The Heinerbox Wins the 2026 xchange Prize

Project team honored in the category “Knowledge Transfer and Science Communication”

On October 29, the emergenCITY project team behind the Heinerbox was awarded the TU Darmstadt xchange prize in the category “Knowledge Transfer and Science Communication in Politics, Civil Society, and Culture.” As part of INNODAY26, organized by the HIGHEST Innovation and Startup Center, Katharina Kleinschnitger, Frank Hessel, Julian Euler, Janila Dierks, Michèle Knodt, Elisa Berg, Jens Ivo Engels, Nadja Thiessen, Felipe Francisco De Souza, and Hans-Joachim Linke from the project team received the award from TU Vice President Prof. Thomas Walther.

In his opening words, Prof. Walther particularly highlighted the communication formats centered around the Heinerbox, which emergenCITY implemented in collaboration with the Digital Resilience Xchange Application and Transfer Center as well as the two Darmstadt-based agencies merkmal and vollbild. The website, videos, and flyers, as well as the Heinerblock Family Rally and a science walk, had raised the project’s visibility beyond the university context and had an impact on Darmstadt’s urban community, according to TU Vice President Walther.

Integrating Research, Knowledge Transfer, and Social Impact

The project team is delighted to receive this recognition:

With the Heinerbox, we’re bringing research to a place where its social relevance becomes immediately apparent: right in the heart of a Darmstadt residential neighborhood. What makes this project special is the close integration of research infrastructure, science communication, and local application. It’s not just about making technically complex research on environmental data and crisis communication understandable and accessible. The collected data is intended to be useful to local residents. At the same time, the project is designed to evolve through dialogue with the urban community. Thus, a research prototype has gradually evolved into a real-world laboratory where science, the urban community, government, and practitioners come together because of a small gray box.”

The award was presented to an interdisciplinary project team of 15 members including emergenCITY researchers and DiReX staff; in addition to those present at the ceremony, Matthias Hollick, Davide Toldo, Angela Zimmerling, Joachim Schulze, and Annette Rudolph-Cleff are as well part of the team. The box’s technical developers worked closely together with Science Communication, the Institute of History, and the Land Management division. As a result, historical knowledge about Darmstadt’s Lichtenbergblock—where the boxes are installed—as well as expertise in environmental data were incorporated into the boxes’ design and presentation. The prize money will be used to further develop the communication and knowledge transfer formats for the Heinerbox.

About the Heinerbox

Since November 2025, a total of 40 so-called Heinerboxes have been installed on streetlights in Darmstadt’s Lichtenbergblock. These resilient sensor boxes collect environmental and traffic data and are used to test crisis-resistant communication methods under real-world conditions. The project combines social and technical resilience: QR codes on the streetlights lead to an open data platform where live data and an interface to historical data are freely accessible. The collected data and the tested communication channels are not only used for research but are also intended to enhance the neighborhood’s resilience. This is the message conveyed by the accompanying campaign.

About the xchange Award

Since last year, TU Darmstadt has been presenting this award to recognize outstanding achievements in the field of knowledge and technology transfer. The award is intended to underscore the strategic importance of xchange as TU Darmstadt’s third dimension of activity—alongside research and teaching—and to highlight outstanding transfer activities. It is presented in two categories: “Technology Transfer and Startup Activity” and “Knowledge Transfer and Science Communication in Politics, Civil Society, and Culture.”

In the “Technology Transfer and Startup Activity” category, Professor Peter Buxmann and Dr. Nihal Wahl were honored for their commitment to supporting startups. Honorable mentions went to the CiP Process Learning Factory and E+E Diskurs.

Further Information

About the Heinerbox: heinerbox.tu-darmstadt.de](https://heinerbox.tu-darmstadt.de/)

Official press from TU Darmstadt (in German): Ausgezeichnete Transferaktivitäten - Timo Kleiner-Schäfer