„Mission: Inclusion“

As part of the "Mission: Inclusion" programme, 15 "challenge givers" from business and society were brought together with 20 committed students. The students developed social entrepreneurial business ideas that contribute to solving the challenges of an inclusive working world, taking into account the experiences of the practice partners. Five teams dedicated themselves to one challenge each:

1) Challenge: Inclusion and its implementation are not attractive for companies.

Question: How can we make companies perceive inclusion as an important and attractive aspect?

Business idea: Inklutivity - inclusive team events to strengthen the inclusive/diverse organisational culture using the example of "wheelchair basketball" in cooperation with RSV Bayreuth e.V./Department of Wheelchair Basketball.

2) Challenge: Too many actors (counselling centres, authorities, institutions (organisations)) lead to confusion and make it difficult to implement inclusion.

Question: How can we ensure that companies use the relevant contacts and advice centres for the inclusion of people with disabilities?

Business idea: Inklu.Fix - website/app with a simple, appealing, intuitive user interface that connects companies with the EAA (single points of contact for employers on inclusion). The process of hiring people with disabilities becomes clearer and more transparent.

3) Challenge: HR managers lack relevant know-how on the inclusion of people with disabilities in the labour market.

Question: How do we achieve that HR managers include people with disabilities in human resource management processes?

Business idea: ACE - Agency committed to everyone - training courses for HR on the topics of "inclusion" and "diversity" with people with disabilities as lecturers.

4) Challenge: Companies do not have access to the target group of people with disabilities.

Question: How can we establish contact between companies and people with disabilities, e.g. to reduce fear of contact and to receive applications from people with disabilities in particular?

Business idea: ALLINKLU - digital platform with job sharing options, on which employers can be connected with job seekers and exchange information.

5) Challenge: Companies do not have access to the target group of people with disabilities.

Question: How do we enable companies to understand the skills and talents of people with disabilities and create appropriate jobs?

Business idea: KNOWHY - Accessible platform/app for easy and quick contact between people with disabilities and companies; talent presentation via pictures, videos, language, texts (barrier-free).

The students particularly benefited from the practice partners who have been accompanying the project since March 2023. They shared their experiences to ensure that the student teams develop business ideas for real challenges. The partners were: Gedikom GmbH, conexon GmbH, TenneT TSO, City of Bayreuth (Disability Officer), inclou. GmbH & Co. KG, RSV Bayreuth e.V./Department of Wheelchair Basketball, EAA (Single Point of Contact for Employers), Bayreuth Employment Agency and the University of Bayreuth's representative body for severely disabled persons.

The aim of the project was to pitch to guests - interested parties and representatives of the practice partners. Under the motto "Constructively strengthen ideas", the audience had the opportunity to give feedback and ask questions after each pitch. How can the idea be improved, what concrete suggestions and proposals are there? What perspectives, ideas, starting points, contacts are there to develop the idea further? The aim: to strengthen the teams' ideas, to give suggestions and to motivate them to implement the ideas.

As a "thank you" for the high level of commitment of the student teams, there were three special prizes. The RSV Bayreuth e.V./Department of Wheelchair Basketball invites all students to an exclusive wheelchair basketball training. The students can try out the inclusive sport for themselves. ZEFTI e.V. (Centre for Theatre, Integration and Inclusion) is organising the inclusive theatre festival in Bayreuth city centre from 27 to 29 October 2023. One highlight: a performance of the play "Hamlet" by the German Deaf Theatre. The students will receive a free ticket. In addition, two of the five teams were nominated by Miriam Kraus from the Upper Franconian personnel network Personet e.V. for a pitch as part of the working group "Dealing with diverse and inclusive teams". The teams "Inklutivity" and "KNOWHY" thus have the chance to bring their ideas for an inclusive working world to the HR network and to discuss and implement points of contact for their ideas with the HR managers.

The networking that followed was not just about making contacts, but rather about finding points of contact to help the teams' business ideas come to fruition. The inspiring concepts of the students should not end up as thought experiments.

The project "Mission: Inclusion" is funded by the ZBFS and implemented in cooperation with Hilfswerft gGmbH by the Chair of Social Entrepreneurship. The drinks were sponsored by Kulmbacher Brauerei AG. The catering was sourced from the inclusion company "Lesecafé21".