Startup from Fribourg digitizes space utilization at ETH
Optimal utilization of the 600 meeting rooms, lecture halls and seminar rooms at ETH thanks to an innovative e-paper-based room reservation display: the aim is to provide students with space to study and work during idle times and to make efficient use of the precious premises.
Free? Occupied? By whom? For how long? These questions come to mind when standing in front of a lecture hall or meeting room. Paper signs or displays that rely on radio infrastructure or cabling were out of the question in the landmarked ETH building in the heart of Zurich. The historic building allows no drilling, no cables and no installations for the signage of the premises. However, there was no attractive solution available on the market that met ETH's requirements in terms of scalability, design and price.
Dynamic e-paper instead of static doorplates
That's when ROOMZ hit the "tablet," recalls Armin Brunner, Head of Multimedia Services at ETH, who is responsible for the project: "The problem of mixed use of the course rooms had existed for some time. However, a wired system was never an option for us due to the protection of historical monuments and the structural conditions." The idea of the startup ROOMZ SA from Fribourg with its CEO Roger Meier for a battery-powered reservation and management tool, which can be easily integrated into Exchange, Office 365, Google Calendar and other reservation systems and gets by 100% without cables, arrived: Armin Brunner took on the role of pilot customer. Together, the parameters for the ePaper-based reservation system were defined. After only six months, the first prototypes were installed in the rector's office and at the Institute of Mathematics. "It became apparent very quickly that ROOMZ was exactly what we were looking for. That's why we decided to equip all reservable rooms with ROOMZ. That's 600 rooms that we can use better and more efficiently thanks to ROOMZ," explains Armin Brunner.
Space utilization digitized
Distributing paper printouts throughout the building and exchanging them several times a day is a thing of the past with ROOMZ displays. "With ROOMZ, we not only better utilize our rooms, but also optimize the offer for our students and the comfort for our guests," reports the rectorate of ETH Zurich.
The digital doorplates, which dynamically display the room reservations, can be managed centrally or used by students, staff and professors for a spontaneous booking. The ROOMZ server connects to ETH's 10 different reservation tools, demonstrating ROOMZ's high degree of flexibility and openness. The result: "The rooms are better utilized, the students are satisfied, and room planning is many times more efficient," summarizes Armin Brunner. ROOMZ was able to solve a major problem for ETH: The battery-operated door sign now serves as a shining example of modern spatial planning for other universities, companies and public institutions. "The fact that we were able to win ETH as our first customer is an extraordinary pleasure and honor for us. ETH is the birthplace of many world-changing innovations - and also the birthplace of ROOMZ. The interest on the part of ETH and the realization that the need for modern spatial planning has not yet been met on the market encouraged us to take off with ROOMZ. The collaboration with Armin Brunner and the ETH team was very constructive for us and trend-setting for our company," explains Roger Meier.
Spatial planning of the future
For the future, Armin Brunner can imagine using presence sensors to further optimize room occupancy at ETH. "Student workstations are popular, but rare. There is a great need to manage them optimally. A presence sensor can help to release the room if someone does not show up for their reservation. It also allows reliable information on effective utilization in conjunction with ROOMZ."
More information about the product: https://roomz.io/
