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Overview

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is one of Europe’s top universities with a commitment to excellence in research and teaching, interdisciplinary education and the active promotion of promising young scientists. The school combines top-class facilities for cutting edge research with unique learning opportunities for students by utilizing their strong relationships with companies and scientific institutions around the world.

Challenge

As part of TUM’s postgraduate program, students participate in a two-week workshop on Embodied Intelligence, Soft Robotics and Compliant Systems and Actuators. Following the workshop, top-ranking scientists from all over the world participate in an interactive session, debating and discussing the topics.

To preserve grant money for critical research initiatives, TUM wanted to conduct the entire event over video conferencing technology to keep sessions interactive without wasting funds on unnecessary travel.

“We were looking for a system that is easy to use and supported by different platforms.”

— Martin Eder, Project Supervisor, TUM

Solution

The university was already equipped with an HD Lifesize system in one of the main conference rooms, so they decided to check out the rest of the Lifesize portfolio. After demoing the Lifesize app with an embedded laptop camera, TUM ultimately decided that this was the solution they were looking for — something easy to manage and easy to use for students and external guests.

“I’ve not yet met someone who couldn’t start up the system in less than a couple of minutes.”

In addition to participating in postgraduate workshops, guest speakers and scientists from around the globe can now hold special lectures via video.

“The benefits of meeting via video really come into their own here. It would be extremely expensive and almost impossible to fly all these thought leaders out to Germany for just one lecture. But with video, anything is possible.”

Outcome

Video conferences are now a regular occurrence at the institute, allowing students and professionals from all over the world to join in on important research and findings. The university has also started recording live sessions to share on-demand to extend lessons across time zones, giving students more flexibility in how they consume course materials.

“Video conferencing allows individual teams to network with each other very efficiently and present their results in an optimal way. I am sure video conferencing will win recognition across the board outside of our institute.“