Honor, to whom honor is due! On June 20, 2024, the scientist, entrepreneur, senior professor and former head of the Electronic Media Technology Group and the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT, Karlheinz Brandenburg, turned 70. Numerous companions and guests, such as Thuringian Minister President Bodo Ramelow and Thuringian Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, honored his life's work at a ceremony in Ilmenau on June 25. At the same time they also looked to the future and celebrated the fifth anniversary of Brandenburg LABS GmbH and the successful development of Deep Dive Audio headphone technology, with which Brandenburg aims to revolutionize the way we hear.
With around 200 guests from science, industry and politics, the honorary colloquium covered a wide range of topics in eight specialist lectures on various areas of media technology - from scientific research to practical applications. Karlheinz Brandenburg: "It was a great meeting of old acquaintances, great names in audio technology in Germany and far beyond, as well as old and new employees. Whether Erlangen, California or Ilmenau, it was a great meeting of many important people from the field of current audio technologies".
The program was opened by University President Professor Kai-Uwe Sattler, who looked back on Brandenburg's career at the university and emphasized his important role in helping to shape and establish the Media Technology study program, which was introduced in 1996: "Karlheinz Brandenburg not only brought the fame of the MP3 inventor to Ilmenau. As a professor at TU Ilmenau, he was instrumental in establishing the media programs as an attractive part of the university's range of courses and in making the university known as a research location in the field of media technology."
Prof. Alexander Raake, Director of the Ilmenau Interactive Immersive Technologies Center (I3TC) and Head of the Institute of Media Technology and the Audiovisual Technology Group at TU Ilmenau, also emphasized the importance of Karlheinz Brandenburg for the research and development of innovative media technologies: "We have been working closely together on various projects for almost nine years, and many before me have already said it: Karlheinz Brandenburg is certainly one of the most relevant, well-known and honored experts in the field of media technology and probably far beyond." Brandenburg has received numerous awards for his work in the field of digital audio coding, perceptual measurement techniques, wave field synthesis, psychoacoustics and the analysis of audio and video signals. These include the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award, the German Future Prize (together with his colleagues) and the Audio Engineering Society Silver Medal. He is also a member of the Internet Society Hall of Fame and was awarded the Digital Processing Medal by the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers in Hollywood.
In his speech, Minister President Bodo Ramelow paid particular tribute to Brandenburg's tireless commitment to Thuringia as a research location: "Karlheinz Brandenburg's innovative spirit and his groundbreaking pioneering work have left an impressive mark. In Thuringia and beyond. Not only the innovation of the MP3 format, but also his work for the Fraunhofer IDMT are proof of this: Future-oriented research is his passion and specialty. Thuringia is also a strong player in Germany and the world thanks to the close cooperation of the Fraunhofer IDMT with our universities as well as with our industrial partners and through its commitment to networks, competence clusters and the promotion of young talent."
See also TU spin-offs: Brandenburg Labs - from Ilmenau to a global brand with a "wow effect"
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