What began as a project seminar has grown into a startup venture with real future potential: In the winter semester 2023/24, Information Systems students developed moto, a digital solution for school-age childcare at Altenberge Primary School. The project originated in the seminar "Developing a Coordination App for Open All-Day Care at Altenberge Primary School" at Prof. Tobias Brandt's Chair of Digital Innovation and the Public Sector.

The background to the project was Germany's "Ganztagsförderungsgesetz (GaFöG)", which will gradually introduce a legal entitlement to all-day care for primary school children starting in 2026. As a result, OGS Altenberge, an open all-day school programme in Germany, also expects rising numbers of children in care and a growing organisational workload. In response to this need, the project seminar was launched in collaboration with the University of Münster and became the starting point for moto.

Together with the Municipality of Altenberge and OGS Altenberge, the students developed a platform designed to simplify the organisation of before- and after-school care and support educational staff in their day-to-day work. Its features include the management of attendance, rooms, and staff, as well as digital location tracking of children using NFC technology.

To further develop moto, the chair received funding of €150,000 through the DATIpilot programme. moto is now also funded through the EXIST programme. Florian Lüttgenau and Yannick Wenger, who both took part in the original seminar, have continued working on moto ever since. Together with Conrad Reintjes, who also studied Information Systems and is responsible for product and customer relations as CPO, they are now driving the next stage of the platform's development.

We spoke with them about their motivation, the challenges they faced during development, and the future of moto.

How did the idea for the project emerge, and what problem are you trying to solve?

The idea emerged in the winter semester 2023/24 in a project seminar on the digital coordination of school-age childcare in Altenberge. The starting point was an NFC prototype that allowed children to check in and out of the childcare programme at different check-in points. In discussions with OGS Altenberge, we quickly realised that the actual problem was much broader: in everyday childcare, a lot of information is still handled through paper lists, verbal communication, individual emails, or disconnected systems.

Starting in the 2026/27 school year, children entering first grade have a legal entitlement to all-day care, which will be extended to all primary school grades by 2029/30. This reform makes the problem even more pressing. As a result, many school-age childcare sites will need to care for more children and coordinate more processes in the future. At the same time, there are still very few software solutions in this field that bring together the different needs of care teams, management, parents, HR administration, and providers in one system. Daycare centres have been working digitally in many areas for years, while care teams in these programmes often still rely on highly analogue structures.

This is how moto came about: software for school-age childcare that brings attendance tracking, child information, parent communication, administration, staffing, time tracking, holiday care and online enrolment together in one system. Our goal is to reduce the organisational burden on educational teams so that they have more time to work with the children. Especially as the number of children in care increases and coordination becomes more complex, digital processes and, depending on the facility, NFC check-in systems can offer major benefits.

What role does each of you play on the project team?

We each contribute different strengths to the project. Florian mainly focuses on strategy, organisation, and collaboration with funding partners. As CTO, Yannick leads development: he builds the product, is responsible for the technical architecture, and takes care of the platform's scaling and infrastructure. As CPO, Conrad is responsible for the product and customer relations. He works directly with schools and providers, represents moto at trade fairs, and translates practical feedback into concrete features.

We are now a team of six. Alongside the three of us founders, Christian Kamann, who was already part of the original project seminar, supports us in development. Tristan Heitger also works on development and design. Jule Soll supports customer outreach, marketing and customer support. As more schools and care providers join us, our team is growing too, and we are looking for more people to join us.

Many decisions are made directly on the basis of feedback from the institutions that already use moto in everyday practice. That is very important to us, because good software for before- and after-school care only works if it is developed close to the teams' real workflows.

What was the biggest challenge during development?

The biggest challenge was realizing that there is no one-size-fits-all solution in school-age childcare. Every institution works differently, and needs become even more diverse as the number of children increases. One school wants to document attendance digitally with NFC wristbands, while another prefers to handle it directly in the app. For some providers, staff administration is the key issue; for others, it is parent communication, holiday care, or something else.

That is why we had to think of moto as a highly modular system from the very beginning. Today, the platform works like a toolkit: institutions and providers can use the building blocks that fit their workflows. Implementing this modularity in a technically clean way while keeping the system easy to use was, and still is, one of our most important tasks.

How did the collaboration with OGS Altenberge and the municipality work?

The collaboration was extremely valuable for us because it allowed us to develop very close to practice. OGS Altenberge and the municipality gave us insights into real processes, tested prototypes, and provided very open feedback on what works well in everyday operations and what creates additional effort.

That honest feedback has had a major influence on moto. Step by step, an initial technical idea became a solution based on the real needs of care staff.

What surprised you most about the project?

What surprised us most was how much is actually missing in school-age childcare once you take a closer look. We started with a single question: Where is each child right now? But in conversations with the teams, more questions quickly followed. Who is picking up today? Who is off sick? Who is covering for an absent colleague? How does enrolment for holiday care work? We realised that every well-solved building block immediately shows where the next one is missing. Step by step, a single feature grew into an entire ecosystem.

Today, moto consists of four connected apps. The staff app shows staff during the afternoon which child is where, when each child will be picked up, and what has changed at short notice. The management app brings together enrolments, child data, care times, groups, activity clubs, holiday care, and the staff schedule, including cover arrangements and time tracking. In the parent app, which is available in many languages, parents report their child sick, change pick-up times, manage who is authorised to pick up their child, and receive messages, questions, and documents. The provider app connects staff, holiday care, and administration across multiple sites. Attendance tracking via app or NFC is still central, because that is where it all started. Today, however, it is just one building block among many.

We were also surprised by how quickly teams start working with the system. If the interface is clear and solves a real everyday problem, moto is used very intuitively. The biggest effect comes where the building blocks work together. An absence report from the parent app goes straight to the team, without a paper slip or a call to the office. A staff absence is immediately visible in the staff schedule. When everyone is on the same page, the afternoon becomes noticeably calmer.

What does the DATIpilot funding mean to you personally and for the further development of the project?

The DATIpilot funding was a decisive step for us. After the seminar, it gave us the opportunity to continue working on moto, build the project more professionally, and make the first product decisions with more time and structure.

On a personal level, the funding also confirmed for us that the problem is socially relevant. School-age childcare in Germany is facing major organisational challenges due to the new legal entitlement. DATIpilot helped us turn a project seminar into a robust product. moto is now in use at more than 15 schools in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony and is used daily by several thousand children and their care teams.

What will the next phase of development for moto look like?

We are very pleased that we have received follow-up funding through the EXIST program. This means moto is now entering its next phase of development. A great deal has already happened in recent months: we have connected additional schools in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, we are operating in everyday practice, and we have learned a lot from the on-site teams about different childcare structures.

Now we want to grow. moto has proven itself in everyday practice, and we want to bring it to many more schools. That is why we are looking for care teams, schools and providers who would like to get started with us, including beyond North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. Every new institution brings its own workflows. That is exactly what we learn from, and it is how we develop all four apps in a targeted way. We are working especially intensively on the provider app, which gives providers with multiple sites an overview across all their locations. Our focus remains on ensuring that moto adapts to the institutions' workflows, not the other way around.

What is your long-term vision for the project? What impact should moto have beyond Altenberge?

Our long-term vision is for moto to provide noticeable relief for school-age childcare teams and providers across Germany. If less time is spent on lists, searching, coordination, paperwork, and duplicate documentation, more time remains for educational work.

We are particularly interested in larger provider constellations with multiple sites. In those settings, digital structures can help implement shared standards without losing the specific characteristics of individual institutions. That is exactly the impact we want to create: more transparency, less administrative effort, and better collaboration between care staff, parents, schools and providers.

Beyond the founders' personal insights, moto also shows the potential of an Information Systems degree and project-based learning: a project seminar can develop into a practical solution with social impact and entrepreneurial potential.

Links related to this news

moto website

Webseite der Ausschreibung: 

https://karriere.bpc.ag/de/jobs/222/werkstudent-projektmanagement-und-softwareentwicklung-wmd

Kontakt-E-Mail-Adresse: people@bpc.ag

Stellenbeschreibung:

Job offer URL: https://lvm.sprad.io/C3YnE Info email address: t.gossling@lvm.de Job description:

Die IT@LVM sucht neue Kolleg:innen für spannende Stellen in verschiedensten Themengebieten. Eine Übersicht der aktuell ausgeschriebenen Stellen findet ihr unter dem folgenden Link:

Webseite der Ausschreibung: 

https://karriere.bpc.ag/de/jobs/223/werkstudent-softwareentwicklung-wmd

Kontakt-E-Mail-Adresse: people@bpc.ag

Stellenbeschreibung:

Webseite der Ausschreibung: 

https://karriere.bpc.ag/de/jobs/144/mathematiker-physiker-chemiker-als-it-berater-wmd

Kontakt-E-Mail-Adresse: people@bpc.ag

Stellenbeschreibung:

Webseite der Ausschreibung: 

https://www.wi.uni-muenster.de/de/karriere/stellenangebot-zusenden

Kontakt-E-Mail-Adresse: ulf.loetschert@loyjoy.com

Stellenbeschreibung:

For his outstanding research achievements, Professor Dr. David Bendig, Head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship, was awarded the SBE Research Prize on 28 October 2026. At the celebratory award ceremony, the Dean, Professor Dr. Thomas Langer, welcomed around 70 guests at Heereman'scher Hof, alongside the prize winner and his family. With the Award the School honours professors for their outstanding research work and makes the first-class results achieved in the School even more visible.

Für seine exzellenten Forschungsleistungen wurde Prof. Dr. David Bendig, Leiter des Instituts für Entrepreneurship, am 28.10.2026 mit dem FB4-Forschungspreis ausgezeichnet. Zur feierlichen Verleihung begrüßte Dekan Prof. Dr. Thomas Langer neben dem Preisträger und seiner Familie rund 70 Gäste im Heereman'schen Hof. Mit dem Preis ehrt die Fakultät seit 2023 Professor:innen für ihre herausragende Arbeit in der Forschung und macht die erstklassigen Ergebnisse, die am Fachbereich erzielt werden, noch sichtbarer. 

How can we ensure a sustainable electricity supply, and what can Germany and Brazil learn from each other? This question connects Germany’s energy transition with an electricity system in which hydropower has traditionally played a major role. An opportunity to explore these questions arose during the visit of PD Dr. Jörg Lingens from the Chair of Sustainable Market Design at the University of Münster to the Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM). From 1 to 16 September, Lingens visited the Departamento de Economia, hosted by Prof. Dr. Carlândia Brito Santos Fernandes. During his stay, he taught a short course on energy economics and exchanged ideas with students and colleagues.

Wie gelingt eine nachhaltige Stromversorgung – und was können Deutschland und Brasilien voneinander lernen? Diese Frage verbindet die deutsche Energiewende mit einem Stromsystem, in dem Wasserkraft traditionell eine tragende Rolle spielt. Einen Anlass zum Austausch darüber bot der Gastaufenthalt von PD Dr. Jörg Lingens vom Lehrstuhl für nachhaltiges Marktdesign der Universität Münster an der Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM). Vom 1. bis 16. September war Lingens am Departamento de Economia bei Prof. Dr. Carlândia Brito Santos Fernandes zu Gast. Dort hielt er einen Kurzkurs zur Energieökonomik und tauschte sich mit Studierenden und Kolleg:innen aus.

On October 2, 2026, the University Medical Center Göttingen hosted the innovation symposium “AI Meets Prevention and Health Science.” The event brought together experts from various disciplines to discuss the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) in prevention and healthcare.

Dr. Shariga Sivanathan from the Department of Information Systems at the University of Münster participated in the symposium as a speaker. In her presentation, she explored the emergence and management of technostress in the context of the growing use of AI-based technologies in the workplace. She examined how AI can create new forms of psychological strain while also helping to reduce employees’ workloads. She also highlighted the importance of organizational design in preventing technology-related stress.

Other presentations addressed topics including the use of AI in occupational medicine, adaptive robotics and intelligent assistance systems in industrial work environments, and the reliability of AI systems in public health. Trust and transparency in the use of AI-generated health information were also discussed.

The symposium provided a platform for interdisciplinary exchange on the health impacts and preventive potential of artificial intelligence, opening up new perspectives on shaping the digital transformation in a way that promotes health and well-being.

Deutsche Meistertitel, internationale Wettkämpfe und ein BWL-Studium an der Universität Münster: Armin Pacariz verbindet akademische und sportliche Ziele. Seit dem Wintersemester 2024/25 studiert er Betriebswirtschaftslehre an der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät und trainiert gleichzeitig auf internationalem Niveau. Im Interview erzählt Herr Pacariz, wie er Training, Wettkampfvorbereitung und Studium miteinander vereinbart, welche Parallelen er zwischen Judo und Wirtschaftswissenschaften sieht und warum er sich für die Universität Münster entschieden hat.

Jan vom Brocke, Chair of Information Systems & Business Process Management, ranks first in Germany in the career ranking for Information Systems. Globally, he is among the top 0.35 percent of leading researchers in his field. In the 2026 ranking, he is listed in third place in Germany and among the top 0.26 percent worldwide.

In addition, several Visiting International Professors (VIPs) from the Faculty of Economics are featured in the ranking: Sirkka Jarvenpaa from the University of Texas, Michael Rosemann from Queensland University of Technology, and Alan Hevner from the University of South Florida.

About the Stanford/Elsevier Ranking

The annually published database was established by John P. A. Ioannidis of Stanford University and is published in collaboration with Elsevier. Due to its selection of the world’s leading scientists, it is also known as the ‘Top 2 per cent list’. The ninth edition of the ranking, published on 7 October 2026, is based on Scopus data as at 1 August 2026. It comprises two assessments: one covering the entire academic career and a ranking for 2026.

You can read more about the principles behind the ranking here.

According to the latest Stanford/Elsevier ranking, three professors from the School of Business and Economics at the University of Münster are among the world’s most cited researchers in their respective fields. Alongside Jan vom Brocke and Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, David Bendig also features on this year’s prestigious list, which honours the world’s most influential academics each year.

Drei Professoren der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Münster zählen laut dem aktuellen Stanford/Elsevier-Ranking zu den weltweit meistzitierten Forschenden ihrer Fachgebiete. Neben Jan vom Brocke und Thorsten Hennig-Thurau ist in diesem Jahr auch David Bendig in der renommierten Liste vertreten, mit der jedes Jahr die einflussreichsten Wissenschaftler:innen weltweit geehrt werden.

Mehr als 1.400 Studierende haben im Oktober ihr Studium an der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät aufgenommen. Dekan Prof. Dr. Thomas Langer begrüßte sie im Rahmen der Orientierungswoche, die wie in jedem Semester mit viel Engagement von der Fachschaft WiWi organisiert wurde. Mit rund 600 Erstsemestern ist BWL der Bachelorstudiengang mit den meisten Neueinschreibungen an der Universität Münster. Ebenfalls begrüßt wurden die internationalen Studierenden, die an der Fakultät ihr Auslandssemester verbringen.

Finn Petersen earned his bachelor’s degree in Information Systems and his master’s degree in Information Systems at the Department of Information Systems at the University of Münster. During his studies, he also gained practical experience as an e-learning developer support specialist and through working student positions in product management and content management.

Today, Finn works as an IT consultant at BBHT Beratungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, a Münster-based consulting firm specializing in IT, digitalization and business processes.

We spoke with Finn about his time as a student, the practical experience he gained during his studies and his path into IT consulting.

Why did you choose to study Information Systems, and which subjects or topics interested you most during your studies?

When I graduated from high school, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do later on, so I wanted to keep my options relatively open. That’s why I considered which degree programs would best suit my strengths and leave various career paths open to me. I simply found the interplay between aspects of computer science and a business management perspective very interesting. During my studies, I particularly enjoyed the lectures on project and process management. But I also have fond memories of the project seminars and other seminars, which were a lot of fun because they offered a nice change from the typical lecture format.

You gained practical experience during your studies, including in e-learning and through working student positions in product management and content management. How did these opportunities come about, and how did they prepare you for your current career?

To be honest, for financial reasons, working alongside my studies was never really a question of whether I would do it or not. After a few jobs that weren’t related to my field, I eventually thought, “If I’m going to work anyway, I might as well gain some relevant experience.” I got the job through a friend and stayed in it until I graduated.The experience prepared me mainly by familiarizing me with workplace structures and the way colleagues work together. Even today, I see communication and collaboration within a team as essential parts of the job. Of course, structures and regular meetings help with this, but so do soft skills like facilitating discussions, etc., and those are best learned through hands-on experience.

How did you get into IT consulting after graduating, and what appealed to you about this field?

Consulting itself fascinated me because it gives you the opportunity to get a glimpse into a wide variety of projects and to take on responsibility fairly quickly. I ended up at BBHT through my master’s thesis. During that half-year, I gained a very good insight into the company and decided that it was a great place to start my career.

What exactly does an IT consultant do, and what does your typical workday at BBHT look like?

Of course, this depends a lot on the project, the current phase, and the team composition. I’m currently working on a project where we’ve been doing application development in a very agile way, starting with a very small team and now with a larger one. At first, I worked as a business analyst and tester, then briefly as a Scrum Master, and now I’m responsible for the project on the BBHT side. As a result, my day-to-day work depends quite a bit on whether there are new colleagues who need to be onboarded, etc. Generally, I start my mornings by getting an overview of the day so I can go into the daily stand-up meeting prepared. Then we have quite a few meetings and coordination sessions in the morning, and in the afternoon I usually have time to work on things and make progress on the design of new features. Of course, I’m not just working on the project – there are always tasks that come up within BBHT as well. For example, business analysis or Scrum training sessions, which I prepare and lead with other colleagues (last year, even with some participants from WINet).

What kinds of projects or topics do you particularly enjoy working on at the moment?

I actually really enjoy preparing and conducting training sessions, partly because it’s always a nice change of pace from day-to-day project work. But I also still enjoy working on my project, since we’re constantly receiving new requirements and, in addition to processing data extracted by AI (which was our core focus at the beginning), we’re continually taking on new responsibilities. This means I have to familiarize myself with new topics every now and then, which also gives me a sense of accomplishment whenever I’ve mastered a new subject.

In what ways is working as an IT consultant different from what you expected during your studies?

Primarily in terms of the extent to which soft project factors influence overall project success. Our team works so well primarily because we collaborate very effectively and can support each other’s work. In addition, we’ve created a very open feedback culture and a level of trust that gives everyone the feeling they can contribute to important decisions. I’m firmly convinced that this is the only way my colleagues and I can make the best possible use of our skills.

What was the biggest challenge for you personally when starting your career, and how did you deal with it?

The transition was certainly interesting, but I experienced it as a positive one overall. As a student, you feel like you’re never really finished: there’s always more to learn, lectures to catch up on or presentations to prepare. Toward the end of my studies, that was starting to frustrate me. So I really enjoyed being able to switch off properly after work or at the weekend.
Of course, not everything is easy. Depending on the project, you do give up some of the independence you have as a student which is probably at its highest then. When choosing where to start my career, I made sure to find a role that would allow me to retain as much of that independence as possible. All in all, I didn’t find the transition into working life particularly challenging. The biggest adjustment was probably getting used to a new sleep schedule.

What advice would you give today’s Information Systems students who are interested in a career in IT consulting?

I think it’s incredibly helpful to look beyond your immediate field of study early on and explore topics that go beyond what’s covered in lectures. It’s also worth looking into different consulting firms, because consulting can mean very different things. Starting out in strategy or management consulting certainly requires different skills from the more operational work I do. 
I was lucky enough to interview people from a range of consulting firms for my master’s thesis. That gave me a clearer picture of the different options and helped me figure out what I wanted. It definitely helped me make my decision. So I’d recommend taking every opportunity to explore the field, work out whether it’s right for you and, if it is, think about what kind of consulting you can see yourself doing.

Which tasks can be entrusted to artificial intelligence, and when should humans remain involved in decision-making processes? Determining how decision-making responsibilities should be distributed between humans and AI is one of the key challenges facing companies in the AI era.

Prof. Jan vom Brocke and Dr. Thomas Haskamp from the Department of Information Systems at the University of Münster, together with Dr. Ina Sebastian and Prof. Peter Weill from the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), have developed a framework to help companies address this question. The “AI Decision Matrix” enables executives to determine, based on two dimensions, the extent to which humans and autonomous AI agents should be involved in decision-making processes.

The researchers developed the matrix based on interviews with 30 executives. It is based on the understanding that decisions vary in complexity and risk: While some decisions are predictable and involve limited risk, others are characterized by ambiguity and can have far-reaching consequences. Depending on the nature of the decision, greater human involvement or a higher degree of AI autonomy may therefore be appropriate.

Learn more about the framework here.

The Scientific Advisory Board to the Federal Ministry of Finance has elected a new chair. Prof. Dr Nadine Riedel, Head of the Institute for Public and Regional Economics at the University of Münster, will take up the role of Deputy Chair of the independent advisory body from January 2027. She has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board since 2015. Alfons Weichenrieder from Goethe University Frankfurt will take over as Chair.

Der Wissenschaftliche Beirat beim Bundesministerium der Finanzen hat seinen Vorsitz neu gewählt. Prof. Dr. Nadine Riedel, Leiterin des Instituts für Wirtschaftspolitik und Regionalökonomik an der Universität Münster, wird ab Januar 2027 den Stellvertretenden Vorsitz des unabhängigen Beratungsgremiums innehaben. Sie ist bereits seit 2015 Mitglied des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats. Den Vorsitz wird Alfons Weichenrieder von der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt übernehmen.