New Network Promotes Gaming Technology

The Visual Computing Institute of RWTH Aachen University has joined forces with the universities of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, Düsseldorf and Cologne Technical University to establish a "Games Technology Network" (GTN) of research institutions and industrial companies to promote games technology in North Rhine-Westphalia. As a first step, the four partners will offer workshops with industry and other stakeholders from the cultural sector, academia and public institutions. The Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (H-BRS) has taken over the coordination.

The first step is to explore the potential for innovation. The offer is primarily aimed at regional companies and institutions. Based on this, demonstrators will be developed to further explore promising development branches. An open-source software strategy is important to the project partners, so that game developers, for example, can incorporate the new findings into innovative products. Games are not only understood as a medium of entertainment, but are also used as "serious games" in education and further training, in university teaching and also in company training, in medicine and in museums.

At the same time, the four universities want to further network in teaching and training, for example through interdisciplinary doctorates and joint events. The training of specialists is, in the view of the network partners, the key to strengthening games research and development in North Rhine-Westphalia. In the medium term, the Games Technology Network is to be turned into a research and innovation center that looks at games development in all its facets and integrates the games industry in North Rhine-Westphalia.