Bavaria’s new Minister of Digital Affairs at the XR Hub

11 Mar 2024

“Bavaria’s Minister of Digital Affairs, Dr. Fabian Mehring’s visit to the University of Würzburg marked a significant occasion, highlighting the innovative work being done at the XR Hub. Funded by €1.7 million from the Bavarian state, the hub specializes in Extended Reality (XR) technologies, with applications ranging from healthcare to education. Under the leadership of Professor Marc Latoschik and Professor Carolin Wienrich, the hub is a beacon of innovation located within the Julius-Maximilians-University (JMU).

Dr. Mehring’s tour included a detailed presentation at the new Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (CAIDAS) building, showcasing the hub’s diverse projects and their impact. Notably, the XR Hub’s collaboration with globally renowned universities like Berkeley and Stanford, particularly on a project to prevent identity theft in virtual environments, was a highlight of the visit, demonstrating the hub’s significant international presence.

Würzburg’s leading position in Virtual Reality research, ranked first in Germany and among the top worldwide, impressed Dr. Mehring, further solidifying the hub’s reputation as a pioneering force in Europe and globally.

A personal highlight for Dr. Mehring was his participation in an Avatar-Scanner session, where 106 cameras captured his likeness to create a personalized avatar. This avatar was then used in a virtual reality application, providing the minister with a firsthand experience of the potential future of human-AI interaction beyond conventional text inputs. This experience underscored the XR Hub and JMU’s commitment to merging technology with psychology to create more natural and engaging human-computer interactions.

Dr. Mehring’s visit underscored the importance of continued investment and collaboration in cutting-edge technology fields, celebrating the XR Hub’s achievements and its role in shaping the future of digital interaction.

For more about the XR Hub Würzburg and its associated programs, visit their websites:

XR Hub Würzburg
Chair of HCI
Professorship for PIIS
JMU Institute for Human-Computer Media

Impressions