Major events – software to mass panic – Süddeutsche.de

• Angelika Kneidl computer simulation of evacuation of major events -. And their vulnerability
• She was a PhD student at the Institute for Computational modeling and simulation of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and has helped to develop appropriate software .
• 2014 she made her doctoral thesis, a start-up and founded the company with two partners “accu: rate”

By Christiane Funke

It is a terrifying vision.: In a tent at the Oktoberfest breaks due to a grease fire in the kitchen fire. Visitors try panic to leave the tent. From the outside, pushing other people who know nothing of the fire, in the tent. So there are massive shortages of inputs and outputs. Now, the security staff and the emergency services are in demand. But how they would act properly in such a dicey situation

Start-up scene Munich button for the entrepreneurial spirit

The Munich Home -up scene is internationally irrelevant according to a study. There are in the region some incubators that help young entrepreneurs – with moderate rents, coaches, but also with networks and contacts with investors.

Answers to this question can Angelika Kneidl, 34 supply. The Munich Jungunternehmerin computer simulation of evacuation of large events. Even as a PhD student at the Institute for Computational modeling and simulation of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the computer scientist appropriate software co-developed. 2014, it accounted for her doctoral thesis, a start-up and founded the company with two partners “accu: rate”. For their ideas, the young entrepreneur has been honored several times. With her colleague Florian Sesser she has now received the prize of “start-up competition ICT Innovative” during CeBIT computer fair in Hanover, which supports the Federal Ministry of Economics start-ups.

To-do lists on the walls

“In Bavaria we are the only company of its kind in Germany, there are very few similar companies,” says Kneidl that are currently with their two business partners, and an intern a small office in a concrete tie the University of Munich at the Lothstraße shares. The walls are covered with yellow sticky notes. To-do lists. Finally, stood in the first year after the creation of start-ups already on numerous projects. A review of the safety concept of the Oktoberfest was not – yet – there, but for two smaller festival tents determined the computer scientist and her team already how to optimize flight paths

“Each green dot represents a person, here, you see. as crowds flock to the exits, “Kneidl explains the movement of the small dots on the screen of her laptop. How old are the visitors? The speed at which they move? How many wheelchair users and how many families or groups can be expected? And what could be the number of drunks who have a limited perception and can no longer run so fast? There are many parameters that allow the simulator to be fed to verify escape routes in a marquee.

The Oktoberfest: a mass casserole.

(Photo: Getty Images )

What is the advantage of simulations? “You can discover things that do not even think about the man. And: You have no subjective perception, whereas the man sometimes has tunnel vision,” replies Kneidl. She has discovered by her father, an IBM engineer, the passion for computers. Their first project was a huge success. In her doctoral thesis at TUM they simulated with other experts, the evacuation of the Fritz-Walter Stadium on the Betzenberg in Kaiserslautern. A challenge: Finally, the football arena holds almost 50 000 visitors. What paths people take in an emergency, how many run in which direction and where there could be shortages, Kneidl illustrated with the developed research team computer program and contributed with their work helping evacuation plans for the region and a training simulator for rescue workers, police and fire to create.

Sure, dynamic, eloquent

Computer Technology that saves lives. And probably disasters like the 2010 could have prevented at the Love Parade in Duisburg. “However, it could have said any common sense, that there will be problems there,” says the entrepreneur. For that reason alone, because the entrance to the Love Parade was also the starting and visitors through a narrow tunnel should have run.

Sure, in its judgment, self-confident, eloquent, dynamic and determined occurs Kneidl on. And fulfills the stereotype of a self-made woman and songwriter. And yet they occasionally creep “fear of failure”. Ultimately prevailed again the “confidence that the Company will be successful in the long term.” With enthusiasm they will fight for it. And this optimism shines the tall, slender woman pulling it in their spare time for climbing, hiking or skiing in the mountains, due to optical. Clearly, in the economy, they could have earned more money than a computer scientist at first. “But the money was never my driver,” she says. Entrepreneurs jargon.

From her old apartment at Münchner Freiheit it is within a few minutes in the workplace. Must be completed a project, she sits there “also times twelve hours,”. Much has to wait: holiday, family planning, the dream to climb a six-thousand in Nepal. Therefore, it is reassuring to have the partner with the team. As a financial mathematician he was a good employee, “who can give important impulses from the outside.”

For the Love Parade in Duisburg 2010 it came to disaster.

(Photo: Reuters )

Suggestions gets the Münchnerin by other side. As one of seven women, she has been selected for the “HVB founders Mentoring 2014″. A total of 170 women entrepreneurs had submitted their innovative business ideas. For six months, the computer scientist is now coached and encouraged to contact “smart goals” to which are realistic and measurable by an experienced entrepreneur. “I’ve learned that you often out of his comfort zone needs and thereby may feel the same,” Kneidl sums up their previous experience.

acquisition in a difficult environment

In the first year after the founding The start-up was still funded by a grant from the founder Exist Federal Ministry of Economics. Since the start of 2015 Kneidl must come now fend for themselves and their team. This means currently to devote especially the acquisition: “A new project in Zurich is safe and a few others are in the pipeline,” says Kneidl. However, she sometimes finds it “sad how little money organizers want to spend on security.” In the UK would already used the simulations to the construction and reconstruction of subway stations. Germany lagging behind here. “But as long as political pressure is not applied, no one wants to spend money,” says Kneidl.

disaster in Duisburg, 2010 doubts about central Loveparade opinion

Four years after the stampede at the Love Parade in Duisburg, there is criticism of the report to which the prosecution based its investigation: It was allegedly involved an employee who worked at the same time for the home office. A conflict of interest?

The largest order to date was a simulation for a large event with around 7000 people in a cruise port. What happens if the stage built at the port or device collapses on fire? Where people flock? Many variants played Kneidls team through the computer and revealed weaknesses in the security concept of the designers. It became clear quickly that you should not send it back to the ships, the people, because otherwise people would make grapes at the entrances. Instead, people would have to be evacuated at the port byways

The main task. Vulnerabilities uncover

And what about weaknesses in the simulation, their own liability risk? “Of course we depict only the ideal case and can not implement any contingencies, such as that about a man stumbles,” says Kneidl. But your company does not put the measures laid, but check only “to State of the Art” whether security plans work.

How do people move, the computer scientist no longer observed only at the computer for a long time. Forms in a subway station a snake on an escalator, Kneidl looks closely. You want to know who does what path. Also on the Wiesn she strolls “not so lightly” as before, but with “keeping an eye out for potentially dangerous situations.” To check the safety concept of the largest folk festival in the world, would be a nice challenge: “We are still waiting to be able to create a simulation for the Oktoberfest,” says Kneidl

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