Smart and Healthy Living

The last word … comes from Prof. Nina Kloster from the Fraunhofer-inHaus-Center

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Prof. Kloster, what are you working on at the moment?

One example of my current activities is the work on the Group research project ILIGHTS. Within the consortium of partners, we are investigating the non-visual benefits of a newly developed LED lighting system within shift operation of the BMW assembly plant. Over the long term, we intend to improve the health and well-being of the employees. The 21-week study in the Munich plant is preceded by a pre-study at the Fraunhofer- inHaus-Center in which the planned methods, processes, and software and hardware components are tested for their practical feasibility and adapted as needed.

Which of the projects being worked on by your colleagues in other Fraunhofer institutes interests you in particular?

In general, I am very excited by developments and smart technologies that are concerned with sustainable treatment of our resources. The vertical greenery project being worked on by our colleagues from Fraunhofer UMSICHT in Oberhausen uses the positive properties of plants in order to promote such factors as air quality, microclimate, and noise protection within urban spaces by means of vertical greenery systems. The use of vertical grassed areas on buildings in order to optimize quality of life and work is, to my mind, a new stage in the future smart home. The research and development work in this field is extremely interesting.

What invention would you not like to do without in daily life?

For me, navigation devices and – in particular – Google Maps are a real help. This free map service accesses the location data of countless smartphone users and uses the masses of data to map the traffic situation amazingly accurately. Google Maps shows in real time the congested routes on all roads – including the smallest side streets – and calculates the fastest route with very good timing. I use the app almost every day and it has saved me many hours of traffic jams – and soothed my nerves many times – when driving around Cologne. In the future, Google also intends to use cellphone data to detect available parking spaces, which would be a real sensation in city centers.

What do you wish you had more time for?

I would like to have more time for conversations and exchange of ideas without a set framework or topics or a timetable – without focus, even. I also wish I had more time to attend events that are well outside my “world.” Unfortunately, my hectic working life and routines tend to restrict the mind a little. I enjoy thinking back to the freedoms I had while studying. Today, such moments are considerably less frequent, but I am still always pleased if unplanned conversations, or ones I expected to be unimportant, throw up a new big idea.

Let’s look into the future.What would you like to have achieved in five or ten years’ time?

I have just accepted the Chair in Health and Comfort in Buildings at Cologne University of Applied Sciences and, in the future, will conduct more intensive research into the health aspects of buildings. In the last few decades, topics such as increasing energy efficiency have dominated building technology, and health aspects have previously played a subordinate role. I can imagine, however, that health in the field of buildings will become a new and large field of the future, which I would like to help shape actively. As I will remain a Fraunhofer member, I can see good market opportunities for the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and, in particular, for the Fraunhofer-inHaus-Center. Perhaps, in the medium term, this topic will lead to Fraunhofer working groups in Cologne. I would be very pleased if it did.

What was the last book you read?

What If? In this book, author Randall Munroe answers the craziest questions in a scientific manner – it’s wonderfully creative, entertaining, and extremely funny!

Last, but not least: can you tell us what motto you live by?

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” (Neale Donald Walsch), because “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” (Henry Ford)

 

About Prof. Nina Kloster:

After studying at the University of Duisburg- Essen, Prof. Nina Kloster worked as a research associate at Fraunhofer UMSICHT. There, she managed groups such as the research group “Medicine, Technology, Design,” which examined holistic products and concepts with the aim of increasing individual quality of life and tackling the challenges brought by demographic change. Innovative assistance systems and preventive products for the medical, sports, and healthcare sector have since been a focus of her work. In parallel to her activities at UMSICHT, Nina Kloster completed her doctorate on biofilm mechanics at the Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität medical school in Mainz. On January 1, 2016, Prof. Nina Kloster assumed management of the Fraunhofer-inHaus-Center in Duisburg and has since promoted the concept of the inHaus-Center functioning as a platform for joint research and development work, largely for the areas of energy efficiency and room and building systems, as well as for the development of future-oriented products and services for the health and care sector. On June 1, 2017, Ms. Kloster was appointed to the Chair of Health and Comfort in Buildings at Cologne University of Applied Sciences.

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