Partners

Analog Native is a technology-driven art and design studio located in Germany / Berlin affiliated with Refik Anadol. Their work lies at the intersection of media arts and architecture with using machine intelligence for 21st century. Constantly searching for unique urban experiences for 21st century’s city that is explicitly dynamic, a shift that opens up poetic possibilities for inhabitants of itself with machine intelligence. Project can be an integralpart of artist’s ongoing ‘Temporary Immersive Environment Experiments’ which is a research on audio/visualinstallations by using the state called immersion which is the state of consciousness where an immersant’sawareness of physical self is transformed by being surrounded in an engrossing environment; often artificial, creating a perception of presence in a non-physical world. In this project ‘infinity’ chosen as a concept, a radicaleffort to deconstruct the framework of this illusory space and transgress the normal boundaries of the viewing experience to set out to transform the conventional flat cinema projection screen into a three-dimensional kinetic and architectonic space of visualization by using contemporary algorithms. Light is the major element in the experiment, used to blur and interconnect the boundaries between the two realms actual/fictional and physical/virtual. It signifies the threshold between the simulacrum space created by the projection technology, and the physical space where the viewer stands. The experiments will discuss the inherent spatial qualities of immersive virtual environments and their effect on the embodied person. Through the presented framework, the experiments intend to question the relativity of perception and how it informs the apprehension of our surroundings. Rather than approaching the medium as a means of escape into some disembodied techno-utopian fantasy, projects sees itself as a means of return, i.e. facilitating a temporary release from our habitual perceptions and culturally biased assumptions about being in the world, to enable us, however momentarily, to perceive ourselves and the world around us freshly.

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) is a multi award winning architectural practice with over 30 years experience. With over 3,000,000 square feet of built construction and a further 17,000,000 square feet in design or construction planning Zaha Hadid Architects has expanded to 350 staff based in their London offices. In addition, they have site offices in Rome, Guangzhou, Beijing and Hamburg.

ZHA prides themselves on being in the vanguard of design culture and delivering innovative design solutions and projects that marry contemporary technology with the forefront of architectural thinking. They work in all design sectors and at all scales with an emphasis on culturally significant projects. From their studio in London, ZHA delivers projects around the world, working collaboratively with engineering specialists and local architectural practices. Their portfolio includes completed projects in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Within ZHA, the Computation and Design research group (ZH-CODE) operates as an in-house consultancy offering expertise in various areas related to architectural design modelling. The group was initiated in 2007 with the aim of harnessing opportunities latent in the inter-disciplinary collaboration of computationally literate architects, engineers and emerging digital manufacturing methods.

ZH-CODE endeavors to develop design methods that enable the exploration of spatial organization and articulation within the bounds of physical, economic, and ergonomic feasibility. ZH-CODE pursues this through the projects it engages, the prototypes it builds, and the network of research collaboration it fosters.

Within ZHA, the Agent Based Parametric Semiology research group focuses on the development of a computational framework for social crowd interaction modelling and analysis tied with the semiotics of designed architectural environments.

Nurogames GmbH, Cologne/Germany is an independent games development company, founded in early 2006 by practised experts of the games and media industry. Next to our head office in Cologne we maintain representative offices in Barcelona and Berlin. Since April 2011, the Berlin-based lbxgames GmbH and lieblinx GmbH are a part of the company and form a strong strategic alliance.

Nurogames covers a wide range of work experience, comprising high-skill development for mobile and cross- platform games, leisure applications being our main field of activity. Another focus of the company is placed on the development of games for Xbox one (Kinect), Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Furthermore we develop mobile games / applications and social games.

The mobile division is specializing in the development, production and marketing of mobile applications for iOS and Android Smartphone and Tablet as well as contents, ranging from innovative applications like games, active screens, instant messaging etc. to pod-cast solutions. Currently developments have been ordered for iPhone/iPad touch platforms and Android applications as application for other application stores as well (Windows Marketplace, Mac App Store, etc.).

Further working fields include the development of web-based e-learning games and game based e learning evolutions as well as the realization of online and browser games for an international market.

By participating in multiple research projects on a national and international level, Nurogames ensure the long- term orientation and the knowledge of state-of-the art technologies. The Team of Nurogames has got many years of experience in research projects of the BMBF and the European Union. They include such projects as MaTHiSiS, PATHway. RAGE, 5GTANGO, SPIELBAR, MMOBG Development MEDIA.

up2metric Private Company is an SME that develops innovative custom software solutions and provides consulting engineering services in the fields of Computer Vision, Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Metrology. up2metric as a service provider specializes in data capture from multiple terrestrial, airborne or satellite sensors (RGB, thermal, multispectral/hyperspectral, depth), data processing and analysis of extractedinformation. One of the company’s main goals is to transfer state of the art knowledge from academia to the market. In this context up2metric develops custom B2B software, based on key enabling technologies such as 3D computer vision, image processing, machine learning, AR/VR, Drones and 3D printing. up2metric is active in the following sectors: Geospatial, Industrial Metrology & Automation, 3D surveying, Construction, Precision Agriculture and Real Estate and has carried out successfully commercial projects on: 3D Mapping by means of UAVs and mobile mapping platforms, Infrastructure Inspection, Ship Inspection, Cultural Heritage Recording,GIS and BIM. up2metric’s main research interests include image-based 3D modelling (Structure-from-Motion, Stereo-Reconstruction), 3D scanning by means of different technologies (laser scanners, RGB-D sensors, structured light), Pattern Recognition via Deep Learning techniques, hyperspectral and multispectral sensor data processing and analysis, Simultaneous Localization and Mapping and Sensor Calibration. up2metric is part of Attica Technology & Science Park “Lefkippos” at the National Centre for Scientific Research “DEMOKRITOS”.

Founded in 1980, Robert McNeel & Associates is a privately-held, employee-owned company with development, sales support, and training offices and affiliates in Seattle, Boston, Miami, Medellin, Barcelona, Rome, Tokyo,

Taipei,Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Shenzhen, andShanghai. We also have more than 700 dealers, distributors, OEMs, and training centers around the world. Founded in 1998, McNeel Europe is the European, Middle Eastern, and African headquarters for Robert McNeel & Associates. McNeel Europe is responsible for

 Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) was established in 1990 as a public university with a strong dedication to excellence in research and teaching. It is the one of the few Spanish university in the world Top 150 (Times Higher Education ranking – THE 2018), among the first 20 under 50 years (THE 2018) and among the first 10 among young universities in the world that progressed most quickly (THE 2015, Young Universities Summit). UPF is also ranked 1st in Europe (U-Multirank 2018) and 1st in Spain in teaching and research performance (U- Ranking, BBVA Foundation & Ivie, 2017). In MindSpaces, UPF participates through the Natural Language Processing Group (UPF-TALN) of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC). DTIC has an important track record of active participation and in EU projects, including coordination (a total of 66 FP7 projects and 10 other projects in non-FP7 program such as CIP, Ambient Assisted Living and the Lifelong Learning Program, and, up to now more than 20 H2020 projects). DTIC is the Spanish university department withthe largest number of ERC grants (15), forming also part of the FET Flagship initiative “The Human Brain Project”. It is the only Spanish ICT department that has been awarded the “Maria de Maeztu” excellence by the Spanish government for the quality and relevance of its pioneering scientific research, and as the top IT research concentration in Spain.

UPF-TALN (http://www.taln.upf.edu/) has been founded in 2005 by its current director Prof. Leo Wanner. During the thirteen years of its existence, it has gained widely acknowledged expertise in a number of areas in Natural Language Processing, including text analysis, content (concept and concept relation) extraction from multilingual material, multilingual text generation and summarization, and language resources acquisition. UPF- TALN has a solid record of coordination of and participation in large scale European and national RTD projects –among them MARQUIS (EDC-11258), PATExpert (FP6-ICT-028116), PESCaDO (FP7-ICT-249584), TOPAS (FP7-SME-286639), MULTISENSOR (FP7-ICT-610411), Dr. Inventor (FP7-ICT-611383), iPATDoc (FP7-SME- 606163), KRISTINA (H2020–645012–RIA), TENSOR (H2020-700024-IA), beAWARE (H2020-700475-IA), able to Include (CIP-ICT-PSP-2013-7/621055), and V4Design (H2020-RIA-779962).

Maastricht University (MU) is the most international university in the Netherlands and, with more than 16,000 students and 4,000 employees, is still growing. The university stands out for its innovative education model, international character and multidisciplinary approach to research and education. Today it is considered one of the best young universities in the world (#4 in the 2016 THE ranking of universities younger than 50 years). In FP7 MU was involved in over 150 projects with approximately 60 million euro of funding volume. In 2014 and 2015 it had reached again 50 projects with approximately 20 million euro of funding volume.

The Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience at MU is home to the department of Cognitive Neuroscience and the Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (M-BIC), comprising of 9 research groups, that are carrying out research on the topics such as auditory perception emotion and cognition columnar level fMRI, physiological (f)MRI, visual perception and learning, developmental neuroscience, and fMRI methods. MU will contribute to MindSpaces in addition to office space for the staff working on the project and access to the facilities, other existing smaller equipment (such as a power platform, camcorder, camera, etc.) and software (e.g., for behavioral analysis and video editing) if needed. MU has strong expertise in affective neuroimaging research mainly focused on face and body emotion recognition and regularly hosts artist residences. In the framework of the project Prof. de Gelder will organize events stimulating collaboration with artists and use the network and facilities of the non-profit organisation Fundamental Research (www.fundamentalresearch.org).