Digital Minister Ina Scharrenbach visits astragon Entertainment

Ina Scharrenbach, the Minister for Municipal Affairs, Regional Identity, Housing, Building and Digitalization of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, visited astragon Entertainment. She learned about the company, its products and the local games industry. She emphasized that the technical developments in the games industry are leading the way, for example in the field of AI or virtual reality.

Astragon Entertainment welcomed a visitor from regional politics on Friday, November 10. Ina Scharrenbach, Minister for Municipal Affairs, Regional Identity, Housing, Building and Digitalization in North Rhine-Westphalia, met Co-Managing Director Julia Pfiffer and Head of Project Management Tim Plöger. On site in Düsseldorf, the Minister learned about the "Construction Simulator", which was released at the end of last year and regularly receives new content to this day. "The original machines and equipment from well-known manufacturers as well as the authentic depiction of the working world in a playful way characterize the simulation. The construction simulator is already a good example of how other industries and sectors are interconnected and benefit together," writes the company, because the minister is responsible for both the construction and digitalization sectors.

"You need to dare to look beyond your own keyboard in order to further advance the digitalization of the construction industry, but also of public administration. The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia is already promoting many innovations in construction technology, such as the 3D printing process in construction. However, the approval structure and application process must also be further optimized in order to further expand City Hall 2.0 and simplify and accelerate the digital administrative process. Gaming practice can provide innovative inspirations for this," says Ina Scharrenbach. "It has been shown that the state is often not the better programmer. That is why it is important for us to work closely with practitioners, manufacturers of specialist processes and administrative staff. There are already many good solutions on the market. Technical developments in the games industry are leading the way, for example in the field of AI or virtual reality. With its "Construction Simulator", astragon Entertainment brings the construction industry and digitalization together, which is why I am grateful for the insights and the good exchange"

"We have maintained close and successful collaborations with international companies from the construction industry for years. From our point of view, these partnerships impressively demonstrate the enormous potential and diverse possibilities of cooperation between the video games industry and other industries. We are firmly convinced that the expertise of the video games industry can be of benefit to other sectors. We will continue to actively seek synergies in the future," says Julia Pfiffer from astragon Entertainment. In addition to these topics, the Minister was also informed about the games location and astragon's role as an employer in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Ina Scharrenbach had already visited Ubisoft Düsseldorf in October. Topics included gamification and AI technologies as impulses for a digitalized public administration.