At a formal ceremony in Berlin, Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier presented the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2024 (the German Future Award, the Federal President’s Award for Innovation in Science and Technology) to a team led by Dr Norwin von Malm and Stefan Grötsch of ams OSRAM GmbH of Premstätten, Austria and Munich, Germany and Dr Hermann Oppermann of the Berlin-based Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM) for the technological implementation of their idea — an LED matrix that turns car headlights into projectors — which opens up new possibilities for innovative designs due to the high-resolution light distribution and energy efficiency. This is the tenth Deutscher Zukunftspreis for Fraunhofer Institute, and the first for Fraunhofer IZM.
Light-based information opens up many new use cases for the team’s LED matrix, which can be controlled via a digital system. Examples include optical data communication between computer chips, e.g. in data centers for AI applications, or augmented reality (AR). Here, the light matrix could be used as a virtual monitor for AR glasses, where digital information is displayed in the user’s field of vision in addition to the real-world environment. A compact design and energy efficiency are essential here since AR glasses must be lightweight and have a long battery life. These use cases demonstrate the enormous potential of Digital Light when it comes to transforming the ways in which humans and electronic devices interact.