Immersive Technologies Stimulate Innovation in Creative Industries

3D browser games, virtual classrooms and adaptable online workplaces: the 10th Heidelberg Innovation Forum on 12 April 2011 will focus on immersive technologies, an important topic for creative industries in the future. More than 20 business ideas will be outlined in short presentations in the Studio at Heidelberg’s Villa Bosch, giving researchers and developers the opportunity to make the right contacts and ensure their IT solutions can be brought to market. The Forum has also expanded its concept to allow increased input from the user side.

Whether used to provide virtual training in machine maintenance for service staff or to enable students to explore three-dimensional molecular structures, immersive technologies are highly versatile. The Heidelberg Innovation Forum on 12 April 2011 is focusing on this important new area – as one of the first events to do so in the German and European market. The subject covers a wide range of application scenarios at the interface between creative and traditional industries: from production, prototype development, training and entertainment through to visualisation in advertising and marketing.

Researchers and entrepreneurs will give 20 short presentations on innovative products and services which are increasingly eroding the boundaries between the real and digital worlds. They include virtual environments that can be actively controlled by the user in real time using movements or acoustic signals, such as a flight simulator.

Focusing on Market Requirements

This will be the tenth time that MFG Baden-Württemberg and the European Media Laboratory have jointly organised the matchmaking event in the Studio at Villa Bosch in Heidelberg. The Forum is set to offer an even wider range of information this year. As well as short presentations on business ideas, there will be a strong focus on the user side. In sessions known as “showcases”, representatives from user industries will outline their needs along with their product and development strategies. Four companies will then go on to present their solutions.

Developing Technically and Graphically Sophisticated 3D Browser Games

The first showcase session will focus on gamification. Jason Della Rocca, games expert and founder of consulting firm Perimeter Partners, will explain the main features of the Canadian games industry. Canada has emerged as one of the leading locations for digital media in recent years and attracted major industry players, particularly from the gaming sector.

While the market for browser games continues to grow, developers of classic computer and console games are lagging behind. Most online games are Flash-based and do not offer real 3D effects. Stuttgart-based firm Digital Frame Studio has come up with a solution. CEO Benc Orpac hopes that “Azarak” will allow him to close the gap on industry giants like Bigpoint and Game Forge. Digital Frame Studio developed this technically and graphically sophisticated browser game with the aid of a new technological application called Unity3D. A range of features including shadows, wind and collisions can be realistically simulated using the tool, thus enabling 3D effects to be created in browsers. The innovative episode format also allows the gaming community to get involved as a new level is released every month and the gaming world keeps on getting bigger.

New Collaboration Formats: Virtual Workplaces and Classrooms

The second showcase session will be opened by Stanley Wang, General Director of Taiwan’s Institute for Information Industry. He will describe the conditions in one of the world’s largest markets for IT, media and entertainment electronics, and look for new collaboration formats for communication, both internally within firms and across corporate groups.

Ulm-based firm TriCAT will present a possible solution. TriCAT is currently researching and developing a flexibly adaptable 3D online environment that will ensure the huge potential of virtual worlds is also accessible to small and medium-sized businesses. Its unique feature is a real-time connection between the virtual world and processes and data in the real-life working world. This means companies can set up their own 3D corporate environments, incorporate their data and objects and work together virtually with a group of people.

Teaching school children, students and trainees about complex three-dimensional issues is a huge challenge and one that is encountered in nearly every sphere of learning, particularly where technical content is involved. Visenso GmbH’s solution is a virtual classroom. Here, the Stuttgart-based company combines 3D visualisation with 3D interaction and high calibre teaching materials in an attractively priced, easy-to-use learning environment. The learning process thus becomes more efficient, the motivation of learners increases and there is greater flexibility in the development of content.

In preparation for the showcase sessions, MFG Baden-Württemberg is offering intensive coaching to participating companies, delivered by MFG CEO Klaus Haasis and Carlo Donzella (CEO MediaKIS, Malta).

Links:
www.heidelberger-innovationsforum.de
www.eml-development.de
innovation.mfg.de

About the Heidelberg Innovation Forum
The Heidelberg Innovation Forum has been successfully bringing together IT researchers and market players in the early innovation phase since 2005. The aim of the event is to support licensing of technologies and financing of start-ups and improve cooperation between research institutes and businesses. The Forum has an excellent track record: over 325 innovators and developers from 10 countries have presented their ideas at previous events, with more than half of them making valuable contacts with investors and decision-makers from industry.

About MFG Baden-Württemberg
As Public Innovation Agency for ICT and Media, MFG Baden-Württemberg has been working to strengthen the federal state of Baden-Württemberg as a key location for IT, media and creativity since 1995. It enhances state-wide innovation and competitiveness by promoting regional, national and international cooperation, among other activities. Its focus is on supporting successful entrepreneurship, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises, and on their linkage with application-oriented research and public funding programmes.

About the European Media Laboratory
The European Media Laboratory GmbH (EML) is a Heidelberg-based company involved in the research and development of innovative IT solutions. It was established by SAP co-founder Klaus Tschira. Under the motto “Experience IT – Intuitive Technology”, the EML conducts R&D activities in the fields of human-technology interaction and natural language processing.