At the “Virtual Worlds – Experiencing Opportunities in the Metaverse” congress on May 8, 2025, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism, together with the Virtual Dimension Center (VDC) in Fellbach and the Baden-Württemberg Media and Film Company (MFG), brought together business, especially the creative industries and science. The conference aimed to stimulate curiosity about important future technologies and showcase what Baden-Württemberg already has to offer.

More than 40 international stakeholders from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ partnerships within the framework of the EU Danube Strategy and beyond, including from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, travelled to Stuttgart to participated in the congress and exhibition. Ten Ukrainian companies and start-ups were also among the international guests.

In the framework of the cooperation of the EU Danube Strategy Priority Area 8 (PA 8) ‘Competitiveness of enterprises’ the first workshop Identification of Lighthouses in the Danube Region took place, organised by Steinbeis Europa Zentrum and moderated by Balázs Barta, Pannon Business Network. Best practices, initiatives and projects in the field of metaverse, virtual worlds, digitalisation and AI were presented by Andrej Gero, Gametherapy, Slovakia (VIRADIA), Kriztina Bardos, Hungary (GTE/Operator 4.0, Industry 5.0 Lab) and Daniel Copot, ITC Murska Sobota, Slovenia (DIH Agrifood Demonstration Farms).

A big thank you to the teams of Steinbeis Europa Zentrum and Pannon Business Network for carrying out the study ‘Identification of Lighthouse Projects’ in the Danube Region and organising the workshop.

And very importantly, thanks to the Interreg Danube Region Programme  for funding us. This funding made the study and the workshop possible, as well as the invitation of stakeholders from economic cooperation (PA 8) in the Danube region to Stuttgart.