Especially the new research project ‟Games Technology Network” was of interest during his visit. Since the start of this year, the Mirevi team alongside the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (H-BRS), the RWTH Aachen University and the Cologne University of Applied Sciences (TH Köln) has been working on a cooperative network between research, economy and politics in the context of game technology in NRW. This network comprised of the four mentioned educational and research facilities aims at internationally advancing the development site NRW.
An important part of this project is a close interconnection of industry and politics. Mr. Jarzombek’s home state NRW is already an important location for the games industry of Germany and Europe. Several leading game studios have offices at the Rhine and in the Ruhr area, and the Gamescom, annually hosted in Cologne, is the world’s largest trade fair for digital games.
Against this background, we discussed with Mr. Jarzombek about how politics can advance and support digitization in research and extend the promotion of young researchers in the field of game development. Other topics were the Fixed-Term Academic Contracts Act and the digitization of the creative and cultural industries as well their connection to respective research. The visit was completed by a tour of the Mirevi lab and a broad insight into current projects.