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On Tuesday, June 18, 2019, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management officially inaugurated its new high-tech beehive. It is part of the “we4bee” project, where the beehive’s inner workings are scientifically measured. With the help of modern cameras and sensors, data on light-intensity, rain, fine dust, weight and bee-activity is collected and processed. It then is retrievable online.
The Audi Environmental Foundation supports the project and funds 100 high-tech beehives, installed across Germany. The project’s objective is to develop a network for data-collection and its analysis.
Professor Dr Jürgen Tautz, Professor at the Biocenter of the University of Würzburg, initiated the project: “we4bee educates young adults on the importance of the honeybee for the ecosystem. It also connects young people from all around the world”. As Professor Tautz points out, this project presents a “beacon” at a time in which people prefer to talk about each other rather than with each other.
The project aims to investigate environmental impacts, which affect the honeybees’ behaviour. “we4bee” beehives collect the required data. Another goal is to enlarge the knowledge about the importance of the honeybee amongst students.
Karolina Kristic, Chancellor and CFO of Frankfurt School, points out the importance of the topic for the business school. “From day one of our planning, we wanted to build a sustainable building. Sustainability is multifaceted. Therefore, we do not only adopt it within our curriculum, but also on our campus. Examples are the bee-project or the solar panels on the roof”. She outlined that the bee-project has only been possible because of active colleagues, who campaigned for this project in their spare time.
Other than that, the transformation of a part of the green spaces into a flower field is in the planning. This would not only benefit the bees but also the humans studying and working on campus.