Interview with app developer: "The dynamic around Luca is really amazing"

Interview with app developer
"The dynamic around Luca is really amazing"

In the Corona crisis, restaurants, retailers and organizers have high hopes for an app: Luca. A real hype has developed around them. There are currently around 200 health authorities in talks, says co-developer Patrick Hennig

Several cities have tested them, including numerous nursing homes. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has acquired the license: the Luca app has been making headlines for days. Apparently because she can solve a big problem – and because the rapper Smudo is behind it. "This is not a PR gag," assures co-developer Patrick Hennig in the podcast "Zero Hour". "We really developed it together, piece by piece." The former frontman of the "Fantastischen Vier" has every technical detail on it. "Smudo always says: We both caught up on a degree in virology and epidemiology within twelve weeks."

The application can be used to record contact data. Visitors to restaurants or customers in retail, for example, receive a QR code that is recorded with the mobile phone app. In the event of an infection, the data is transmitted directly and encrypted to the cooperating health authorities. This is to put an end to the so far frequently operated paper mess.

The Luca app was developed by the Berlin tech startup Nexenio, whose boss is Hennig. The company, which specializes in highly secure IT solutions, is a spin-off of the Hasso Plattner Institute. Contact to the hip-hop band came through a friend, and Luca's development began in September.

"Finally someone is talking to us"

"It wasn't about developing an app, but rather the system behind it," says Hennig. "The real magic of Luca is that it digitizes the process with the health authorities and relieves them so that they can take care of their actual work." It was important for the developers to "get everyone around the table". "Many health authorities said to us: Finally someone is talking to us. They were all totally open. To this day."

The digital connection to the health authorities is the core of the app, the user data is stored in encrypted form. "We see ourselves as software, as an administrative tool for the health authorities to communicate and interact directly with the stakeholders," says Hennig. "The aim is for a health department to be able to participate within an hour. Only then is it scalable."

They are currently in talks with around 200 health authorities. In addition to the North Sea islands of Sylt and Föhr, Kiel and Rostock are already using the app. Baden-Württemberg has presented a concept that works with Luca – and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania recently acquired the license. After the app was presented on the "Anne Will" talk show at the end of February, it had a million downloads within four days, according to the company. After the documentation requirement was expanded, around 8,000 locations were also registered within 30 hours.

"We had a lot of mailings from people who designed these QR codes nicely and put them in the shop windows of their shops. It created a dynamic that was really amazing," says Hennig. Next, the question of how test results and vaccination records can be meaningfully integrated will be dealt with.

Hear in the new episode of "The Zero Hour"

  • How the app works – explained simply and clearly
  • Why visits to stadiums and restaurants with the app could soon be possible again
  • How the project is financed "The dynamic around Luca is really amazing"and which business model is behind the app

You can find all episodes directly at Audio Now, Apple or Spotify or via Google.

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