The ACI-affiliated project Open Game & FabLab, or OGFLab for short, was launched on 1 July 2021.  Funded by the BMBF to the tune of 1.4 million euros, the project will expand the area of business start-ups at the university in the long term and raise it to a qualitatively higher level.

New StartUpLab as a lighthouse for student start-up culture

With the new OGFLab, including its own rooms and support team, a cross-faculty start-up support centre is being created at Offenburg University of Applied Sciences. Start-up teams are allowed to use the workstations and equipment in the container for six months and are personally supervised by the OGFLab team. In addition, they receive team-specific coaching. In coordination with the BMBF, the teams can also receive a KickStart@FH scholarship of up to 7,500 €.

The OGFLab focuses on the topics of game and app development (GameLab) and rapid prototyping (FabLab), but is also open to teams with other focuses. Interdisciplinary team composition is desired, for example a combination of development, business administration and electrical engineering.

Playground with state-of-the-art equipment

“The OGFLab is a playground where, under professional guidance, good ideas can be developed to prototypes or a publisher pitch in the best possible way without risk,”

says Oliver Korn, who together with Frank Habann is head of the OGFLab affiliated to the ACI.

The equipment includes modern IT including the necessary development software (e.g. Visual Studio, Unity 3D, AutoDesk Fusion), technology for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications such as HoloLens, 3D printer and workbench including tools for rapid prototyping in the sense of a maker space and a special workstation for testing the user experience (UX) of products, e.g. through eye tracking and emotion measurement.

Applications from founding teams are accepted before the start of each semester. The OGFLab advisory board decides on the acceptance of the teams.

Further information on the new OGFLab at https://ogflab.hs-offenburg.de/