Nuremberg/Starnberg. Fraunhofer IZM presented its latest developments at the “Sport and Lifestyle” cooperative forum’s trade exhibition in Starnberg on 7^th July. The event was held by Bayern Innovativ GmbH in collaboration with Wissenschaftsförderung Starnberg (Starnberg academic sponsorship program).

Apart from the program of presentations, national and international companies presented their latest product developments in areas such as sailing, cycling, running and mountaineering, as well as technologies for multifunctional clothing and wearable electronics.
Approximately 150 participants from throughout Europe, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, attended the event.

Fraunhofer IZM headed into the event with not just one, but several new developments, including a table tennis paddle that can detect the ball’s point and intensity of impact and wirelessly transmit the information for display on a screen. Another highlight of the IZM presentation was an intelligent golf ball in which a small microsystem is integrated, comprising a self-sufficient power supply, sensors, data processing, and wireless communication capabilities. It can measure the golf ball’s acceleration when hit and transmit the data to a PDA.

Particularly popular with the visitors was eScrabble, the first entirely electronically networked board game developed at Fraunhofer IZM. Many visitors took the opportunity to play “against the machine” and try and find the optimum word for the maximum score.