The Federal Government's Digital Summit
The Digital Summit is the federal government's annual congress on digital transformation in business, government and society. With over 1,800 participants, the congress took place at the end of October 2024 in Cape Europe in the middle of Frankfurt am Main. Under the motto “Germany Digital — Innovative. Sovereign. International”, the Federal Government discussed a variety of important future issues.
On the central platform for shaping the digital revolution in Germany, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Federal Minister of Digital Affairs Dr. Volker Wissing and Federal Minister of Economics Dr. Robert Habeck and other members of the Federal Cabinet presented their digital policy work to a wide audience and answered important questions about Germany as a digital location.
In addition to the information-rich discussions, the market of opportunities on exhibition level 1 of Cape Europe offered visitors a diverse exhibition with presentations on topics such as smart living, tech innovations and digital transformation. Deutsche Bahn was part of this exhibition with an application developed by us that uses augmented reality (AR) to visualize how it is planned to supply trains with powerful Internet in the future. Our project manager Marie Kristen was on site to help Deutsche Bahn set up the exhibit and the technology.
Deutsche Bahn at the 2024 Digital Summit
Deutsche Bahn is an important player in the digital transformation of the transport sector and is using the Digital Summit to present new technologies and innovations in rail transport and to strengthen and maintain partnerships. For example, Deutsche Bahn, together with the Schwarz Group, announced the founding of the so-called data platform “DataHub Europe.” The platform should enable secure, GDPR-compliant training of AI models and strengthen Europe's digital sovereignty and competitive activity. During the presentation, Dr. Daniela Gerd tom Markotten, Head of Digital and Technology at Deutsche Bahn, emphasized the importance of this platform and the general use of AI applications for more efficient processes in digital transformation. Another highlight for Deutsche Bahn concerned the topic of mobile communications and high-performance Internet on trains. The federal government, four leading mobile phone providers and Deutsche Bahn signed a declaration of intent for technology-open testing, development and application for 5G coverage in trains on the Hamburg-Berlin route. With an AR application developed by us, Deutsche Bahn presented how 5G coverage on trains should be made possible in an interactive way on the market.
Experience innovation up close!
“Gigabit train: Experience 5G on track” was the title of the Deutsche Bahn exhibition at the 2024 Digital Summit. With the interactive AR application, Deutsche Bahn presented what measures are being taken to implement 5G supply on trains on the Hamburg-Berlin route. With the use of 3D models, impressive animations and effects, it was explained how the need for fast Internet is constantly growing, even on trains, and how novel masts should meet this demand in the future.
Back in September, Deutsche Bahn presented the advantages of the new masts for the rail and mobile communications industry at InnoTrans 2024, the international trade fair for transport technology in Berlin, with an AR application developed by us and made the topics, some of which are very complex, accessible to visitors in an understandable way.
Presenting with Augmented Reality
At the Deutsche Bahn stand, it quickly became apparent that presenting with AR offers several advantages. Complex functions or processes can be explained in a simple, understandable way. “How does Deutsche Bahn want to provide 5G coverage on the route?” , “Which part do which project partners play?” , “What else is planned for the future?” , these extensive questions could be made tangible for visitors with the AR application. For example, by depicting 3D models and using animations, it was explained how the cooperation of the various mobile phone providers is planned for high-performance supply.
The application also made it possible to respond to visitors' special requests. For example, if a person wanted to find out more about the structure of the new type of mast, they could simply move closer to the virtual mast with the iPad and view it in detail from all sides. The visual support helped to avoid having to explain topics with words and to be able to get straight into the topic. Visitors were also attracted by the iPad screen being transferred to an external monitor remotely from the stand. The external monitor showed exactly what was just on the iPad. In this way, visitors became aware of Deutsche Bahn topics. In addition, several visitors were able to take part in the presentation at the same time.
A successful event
The 2024 Digital Summit was a successful event for Deutsche Bahn and therefore also for us. Important and future-oriented topics were convincingly presented to visitors to the Digital Summit. On the second day, Dr. Volker Wissing also visited Deutsche Bahn's stand and was presented with Deutsche Bahn's topics on mobile phone coverage with augmented reality.
The AR application was designed in collaboration with Müller/romca industrial design.
Photos ©BMDV
