Impressive 3D sound at the start, high-ranking well-wishers, and musical greetings from the institute's own band

At the beginning of the ceremony, the guests were given a grand welcome with an anniversary sound installation in 3D sound. 3D sound has been one of the Ilmenau institute's major research topics for almost 20 years, and the technology is now being used successfully worldwide in the event sector, in planetariums and opera houses, on cruise ships, and for art installations. A 3D sound system can also be found in the Ilmenau Park Café since its reopening at the end of 2020, following extensive refurbishment.

After the entertaining sound spectacle, presenter Diana Smikalla welcomed prominent speakers to the stage. Both the Thuringian Prime Minister, Bodo Ramelow, and the Thuringian Minister of Economics, Wolfgang Tiefensee, took the opportunity to address words of greeting and congratulations to both the current Director of the Institute, Joachim Bös, and the former Director of the Institute, Professor Karlheinz Brandenburg.

Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow said: “20 years of Fraunhofer in Ilmenau - the past and the future have rarely been so close together as on this anniversary. As a trailblazer and driving force for innovative developments and scientific excellence, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft continues to play a decisive role in the future of our economy and thus in the future of our prosperity. Thanks to its close cooperation with our universities and industrial partners and its commitment to networks, competence clusters and the promotion of young talent, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology is not only a strong player in Ilmenau, but throughout Thuringia.”

The representative of the Executive Board of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Dr. Patrick Hoyer, also recognized the achievements of the Fraunhofer IDMT and its important role in the scientific ecosystem of the region and Germany as a whole: “20 years of acoustic technologies in Ilmenau and 200 years of setting Schiller's ‘Ode to Joy’ to music - let's celebrate the anniversary together and with all our senses and strengthen the innovation landscape in Thuringia and beyond with confidence and energy. Congratulations!”

In his speech, Thuringia's Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee praised the research institute's 20 years of expertise in the fields of acoustics research and audio technologies. “The Fraunhofer IDMT is one of the leading research institutes internationally in this field,” said Tiefensee.

Renowned technologies such as the music recognition software AudioID or the 3D sound technology SpatialSound Wave were developed at the institute, he continued. “Fortunately, the IDMT has not stopped at these successes, but has opened up new, promising areas of research in recent years,” said the Minister. These include the analysis of industrial noise, the forensic analysis of the authenticity of media content and the AI-based monitoring and evaluation of bioacoustics and ecoacoustics to protect and preserve flora and fauna. “The institute should continue on this path consistently,” emphasized Wolfgang Tiefensee.

The Thuringian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Science and Digital Society has supported the Fraunhofer IDMT with almost 20 million euros from state and EU funds since 2016 - in addition to federal and state funding.

The institute's band “Foyer Tanzformation” played musical congratulations to mark the anniversary. The band has been an integral part of the institute for many years and all band members are employees of the institute - and enthusiastic amateur musicians.

Their interpretation of the songs “Lean on me” and “Go your own way” was rewarded with great applause and heralded the second part of the ceremony.

How it all began: a look back at the history of the institute

Diana Smikalla asked Professor Karlheinz Brandenburg, who has been head of the institute for many years, to talk to her and together they reviewed the beginnings and the challenges of founding an institute.

It was important to Brandenburg to express his thanks to the Free State of Thuringia and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft: “Without the joint start-up funding from Thuringia and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the often unbureaucratic support from both sides, we would not have been able to start on January 1, 2004. I am grateful for the opportunity to set up my institute back then and am delighted with what we have achieved together.”

What's next? Insights into current research topics

In the subsequent discussion with the current head of the institute, Professor Joachim Bös, the audience learned how he came to work at a research institute for acoustics and audio as a mechanical engineer: “If we can analyze music, why not analyze the sound of machines or the causes of urban noise?”

Joachim Bös has headed the Fraunhofer IDMT since 2019 and, with his expertise in machine acoustics, has successfully honed the Ilmenau institute's research topics in the direction of intelligent acoustic monitoring of machines, manufacturing processes, and environmental noise.

In his speech, Bös provided insights into the institute's new strategic research topics and thanked all the players in the local and regional innovation network in which the institute is involved. “We rely on the good cooperation with the TU Ilmenau, the Fraunhofer facilities in the surrounding area, the Fraunhofer headquarters, the city of Ilmenau, the Ilm district and the Free State of Thuringia. I would also like to thank all our research and project partners as well as commercial enterprises near and far. And none of this would work without our fantastic active and former employees at Fraunhofer IDMT,” summarizes Bös.

Passion for artificial intelligence (AI)

The crowning glory of the ceremony was the entertaining keynote speech “AI want it that way: My experiences with AI over the last 12 years” by AI Professor Anna Kruspe from the Munich University of Applied Sciences. Anna Kruspe is an alumna of the Fraunhofer IDMT, completed her doctorate at the institute and was happy to return to her old place of work for the anniversary event.

The young professor and the Fraunhofer IDMT share a passion for the research topic of AI. For both, however, AI is not a hype buzzword, but the basis of many innovative technologies that both Anna Kruspe and the institute's researchers are working on.

Anna Kruspe conducts research in the field of data science and machine learning and presented to the audience how the rapid development of AI, deep learning, data and models has impacted her scientific work. She showed that, on the one hand, major AI developments can increasingly support everyday life and scientific work, but on the other hand, they also bring challenges, such as filter bubble effects and privacy protection.

Technology show: Hands-on research

After the colorful potpourri of contributions, moderator Diana Smikalla invited the guests to experience the institute's current research topics “up close” in a technology show.

Attendees were able to experience goosebumps during another 3D sound demo and observe how contaminated photovoltaic elements were cleaned without contact using structure-borne sound. In the DeepFake quiz, guests tested whether they could distinguish synthesized audio material from real material simply by listening carefully.

A good ear was also required for the acoustic detection of defective engines - except that AI sensors took over this task. In the live evaluation of city noise data from Gelsenkirchen, AI-equipped sensor boxes from the Fraunhofer IDMT took over the function of “hearing” and analyzing the city noises.

Researchers from the Fraunhofer IDMT's Hearing, Speech, and Audio Technology (HSA) division in Oldenburg, who had traveled to the event, especially for the celebration, also demonstrated up-close research. They demonstrated how EEG data can be easily recorded in everyday life in the future using a portable solution. The “hearing car” also attracted the interest of the guests. In a specially equipped vehicle, the experts from Oldenburg showed how autonomous driving will ensure greater safety and reliability in road traffic in the future by using acoustic sensors to monitor the environment.

Thanks and outlook

We can look back on a successful anniversary celebration with lots of great ideas and discussions and would like to thank all the guests who took the time to join us. We look forward to many more years of innovative and forward-looking research.