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With the new Museum Innovation Network, Fraunhofer IAO wants to work together with museums and cultural institutions to develop strategies and propose solutions to promote pioneering innovations in the sector. Members of the network hailing from the worlds of culture, research and business hold interdisciplinary project meetings to discuss the relevant issues, before trying out new concepts and technologies in the field.

What will human-robot interaction in public spaces look like in the future? Fraunhofer IAO is exploring this question in the ZEN-MRI project in cooperation with partners from science and industry and the city of Ulm. The project addresses the ethical, legal, psychological and technical aspects. The tests are taking place in the center of Ulm.

What role will hotels play in the future? How can they respond to current challenges? Now, as it begins research phase VII, the FutureHotel innovation network is opening up to the international hotel industry and developing specific use cases for areas such as sustainability, digital business models, smart hotels and new work.

The Fraunhofer Morgenstadt Initiative has placed its new work program 2022–2023 under the motto “the sustainable smart city” in order to highlight solutions and transformation pathways for CO2-neutral, livable and resilient cities. All actions ranging from digitalization to sustainability have a focus on population-centric implementation and being socially compatible.

What lessons can we draw from the past two and a half years to help us work together throughout the coming fall and winter? And what does the impending energy crisis mean for our new way of working? These questions and more are the subject of a Fraunhofer IAO survey that will, among other things, provide a course of action for the coming winter crisis.

The University of Stuttgart Institute of Human Factors and Technology Management IAT, Fraunhofer IAO and ver.di b+b have collaboratively published a study on learners’ needs and preconditions for digitally supported learning for statutory employee representation volunteers, including staff and works councils members. The study provides answers to the key question how digitally supported learning environments can be developed for statutory employee representatives and other (voluntary) employees of non-profit organizations with similar working conditions.

With one Best Paper Award and two Honorable Mention Papers 2022, Fraunhofer IAO can look back on a successful outcome at the Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics Conference (AHFE), which took place on July 24–28, 2022. As well as contributing papers to the conference, Fraunhofer IAO also acted as the chair.

Using AI-based speech analysis and gaming technologies for real-time rendering for visualization, Fraunhofer IAO has developed a digital twin of the namesake of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Joseph von Fraunhofer, which it presented for the first time at the second Stuttgart Science Festival. The avatar shows, for example, the various possible applications of these surprisingly lifelike virtual characters in the future metaverse.

To ensure that the key technology of quantum computing becomes established in the German economy as quickly as possible, Fraunhofer IAO and Fraunhofer IAF are refining their quantum computing training program for participants from industry and research and playing an active part in the growing innovation ecosystem in Ehningen near Stuttgart.

How will office and knowledge work change in the coming years, and what impact will these changes have on the working environment? In the new “Beyond multispace” study from the Office 21^® innovation network, Fraunhofer IAO provides forward-thinking perspectives on office environments, based on the altered requirements for office spaces and buildings in the urban context between now and 2030.