On November 22, 2006, Saxony-Anhalt´s Minister President Wolfgang Böhmer opened the Magdeburg Fraunhofer Institute´s new research centre. The VDTC provides clients from business and industry virtual-interactive scenarios to plan, test and operate technical systems, which can be reproduced deceptively realistically on its large projection surface. At the ceremony, the VDTC was honored as a »Landmark in the Land of Ideas«.

The Virtual Development and Training Centre VDTC will be opening soon in Magdeburg. With its expansion, the Fraunhofer IFF is specializing in applications of the latest virtual technologies for product and process development. Virtual worlds are visualized with the most advanced laser projection equipment from Jenoptik.

As part of the OPEN DAYS - European Week of Regions and Cities, the Fraunhofer IFF presented its European research networks, focusing on international research careers and opportunities for young researchers in Europe. The event brought students, graduates, doctoral candidates, fellowship grantees and young researchers together, was a venue for presentations on European research projects and allowed researchers to have their say and relate their personal stories.

The organizers of the IFF Science Days see its outcome positively. With 400 participants from industry and the research and academic community, attendance was stronger than ever before. The large share of participants from commercial enterprises demonstrated that the IFF Science Days match the needs of enterprises. Thus, the Fraunhofer IFF forms a functioning interface between research and business. The content of this year´s conference emphasized virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). VR denotes a three-dimensional and interactive environment created by a computer in which users can immerse themselves. Augmented reality refers to the insertion of information into a user´s field of vision. Users may for example be outfitted with special glasses with a projection system to do this.