Deutsche Bank Park emerge as ‘Arena of IoT’

Article posted by Coliseum, October 4^th, 2022

Image: Deutsche Bank

The EDAG Group, the world’s largest independent engineering service provider in the mobility industry, and EintrachtTech, the independent digital subsidiary of the Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany), this year’s European League winners, announced their partnership recently.

‘EDAG Group’ stated that both the parties are among the best in their respective fields, both are geared up for the future: The two partners are joining forces to focus on an all-round approach to digitalization. It is also evident from the ‘Campus FreeCity’ real lab for the research of a networked fleet of modular robot vehicles project, which has recently been jointly implemented and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMDV), Germany.

The EDAG Engineering Group AG is an international corporate group active in the engineering services sector. Since 2015, it is based in Arbon, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland. The EDAG Group is one of the world’s largest independent development partners to the automotive industry and the aviation industry. The holding (EDAG Engineering Holding GmbH) which incorporated the company was founded in Germany during 1969.

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In 2019, Eintracht Frankfurt founded EintrachtTech, a 100 percent-owned subsidiary, with the aim to develop new digital business models and establish new revenue streams that increase the overall economical competitiveness of the German football club.

The Eintracht Frankfurt is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on March 8^th, 1899. The team is currently playing in Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system.

The 51,500-capacity Waldstadion, currently known as the Deutsche Bank Park for sponsorship purposes, and formerly known as the Commerzbank-Arena, is a retractable roof sports stadium in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. The home stadium of the football club Eintracht Frankfurt, it opened in 1925.

The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMDV) is a Cabinet-level Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is located in Berlin, while the majority of its civil servants and employees work in Bonn, the secondary seat. The Ministry itself has about 1,300 employees.

Explained Holger Merz, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of EDAG Group, “With the EDAG CityBot at the Campus FreeCity in the Deutsche Bank Park, the focus is not just on a revolutionary vehicle, but also on a complete ecosystem that the EDAG Group has developed for the mobility, transport and service tasks of a Smart City.”

The Campus FreeCity is researching a complete ecosystem for urban mobility, transport and service tasks on a laboratory scale. By leveraging new technology fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving or the Internet of Things (IoT) for the traffic of the future, the project contributes to a sustainable and livable Smart City.

‘EDAG Group’ further stated that the EDAG CityBots are multifunctional, fully autonomous robot vehicles that move without emissions. Designed for a complete Smart City ecosystem, this makes it the first and only mobility system to effectively counteract traffic gridlock. Thanks to their innovative and modular design, the EDAG CityBots can be used for a wide variety of different transport tasks – around the clock.

EintrachtTech offers a unique digital center in the form of the ‘Arena of IoT’ where this can be researched, and in which many different innovation partners and startups from Eintracht Frankfurt’s network are brought together to create a “perfect playing field” on which the innovative strength of the partners involved can be made visible and tangible.

Added Merz, “We are pleased that, through our work with EintrachtTech, the progress that has already been made with the research project will be advanced, and that we are now an official partner of the ‘Arena of IoT’. Hesse (German State) will therefore become a real lab for the future of mobility – be this in Germany or internationally.”

Commented Cosimo De Carlo, EDAG Group head honcho, “The digitalization of all areas of life and work continues unabated. With this partnership, the EDAG Group and EintrachtTech want to make a sociopolitical contribution towards making our Cities quieter, cleaner, more life enhancing, and smarter in the future.”

Stressed Timm Jäger, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EintrachtTech GmbH, “The Eintracht Frankfurt sees itself not just as a professional soccer club. Through EintrachtTech, it also takes an active role as a driver of the region in the field of digitalization.”

The stadium (Deutsche Bank Park) is an ideal place to test ‘IoT’ solutions in cooperation with technology partners like the EDAG Group, and to offer innovative projects a realistic test environment. With its digital center, Eintracht Frankfurt is actively strengthening the Frankfurt Rhine-Main digital location.

Merz sees “great potential” in this cooperation – “We experience EintrachtTech as an innovative and motivated technology pioneer, and are very much looking forward to this intensive and in many respects trendsetting partnership. This is the best of Hesse.”

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