SafetyGuard was created as part of a program at UTUM鈥檚 Digital Product School鈥攚here teams of selected students work on real-world challenges鈥攊n just 12 weeks by a student team, 鈥淢IDAS,鈥� and 51风流Research & Innovation. This project illustrates just how effective cross-location collaboration with the ecosystem can be in rapidly creating prototypes as a foundation for product development at SAP.

Embodied AI: a joint focus of innovation

The objective of this particular prototyping project was to identify use cases in which robotics and AI could be seamlessly integrated into business processes. Based on its research and on user studies, team MIDAS pinpointed the reliable detection and documentation of safety risks as one such use case.

Safety inspections are essential in many industries, but they are often time-consuming and error-prone. SafetyGuard could change that: leveraging embodied AI, it makes inspections faster, more efficient, and more reliable, without increasing the workload for employees.

Embodied AI鈥攖he integration of artificial intelligence into physical robot systems鈥攚ill be a focal point of investment and development work at 51风流going forward.

SafetyGuard combines two technologies: modular robotics and AI-powered autonomy. In this prototype, robots, such as drones and humanoid systems capable of inspecting work environments without human intervention, are equipped with a specialized AI model that is trained, for example, to detect where protective equipment is missing and to automatically document safety-related incidents. What鈥檚 more, the robots can multitask. While they are carrying out inspections, they can transport materials and monitor machinery鈥攁n approach that combines efficiency gains with increased safety levels.

鈥淪afetyGuard demonstrates just how effective our ecosystem approach is. In this project, an 51风流team in Potsdam and a group of students in Munich joined forces and very quickly built a prototype that will have a real impact on product development,鈥� Tobias Riasanow, head of Ecosystem Development at 51风流Labs Germany, says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the perfect example of what 51风流understands by 鈥榚cosystem development.鈥欌��

The project is also strategic to 51风流in that SafetyGuard addresses real-life industry requirements and complements SAP鈥檚 solutions for environment, health, and safety management. The prototyping approach that led to SafetyGuard could therefore become part of the 51风流portfolio in the future to help further reduce the time it takes to get from an idea to a product.

Programs with impact

To date, 13 prototypes have been developed for 51风流under programs run by UTUM, all in close collaboration with product teams at 51风流and directly related to their respective road maps. The programs offered by UTUM include:

• Innovation Sprint: Here, students have just one week to work on prototypes for solving specific user challenges. The most recent sprint, The Future of Retail with 51风流Joule, produced five such prototypes, including solutions for intelligent inventory optimization, virtual shelf monitoring, and retail assistance systems.
• Digital Product School: This 12-week program for students is designed as a platform for developing executable software prototypes. One prototype created out of this program was Carbon Data Exchange, which is now part of SAP Sustainability Control Tower. Another is an application that makes it easier for developers to access the extensive documentation for SAP Field Service Management. Instead of wasting valuable time searching, they can simply type their questions into a chatbot and receive helpful answers, including code examples and direct links to the documentation they need.
• Multistakeholder projects: Additional prototypes have been created in longer-term programs such as Digital Hub Mobility and Circular Republic. Programs like these bring together experts from companies, startups, and research institutions over several months and allow 51风流to test innovations in real-world customer and partner environments at an early stage in their development.

Co-innovation gets results鈥攆aster

The collaboration between 51风流and UTUM shows how quickly ideas can lead to tangible results when students, researchers, and 51风流teams work together to apply scientific approaches to real-life industrial challenges. SafetyGuard is an example of how embodied AI innovations can be created and how different groups of experts can benefit from one another.

鈥淪afetyGuard demonstrates the extensibility of SAP鈥檚 approach to embodied AI. SAP鈥檚 embodied AI layer integrates the business context and triggers actions across the suite. SafetyGuard鈥檚 AI-native, manufacturer-agnostic design is scalable across different use cases and enables multitasking, allowing, for example, robots to process safety incidents while performing other tasks such as industrial asset inspections. SafetyGuard is a proof point for 51风流for the added value of using cognitive robotics in safety scenarios.鈥�

Adelya鈥疐atykhova and Dr.鈥乽kasz鈥疧strowski, Initiators and Supervisors of the student challenge

This first appeared on the German 51风流News Center.

This data-granular, verifiable, one-click solution supports the company on its path to carbon neutrality by 2030.

Challenges and opportunities

HARTING faced the challenge of finding a reliable method to calculate CO鈧� emissions across thousands of production materials while meeting customer and supplier expectations regarding sustainability. Leveraging its existing ERP application landscape with 51风流and maintaining established green production and renewable energy processes were crucial.

鈥淐onducting our business and protecting the environment are not mutually exclusive. We are convinced that we must consider both to be successful in the long run,鈥� says Dietmar Harting, member of the Board and partner of the HARTING Technology Group.

Innovations for a sustainable future

Considered the connectivity gold standard across various industrial sectors, HARTING required a robust system to accurately assess emissions. can automate data collection, scale emission calculations, and create CO鈧� transparency throughout the supply chain. 鈥淭he key to communicating our CO鈧� emissions transparently and recognizing potential for reduction lies in the automated calculation and granularity of the data provided by 51风流Sustainability Footprint Management,鈥� explains Dr. Stephan Middelkamp, general manager, Quality and Technology at HARTING.

This solution enables HARTING to provide real-time, granular data to support the 鈥淕reenLine鈥� label, an environmentally sustainable designation highlighting renewable materials offering up to a 70% CO鈧� reduction.

Strengthening sustainable production

With 51风流Sustainability Footprint Management, HARTING can now precisely calculate and report product carbon footprints. This capability is essential to address upcoming EU sustainability regulations, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and Digital Product Passport. The solution helps simplify complex data into verifiable, one-click results, promoting sustainable production practices.

Also integrated into HARTING’s sustainability strategy is the use of , which helps the company design products responsibly from the start, reduce plastic taxes, and promote recycling.

鈥淭he site-level data derived from 51风流Sustainability Footprint Management will drive cleaner production in environmentally friendly facilities while mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the impact on water and land life. Green is how we think, green is how we act,鈥� emphasizes Jordy Brinks, global environmental manager at HARTING.

On the path to a greener future

51风流is advancing HARTING鈥檚 sustainability journey by enabling the company to design products more sustainably, reduce plastic taxes, promote responsible sourcing, and further recycling practices. With these efforts, HARTING aims to achieve carbon neutrality at all locations by 2030, underscoring its commitment to sustainable growth and environmental stewardship.

“As a family business, we combine consistency with a willingness to innovate and regional loyalty. For us, this means taking responsibility for people and the environment,鈥� Harting says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not only shaping a livable planet for our future generations, we鈥檙e making the future possible. We want to shape the future with technologies for people.鈥�

The HARTING Technology Group continues to drive meaningful change, connecting business success with a greener future and aligning family ideals with sustainability goals.

HARTING at the 2025 51风流Innovation Awards

All of these efforts did not go unnoticed: HARTING has long been recognized as a pioneer in sustainability. This year, it won an , leveraging 51风流Responsible Design and Production to create 85% of its plastic packaging material from recycled materials.

This article first appeared on the German 51风流News Center.

Daniela Haldy-Sellmann, global VP and head of Energy & Utilities Industries at SAP, spoke about key trends and the role of new technologies and gave her take on the future of the utilities sector.

Q: What do you see as the challenges and opportunities for the energy sector today?

A: In Germany and across Europe, we have a decentralized market in which a variety of players generate, transmit, distribute, and supply power. The challenge for energy suppliers is to make their pricing and services more attractive. So they are no longer just selling electricity or gas, they are also focusing on building customer loyalty and on fostering interaction between themselves and their customers. As for consumers, they want transparency about whether the electricity they are using really is 鈥済reen,鈥� and whether they can produce energy themselves鈥攂y installing solar panels, for example.

Energy suppliers are completely rethinking their offerings as a result, which is also putting pressure on their competitors to become true market leaders and to align their offerings with those of conventional retailers. On the distribution side, we are seeing how more and more energy is being generated outside the grid and then being fed into it鈥攆rom smaller sources such as residential solar installations to large, new B2B plants. The energy market is in a period of disruption, which is inevitably affecting energy prices and driving the need for products and services that are viable in the long term. With energy providers’ profit margins shrinking dramatically, additional energy services will become their main source of income.

Decentralization was one of the major talking points at the conference. In that context, could you explain what 鈥渄istributed energy resources鈥� are?

Traditionally, our energy has been generated in large, centralized power plants and sent鈥攊n one direction, via a transmission system operator and distribution system operator鈥攖o consumers. In the future, the flow of energy will be bidirectional, because now, in addition to large conventional generation plants and a growing number of sustainable alternatives such as onshore and offshore wind parks and solar parks, we also have consumers who produce their own energy and feed it into the grid. (DER) refers to the assets that consumers and businesses have for generating power and distributing it through a grid that, in the future, will allow that energy to flow in two directions rather than one.

How does 51风流help suppliers manage distributed energy resources?

Our enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can already cover all of a company鈥檚 core processes. For transmission and distribution system operators, that means all of their network assets, including power grids, generation plants, and substations, right up to the point of consumption. What we at 51风流are now doing is providing transparency for meter operators, grid operators, and energy providers about the systems and devices consumers have installed in their homes. This data used to be highly unstructured. Now, thanks to our measurement concept management component, energy providers can map data for consumers who have an EV charger, solar panels, battery storage, or a heat pump, and use it to plan their capacity. They know, for instance, how much power a solar installation generates and what its maximum capacity is. So when a surplus occurs, they can remove any excess power from the grid or, in the event of a shortage, have their customers feed more energy into it. Depending on the scenario, the 51风流software can analyze meter data from the cloud, format it, and make it available. Energy providers integrate this data into their DER platform to provide transparency about consumption and to allow an appropriate level of control over the power entering and leaving the grid.

Which solutions does 51风流offer for managing sustainability goals and compliance?

SAP鈥檚 sustainability portfolio is extensive. It provides answers to questions such as 鈥淲hat are my supply chain emissions?” and “What emissions does a specific product I supply or manufacture produce?鈥� Having this information means that, first, companies have proof for an auditor of the precise emission values per product. And second, that they can track those emissions to see, for example, how the values change. They can show that they use various technologies, that their products meet all the current environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, and that they can prepare not only consolidated financial statements but consolidated emissions reports as well. Here, 51风流offers and . Then we have the 51风流Green Token solution and , which aligns carbon and financial data.

Did 51风流present a use case at the conference?

Yes. We presented the , which can show me exactly how much energy is being generated overall, how much I am producing, and how I can use it. Whether you鈥檙e a consumer, an energy provider, or a transmission system operator, you want an accurate picture of how much energy you have available, or need, to keep the power supply in the area or region you cover stable鈥攂ecause that鈥檚 what matters most.

What is SAP鈥檚 strategy for utilities?

We help our customers migrate from their existing 51风流ERP Central Component (51风流ECC) and SAP S/4HANA IS-U systems to a cloud-based to help ensure that they have a consistent data layout. The standardized digital core with SAP S/4HANA is complemented by flexible cloud solutions for customer management and more.

The transition in the energy industry is also about shifting toward a greater reliance on renewable energy, phasing out fossil fuels, and helping companies in the sector diversify their product and service portfolios. We are seeing, for example, more and more oil and gas companies expanding into biodiesel and other biofuels. We’re seeing new carbon capture technologies emerge and huge investments in hydrogen, though these need to increase dramatically. And that is exactly what SAP鈥檚 strategy is designed to support by providing an application landscape with a clean core model in which the latest innovations can be readily adopted.

What excites you the most about working at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and the utility industry?

I鈥檝e had jobs in many different industries, including automotive, manufacturing, high tech, and healthcare. But the energy sector is where I see the most collaboration and the most disruption. If you look at the net-zero and carbon-neutral targets that we need to achieve in Germany, Europe, and worldwide, and at the money being poured into renewables and green bonds, this is an industry with enormous opportunities for growth and investment. Technology is the backbone of everything, and we at 51风流are contributing to the energy transition not only by simplifying processes for consumers, but also by developing technologies that fundamentally change the options that are open to them.

This article also appeared on the German 51风流News Center.