with the German Association of University Communication, the German Rectors' Conference and, as of this year, the Junge Akademie, and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the Science Year. This year, all of the award-winning communication ideas dealt thematically with forms of renewable energy, complex energy policy decisions and artistic perspectives on sustainable energy systems.
