Games & XR Mitteldeutschland

"Showing what we can do and who we are.”

With the new "Games & XR Central Germany" association (Games & XR Mitteldeutschland), the industry has a mouthpiece

Computer games no longer purely serve the purpose of entertainment. They form a bridge to our technology-based world. Their potential makes them pioneers for the use of virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed and extended reality - things that are increasingly becoming tools in other economic sectors. The recently-founded "Games & XR Central Germany” association supports these developments in our region and is set to give the industry a higher profile in Germany.

Friedrich Lüder is no longer able to imagine everyday life without media and virtual reality. He is part of the team at the Magdeburg-based company "Silver Seed Games", which was founded in 2013 and is known for its development of interactive entertainment applications with added social value. In the "Experimental Factory" on the university campus, the team of nine develops concepts for the digitalisation of processes, and develops software-supported solutions in its office. In this respect, it makes frequent use of innovative technologies from the games industry. Its latest "coup" is its very first self-developed game, which addresses the topic of sleep and dreams. Right now, it is still in the prototype phase. At Silver Seed Games, trying out things that are new and thinking without limits have always been the order of the day. "We have always believed in bringing know-how together and thinking outside of the box," explains Friedrich Lüder, before adding: "This motto can be extended to include the whole of the games industry in Germany, which finally needs to demonstrate where it is and what it is capable of.”

Central Germany: a hotspot for innovative technologies, computer games and XR

Friedrich Lüder remembers that about three years ago, he saw the "games map" of the Federal Association of the German Computer Games Industry (Bundesverband der deutschen Games-Branche) which shows the locations of companies that deal with computer games and their distribution. "I immediately noticed that some of the businesses from Saxony-Anhalt were missing," he says. Lüder, who hails from Magdeburg, collected contacts, cooperated with partners from the region and added to the map. "I then realised that although the industry is established in Saxony-Anhalt, it has a very low profile," explains Lüder. Other games enthusiasts in the neighbouring East German states thought the same thing. In response, some 40 industry stakeholders from Central Germany gathered at a meeting in Leipzig and decided: "We need a platform, a network, and we don't want to think in terms of borders."

Therefore, at the start of the year, the "Games & XR Central Germany" association was founded in the Designhaus in Halle. Games developers, representatives from universities, stakeholders from the world of "eSport" and the cultural sector in Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony are all represented. Friedrich Lüder discusses his most important objective as chairman of the executive committee: "We want to establish this region as a hotspot for innovative technologies and companies for computer games and XR applications." This will mean that such businesses won’t just have to draw on their own experience, but will also be able to cooperate closely with stakeholders from outside the sector - from the worlds of industry, research and politics. "The good thing," says the chairman, "is that we can integrate ourselves into the existing networks and ecosystems, resulting in better discussions at the regional level. On this basis, the association intends to "help shape the structural changes in the region of Central Germany". Friedrich Lüder explains why this is important: "Computer games play an important role in the use of virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed and extended reality - XR for short." These have long since arrived in our everyday lives, explains Lüder. Whether it is the fitness sector, shopping, operational applications or learning: games and XR applications are always there when playful elements are used to convey knowledge, train in behaviour or increase levels of motivation. "All of this is already playing an important role in our region, even if the density of the games companies needs to increase further," explains Friedrich Lüder. "After all, we can score points here in Germany with an excellent university education and excellent universities, as well as a start-up friendly business atmosphere. And now, in addition, with an association which is committed to the interests of the industry."

There is a lot going on here - such as the creation of more funding offers for computer games start-ups and established companies in all three federal states. As ever, the interdisciplinary cooperation between the worlds of industry and science is also being supported. Support is being given to the training and recruitment of skilled workers. In addition, computer games should increasingly be appreciated as a cultural technology with which the world can be explored and understood. "eSport" should also to be developed further as a popular sport. The executive duo, consisting of Friedrich Lüder and Jana Reinhardt of "Rat King Entertainment" from Halle (Saale), are working to achieve these objectives in Saxony-Anhalt. In the position of state spokespersons, each of the three participating federal states is represented in the "Games & XR Central Germany” association by two experienced entrepreneurs and networkers. The new association is being supported, among others, by Leipzig Economic Development Agency, the Central German Media Promotion Agency and the Macromedia University of Applied Sciences in Leipzig.

A good response to the launch of the association: increasing numbers of stakeholders want to get involved

Over 160 participants, of whom 30 are members, are currently working to ensure that the sector for games and XR is strengthened and its profile is raised. Working groups have been established. "We share ideas and we network. Things are really happening," says Lüder. The chairman is happy to point out more than once that "with potential partners from the worlds of business and politics, with its know-how, the region’s sector can be strengthened on a sustainable basis.” The wider resonance has proven the chairman from Saxony-Anhalt right. "We've had a lot of positive responses about the foundation," he says. "The stakeholders offer to cooperate or come forward with projects - and that's the way it's supposed to be.”

Author: Manuela Bock; photo: The executive team of "Games & XR Central Germany". Photo: Maria Manneck/Silver Seed Games

Experimental Games AG

The game turns serious

Whether it is entertainment or edutainment - the company "gamebook.io" from Halle (Saale) offers both.

"gamebook.io" has developed technology with the same name which allows digital stories to be told in several strands. The software from the company from Saxony-Anhalt could also be used in the world of science and business in the future, and therefore play a key role in the industrial revolution 4.0.

In all started with a book. The adventure game book, in fact. Popular from the 1970s through to the 1990s, adventure game books allowed their readers to embark on their own story, with the readers enjoying different adventures at the throw of the dice. In the digital age, this form of storytelling now takes place on computers. For many years, the respective products were only available in English, but since 2010, they have also been available in German. It was then that the company Experimental Games AG was founded in Berlin, a business which is now based in Halle (Saale) in Central Germany and has the same name as its product: "Gamebook”.

Excellent specialists

Here, in the south of Saxony-Anhalt, ten highly-qualified experts are hard at work: graphic designers as well as quality control and -assurance staff. The advantages of the location are plain to see: Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design trains the visual artists and designers, while the faculty of mathematics at Martin Luther University provides the budding young quality assurance experts. "Excellent people," says Nico Nowarra, chief business development officer and company spokesman.

Freelance authors, games designers and artists, meanwhile, provide the stories and the pictures. The heart of the development, however, is the software that provides the product environment and the pipeline for the digital stories. “Storytelling is a growing market," explains Nico Nowarra. Between 2017 and 2018 alone, worldwide sales in the sector increased from 200 to 400 million dollars. When considered as a whole, the turnover in the games industry is on a par with that of the film industry.

The target group for the story-oriented game-play is currently 14 to 19-year-old girls, with topics primarily devoted to love and "coming of age” - in the app "My Love: Make Your Choice", for example. Nico Nowarra also tells us that horror and fantasy stories for adults are in preparation, however. Successes have already been achieved: in March of this year, a game produced jointly with a Spanish publisher, a romantic comedy story, went to number one in the App-store charts in America.

Creating its own stories also forms part of the business model of Gamebook. Another thing currently being planned is a freely-accessible platform on the internet that enables home users to tell their own stories. "In this area, our technology also provides the basis; the Gamebook studios are where the implementation takes place. Before our technology, it took a lot of technical knowledge to be able to tell digital stories - we have simplified that," says Nico Nowarra.

Training software for physicians

Providing businesses with "Gamebook" technology so that they can design their own products is the company's second key area of business, and marks the transition from pure entertainment to edutainment. After all, the software also enables the conveying of knowledge - on both a rapid and entertaining basis. “We have developed training software for prospective doctors for a company in Halle, for example," highlights Nico Nowarra. A virtual patient describes his symptoms, while with the use of questions - whether voice-controlled or in writing - the physician can exclude differential diagnoses on the basis of various paths, choose the examination procedures and plan the treatment. An evaluation of the training finally takes place, in which it is highlighted as to where the physician may have "taken a wrong turning”.

A research project in which "Gamebook" is involved and in which artificial intelligence also plays a major role is currently being developed together with the HTW (University of Applied Sciences) in Berlin. The software is designed to support the computer-assisted training of hearing-impaired people with cochlear implants by assessing their general condition, determining the requirements and comparing the performance of the exercises already completed.

In another research project with the German Association for Media Independence, the technology from Gamebook is currently being used to determine the point at which the consumption of media by children and adolescents leads to dependency. "Right now, we are producing a story that analyses user behaviour. It provides access for youngsters and for their parents - without the annoying ‘finger wagging’," explains Nico Nowarra.

Well-equipped for 4.0

Something else that could turn out to be very valuable in the future is a project that “Gamebook” has contributed to initiating which has the objective of determining the skills of older, frequently highly-skilled employees in businesses whose particular area of expertise is no longer required and for whom new areas of expertise need to be identified. "We are creating," explains Nico Nowarra, "a virtual space in which we can determine people's expertise." This onboarding could be a great source of support for the industrial revolution 4.0.

2tainment GmbH

Saving lives with virtual training

The Magdeburg company “2tainment” is conquering the medical sector with digital simulations

Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) are opening doors to new worlds in all sectors. Computer games, in particular, are paving the way for innovative technologies: nowadays, modern gaming technology isn’t just being used in entertainment, it can be found in every industry. The Magdeburg-based company "2tainment GmbH" is demonstrating the strength of companies from Saxony-Anhalt in the market.

They had the right "nose" from the start. In 2016, a trio of entrepreneurs launches the company “2tainment” in Saxony-Anhalt. They focus on the federal state for a variety of reasons. The IBG funds managed by bmp Beteiligungsmanagement AG – venture capital funds financed with state and EU resources – make a financial contribution. And the partners are well aware of the courses at the local universities, in which budding young professionals learn all about the computer games sector. "Our decision to set up in Magdeburg was exactly right," says Development Director Bartol Ruzic, who now runs the business in partnership with Stefan Weyl.

On arriving in Magdeburg, the entrepreneurs initially occupy an office at the Science Port, placing them close to the university with its well-educated students and graduates, and giving them immediate opportunities for cooperation - especially when it comes to virtual reality. The company starts by developing its basic fields of business – developing and marketing hardware and software entertainment products, and optimising hardware for gamers. As a “publisher”, the company travels all over the world and serves all the leading game consoles. Two years ago, it was the first company in Saxony-Anhalt to release a computer game to be used on consoles such as the "Playstation" etc.: the action game "Air Conflicts Secret Wars".

"The current developments in medical technology are exciting..."

Since then, the software and hardware offerings in the Magdeburg firm have found themselves in good company. AR and VR are opening up new areas of business. "We want to focus more strongly on software development in the future," explains the Development Director. The team is fascinated by the ways in which XR – the combination of virtual and augmented reality - can be used, and the new worlds which it is able to open. "We’re very excited about what’s happening in the world of medical technology," says Ruzic. In this respect, those looking for "2tainment” are increasingly likely to come across the name "2simulate", with which the Magdeburg entrepreneurs intend to develop their own brand in the medical sector. "Sooner or later, this could develop into a new company in Saxony-Anhalt," opines Bartol Ruzic.

OP training: cooperation on the research campus at Magdeburg University

The first steps in this direction have now been taken: on the "STIMULATE” research campus at Otto-von-Guericke-University, the company is supporting scientists with "AVATAR": in this joint project, which is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, VR and visualisation techniques are being developed for the purpose of innovative surgical training. The goal is to enable doctors to simulate surgical situations at different locations simultaneously in the future. In this respect, the surgeons work on the basis of virtual reality, are able to train for emergencies and complications, and can exchange specialist knowledge. Mainz University Medical School, the Harvard Medical School in the USA as well as the regional businesses “metraTec" and "2tainment" are also participating in the project. Bartol Ruzic believes that this research, in the scope of which his company is developing the "multi-user communication network", is "very exciting". It also constitutes a convincing tool for “additional simulation projects in the medical sector”. In this context, “2tainment” is currently focusing on the topic of emergency simulators. "We recently visited around 30 medical centres to gain an overview of the things that can be improved," explains Bartol Ruzic. The bottom line: a whole lot. "There is considerable demand for digital optimisations in casualty departments. Nearly all the clinics that we contacted were very interested,” explains the Development Director. The company is responding very quickly, and now creating a prototype for the possible simulations. Here, equipped with VR glasses and "data gloves", experienced and prospective physicians or the medical staff are able to train for emergencies and act out “rehearsals” on how to take the right decisions quickly.

Digital vision: simulations for all areas of training

The Magdeburg-based company has the famous Charité hospital in Berlin as its principal partner. "Our vision in this area is to create a medical product which facilitates regular training with the goal of gaining qualifications, similar to airline pilots," explains Ruzic. To achieve this, however, it will be necessary for the guidelines and processes in the medical sector to be changed. For the "2tainment" team, attending specialist conferences is now high on the agenda - with the goal of sounding out new interest groups and the future demand. “We want to have our first operational version ready by 2020,” explains Ruzic. The Magdeburg-based company is also looking to the future in terms of other areas of use. Whether it is the fire department, the police, disaster response or even the world of sports – wherever it is necessary to train people, the simulation tools from the Magdeburg company could be of use. “There are almost no limits,” explains the entrepreneur, “as far as we are concerned, the future is the virtual world”.

Author/photo: Manuela Bock

Image caption: Programming the Magdeburg company "2tainment" for the digital future: the founders and partners Stefan Weyl (front) and Bartol Ruzic.

Rat King

Idependent. And individual.

In winning the “best youth game”, “Rat King Entertainment" is the first company in Saxony-Anhalt to have been awarded the German Computer Game award.

Jana Reinhardt and Friedrich Hanisch develop indie games. Their company, "Rat King Entertainment", is based in the hub for entrepreneurs at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle (Saale). Their products have won several awards and have been shown at festivals. The developers want to help shape the industrial revolution 4.0 in Central Germany.

In winning the German Computer Game Award in the category of "Best Youth Game” with the game "TRI: Of Friendship and Madness", "Rat King Entertainment" has succeeded in making a name for itself in the German computer games industry. The two-man company from Halle (Saale) is the first ever winner to come from Saxony-Anhalt. "TRI" also won the prize in the category of "Best Indie Game 4 Kids" at the "Goldener Spatz” film festival in Central Germany. "TRI" is a first-person game in which the players have to catch a crazy fox with the help of magic triangles in a strange world of godlike figures. It is a “freestyle first-person 3D puzzle exploration adventure,” as the developers themselves describe it. “The game has an extremely well thought-out design and features numerous intelligent puzzles." Such was the verdict of the jury at the Computer Game Award.

Independent and individual

Jana Reinhardt and Friedrich Hanisch developed "TRI” over the space of three years. They met during their studies at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle. They studied multimedia VR design, developed several game prototypes whilst on their course and, after having “caught the bug”, attended a course for entrepreneurs after their studies. In 2011, the company "Rat King Entertainment" got off the ground. The creative environment in Halle, they both claim, is supporting them with their work; they have moved into an office in the Designhaus Halle, the centre for new business start-ups at the University of Art and Design.

They develop the stories for their games, the game design and the level design together, otherwise they share their tasks out: Jana Reinhardt is responsible for the graphics, Friedrich Hanisch for the programming.

Their products are considered to be indie games. "We don’t just take that to mean independent," says Friedrich Hanisch, "but also individual." That fits - after all, indie describes the realisation of ideas by individual developers on their own initiative and independently, from start to finish. Sometimes it also means having to make a go of things without financial support from a major publisher, however. The Halle-based entrepreneurs actually received a small advance from "Rising Star Games” for "TRI” who, in return for their support, gained the sales rights for a limited period of time together with a share of the proceeds from the sales. They did not gain the IP rights, however. Securing the financing, explain Reinhardt and Hanisch, isn’t always easy. After all, producing a prototype takes half a year to a whole year alone. They sell their computer games themselves, among others, on the "Steam" platform; "TRI", for example, is available there for 13 Euros.

The Sky Disc App

“Rat King" has already produced four big games and several smaller ones. A new project has recently been completed: the Bronze Sky app (Der Bronzene Himmel) has been created in cooperation with the film animation studio "Motionworks", a company which is also based in Halle. Its theme is the Sky Disk, the oldest-known artistic representation of the starry sky. Made from bronze and gold, it was buried some 3,600 years ago, but is now on display in the Museum of Archaeology in Halle. The app aims to introduce children and teenagers to the topic of history in a playful way by immersing them in the Bronze Age - and this is where "Rat King" has contributed in the form of a take-it-in-turns survival game.

Although the purpose of the company is entertainment, when it comes to its products, the transitions to edutainment are also fluid. In the form of a commissioned project, Reinhardt and Hanisch developed a game about biodiversity. For the Office for Political Education in Thuringia (Zentrale für politische Bildung Thüringen) meanwhile, a game is currently being developed to inform young people about elections. It is expected to be published in September. Their game "High Five Romance Race" - a fast-paced racing game in which two players steer their cars by giving each other high fives, and which not only requires rapid reactions but above all else team spirit - is often shown at exhibitions: in Leipzig and Berlin and twice at "Silbersalz", the Central German Science Festival which is held in Halle.

Paving the way for 4.0

Whenever possible, Jana Reinhardt and Friedrich Hanisch devote themselves to non-commercial projects. They were able to create their game "Solitune", an escapist and very personal art game, with the support of the Foundation for the Arts of Saxony-Anhalt (Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt). The game was nominated for an award at the German A MAZE festival.

Jana Reinhardt tells us that the games developer scene in Saxony-Anhalt is still pretty small-scale. Yet it is developing into an industry of the future. Its technology-driven, interactive potential means that the games developers are pioneers in the use of virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed and extended reality. Gamification is also being applied as a tool and a production factor in other sectors of the economy, such as the automotive, health care and IT sectors as well as the world of research.

Prefrontal Cortex

Interactive in the Digital Sea of California

Prefrontal Cortex from Saxony-Anhalt has achieved success with interaction concepts and innovative applications for international customers.

State-of-the-art interactive applications are the special focus of Prefrontal Cortex from Halle (Saale). The expertise of the young designers and programmers, especially in the areas of virtual reality/augmented reality and 3D real-time graphics, is in demand at the international level. The team at Prefrontal Cortex has brought LED walls to life for Intel, designed an interactive Earth Day campaign for Microsoft, and is working with Facebook to develop a virtual dive to a sunken shipwreck.

The lobby of the Intel Corporation in Santa Clara, California, is an entrance area unlike any other. The world-famous high-tech company in the heart of Silicon Valley welcomes visitors and its employees in something of a showroom: the LED wall at the entrance depicts a digital, Southern Californian underwater world which is replete with sea plants, shoals of small fish that shoot past and a prowling shark. With the sound waves of the Pacific and the lighting which is adapted to the course of the day, the illusion is perfected. The graphics are nice to look at, but that's far from enough for Intel, especially when it comes to demonstrating the performance of their processors. For this reason, the 16-square-metre wall with the underwater scene in the entrance to the corporate headquarters is interactive: when a visitor stops in front of the screen, the fish swarm in, while their hand movements quickly scare them away. This interaction of the real and digital worlds has been made possible by six integrated Intel® RealSense™ cameras that generate depth data for control purposes.

VR simulation with draft designs and intermediate results

Believe it or not, it was designers and programmers from the new business start-up Prefrontal Cortex, from Halle (Saale) in Saxony-Anhalt, who were responsible for the technical realisation of this underwater spectacle. "We developed the concept for the wall in discussion with the creative team at Intel and in terms of the design and technology realised it so that it works in real time in the form of an LED wall," explains the co-founder of Prefrontal Cortex, Felix Herbst. The development of the wall was certainly challenging: after all, someone who only stands in front of the wall for ten seconds has to have the same feeling of the wall responding to him as 20 people do who stand in front of it for much longer, and all at the same time. "As a working basis, we simulated the LED wall in our workshop on a smaller scale, as it were. We were also able to try the effects out there. The space, i.e. the lobby at Intel, didn't exist yet," adds Paul Kirsten, who is also a partner at Prefrontal Cortex. "To enable a detailed preview of the current status of the graphics, we developed a VR simulation with our draft designs and adaptations in the planned architecture. This allowed us to make decision-making processes at Intel smooth and clear - even over such a long distance," explains Kirsten.

The development created for the corporate headquarters of the Intel Corporation is one of Prefrontal Cortex's most successful projects so far. "Our projects always entail a special kind of interaction. That’s something we’re good at," explains Felix Herbst. Felix Herbst, Paul Kirsten and Christian Freitag, who are also friends, have been working together since 2011. Back then they were still studying Multimedia | Virtual Reality Design at the famous BURG Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle. They specialised on 3D real-time graphics from an early stage, as well as virtual reality and augmented reality which at that time were still relatively new developments. Prefrontal Cortex was launched in 2015 and now has ten employees.

Reactions and emotions

Prefrontal Cortex is a well-chosen name. It describes the part of the brain in which sensory information converges, reactions are shaped and emotions are controlled. With its innovative software prototypes and interaction concepts for its customers, creating reactions and emotions is exactly what Prefrontal Cortex wants to achieve. And the company has proven to be successful. "Right now, many companies are working with interactive concepts. Most of them offer either the creative services or the programming, though. Our key advantage is that we can offer the design, the programming and the development from the concept through to the practical operation," explains Paul Kirsten. And because the projects from the new start-up come from one single source, Prefrontal Cortex is able to deliver its individual software prototypes and interaction concepts with fewer rounds of coordination, and therefore at a speed that only a few other international companies are able to offer.

And word has got around. Together with a company from London, as part of the international Earth Day campaign, the Saxony-Anhalt-based company has created an online tool for Microsoft which enables the innovative visualisation of tree populations in forests. Considerable amounts of data enable the viewer to navigate through the layers of the forest in an exciting way. At the end, it is also possible to make a donation to a natural conservation charity for each of the forests shown.

Being "playful" is a strength

For Prefrontal Cortex, being "playful" is a strength. This is also clear from the latest project of the company from Saxony-Anhalt: Facebook is currently working on a VR application which can be used to embark on a virtual dive to a real shipwreck at a depth of some 80 metres, where the original cargo, which is now of historical artistic value, can be seen from all perspectives.

And the LED wall at the headquarters of Intel is now being added to all the way from Halle (Saale). "Savanna" is the name of an additional interactive installation from Saxony-Anhalt. Visitors to the lobby can create a landscape, and in doing so, breathe new life into a dry area of savannah, on a piece by piece basis: when the visitor steps closer to the wall, they can dig deep gullies in the virtual dry ground with their hands, and in doing so, open up new paths for the water.

3DQR

> News: 3DQR from Magdeburg receives a 7-Digit investment from bmp Ventures

How black and white squares create a living T-Rex

A start-up from Magdeburg breathes new life into QR Code

Whenever Daniel Anderson, managing director of 3DQR GmbH in Magdeburg, is asked about the new lease of life he has given to QR code, previously believed by many to have been consigned to the history books, his eyes light up and he can’t stop talking. "It doesn’t not really make much sense if a QR code doesn’t contain more than one link to a web page. With just one link, an internet search is probably faster, or just typing the page into the browser on your mobile phone,” explains the young man.

And this is exactly where the idea of the Magdeburg start-up steps in. The free app with the name "3DQR" has breathed new life into the small black and white grid – in the best sense of the words. Run the app, hold the camera over the QR code and a 3D dinosaur suddenly appears on display of the telephone or tablet. "Of course, the T-Rex is just one of many possible examples. We created it for an exhibition at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin in which the skeleton of a T-Rex went on display," explains Anderson. Yet sophisticated and complex tasks don’t present any problems either: generators and switch boxes, as well as items of furniture and detailed aircraft engines have also been realised. "Augmented reality solutions of this kind have existed for some time. However, they were associated with a considerable amount of individual effort and were subject to certain technical limitations. "By linking up with the existing QR code technology, we have developed a solution which drastically reduces the amount of work required to create individual augmented reality content. With 3DQR, creating an augmented reality overlay is easier than creating a website. All we need is the 3D data as the basis," says Anderson. The programming work can usually be completed within a few hours and can be stored behind any current QR code. "There are no actual limits," highlights the degree-qualified mechatronics engineer.

“Pokémon Go” and X-ray vision

"Pokemon Go, the world-famous – and infamous – mobile phone game, is the best thing that could have happened to us," says Daniel Anderson. "That game has made everyone realise how augmented reality is both straightforward and easy to use. The user simply holds up their phone to their surrounding environment, and the display expands the surrounding reality. The first AR glasses are now available on the market, and I think we are only at the beginning of the AR-era and we are now experiencing the first breakthroughs and changes. It has been Pokemon, however, which has really made people aware of AR." For 3DQR GmbH, developing a simple application which is able to bring a wide variety of different objects to virtual life was the initial goal. Daniel Anderson doesn’t want to stop there, however. Similar to X-ray vision, the objects can be divided into their individual components and merged together again in the form of a so-called exploded diagram. 3DQR GmbH believes the application to offer uses in the area of marketing, whether for flyers, brochures or product presentations, but also for maintenance personnel who are charged with working on complex systems.

Looking back – and then to the future

The 3DQR GmbH team has recently grown again and now numbers five young people. For Daniel Anderson, this is a good sign. "Even though you get to have quite a few sleepless nights as a young entrepreneur, we are already leading the market in Saxony-Anhalt – and we are the only company to offer this technology," says the young businessman with a proud smile. Before launching his idea in the form of a new business start-up, he had worked at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation in Magdeburg, where he researched the new possibilities offered by smartphones. "I carried the idea around with me for a long time – and it is now becoming a reality in the form of its own company," explains Anderson.

The company was officially launched a year ago with the help of an “ego” start-up loan from the Investment Bank of Saxony and two Business Angels. Anderson refuses to measure the success of his company on the basis of its initial orders alone, however – which have included the virtually-enhanced trade fair catalogue of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt for the CEBIT 2016. "As a start-up in Saxony-Anhalt you also get plenty of support from and great access to the top people in the government ministries and at the Investment and Marketing Corporation of Saxony-Anhalt," highlights Daniel Anderson, discussing the location. He continues: "it can sometimes take quite a bit of effort to convince business leaders and potential customers in the region about the new opportunities, possibilities and advantages of the “virtual third dimension”, though." In 2016, however, the new company’s creativity and entrepreneurial spirit convinced the expert jury of the "Hugo Junkers Prize for Research and Innovation" of the Ministry of Economics, Science and Digitization of the State of Saxony-Anhalt straight away: it was awarded second place in the specialist category "Information and Communication Technology". The prize is proudly displayed in the offices of the young company. It is a tangible product, so to speak – if you want to experience the products of 3DQR GmbH, however, it is necessary to step into the virtual third dimension.

Subject-specific courses

University density and subject-specific study programmes:

• Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, i.a. Computer Visualistics, Computer Science with Profile Course in Game Development
• Martin-Luther-Unitersity Halle-Wittenberg, i.a. Interactive Media
• Harz University of Applied Sciences, i.a. Media and game conception, media informatics
• Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, i.a. Applied Computer Science - Digital Media and Game Development, Digital Media Technologies, Interactive Media
• University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, i.a. Interaction Design, Cross Media
• University of Applied Sciences Merseburg, i.a. Applied Media and Cultural Studies, Information Design and Media Management
• Burg Giebichenstein Academy of Fine Arts Halle with the faculty Design, u.a. Multimedia|VR-Design, Game and Learning Design

New investments

Industry giants discover the IT landscape of Saxony-Anhalt: We have succeeded in attracting new companies to Saxony-Anhalt as a business location.

IT Competence

On the basis of the moving image and IT expertise developed at the site, new digital processes for data exploitation and media production were developed and implemented.

Industry Know-how

Innovation drivers for the APITS application are above all industries such as medtech and engineering sciences - both strongly represented in Saxony-Anhalt.

Once it was a centre of heavy mechanical engineering, today it is known as a superb centre of high-tech production. Saxony-Anhalt is the land of mechanical and plant engineers: 150 years of experience constitute the basis for this most important of all industries in the state. We do the job properly – and make machinery for the world! In Saxony-Anhalt, production is interlinked with state-of-the-art information and communication technology. The driving force behind this development is the rapidly increasing digitisation of the economy and society.

Saxony-Anhalt's medtech industry is strong - our heart beats for it. The pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology and medical technology are increasingly setting the pace. There are 75 companies active in medical technology in Saxony-Anhalt, with around 2,200 employees.

Funding density

In terms of funding density and quota, Saxony-Anhalt occupies a top position in Germany: The funding guidelines "Digital Creativity" and "Digital Innovation" create incentives and support for small and medium-sized developer studios, but also for small and medium-sized companies that want to use applications from the games industry.

The IBG funds are the only state funds in Germany that invest in games technologies - even in the seed phase.
 

Network

• Games & XR Central Germany e.V.
• Acagamics e.V.
• Würfelpech e.V.
• Fraunhofer Institutes for Factory Operation and Automation IFF
• Kreativwirtschaft Saxony-Anhalt e.V.
• Design House Halle
• Media meeting zone!
• Media Institute Saxony-Anhalt
• Central German Media Promotion GmbH
• University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal / Institute of Industrial Design
• Harz University of Applied Sciences / Media and Game Conception
• Anhalt University of Applied Sciences
• Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg