Interseum - From Physical to Virtual Showrooms

Abstract

Following the successful proven concept of small and specialized exhibitions (so called showrooms) run by research institutions as windows to scientific innovation, the network BONITA (a project financed by the INTERREG IV B – Baltic Sea Region) extends the physical showrooms to virtual ones. While the basic idea of the physical showroom is to have an attractive exhibition area for demonstrating cutting edge-technologies in a tangible and accessible fashion and transmitting technological knowledge between science and a region, the main idea of the virtual showroom is to have centralized access to several exhibits located in different places resulting in distributed knowledge and bridging the gap between the physical and virtual world of museums and showrooms and between the expert and the visitor. The presentation of what is now technically feasible should be just one aspect of the showroom. It should also create a connection to what is technically imaginable, whereby the visionary aspects of the technology are communicated. The combination of tangible benefits and interdisciplinary visions for the future is an exceeding interesting one. Firstly it allows specific innovations to find their way to market more quickly, since they gain a higher profile and are in the public eye. On the other hand, long-term trends can also be created interactively and discussed within different target groups.