The Project

The Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Fokus Mensch is a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate (BMWK) that places the human at the center of digitalization. Human-centric digitalization is an interface and cross-cutting issue that affects all companies in the digital transformation environment. It actively involves users in the design process in order to achieve a deeper understanding of people in private and business life. This is the driver of a digital innovation process. Possible positive and negative effects of technologies are reflected from the beginning and included in design decisions. The Digital Center supports start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises free of charge in recognizing the needs and expectations of their users, consumers and corporate customers, in making their own product strategy more successful, in finding suitable cooperation partners, and in trying out and establishing the methods and approaches of human-centered digitization in their own companies in order to position themselves sustainably.

This is done with five main topics:
1. human-centered innovation and design
2. fairness and diversity
3. wellbeing and resilience
4. digital sovereignty
5. sustainable transformation

Together with the project partners University of Hamburg, Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences and UIG e.V., h-lab will work on the topic of Sustainable Transformation. The goal is to develop, research and provide new support services for medium-sized companies in relation to UUX technologies of human-centered digitalization, digital accessibility and lifelong learning.

At regular intervals, the Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Fokus Mensch also organizes and supports events throughout Germany on the topic of human-centered digitalization. One example is the annual UIG Tagung.