Future Lab Aachen – The Gala! In barely two days, all the tickets were gone! So much intelligence gathered in one place – a rare event...

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Nadine Jungblut)

A stage is not complete without a real live actor. So Björn Jacobsen from the Theater Aachen ensemble was up first to start the evening off. As the hilariously nutty "Professor Irrwitzer", with much insane babbling, he concocted a "devilish potion" called "Wishing Punch".

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

On your feet, everyone! The Aachen Conservatory's "Percussion Battalion" set the musical rhythm for the evening – a captivating prelude to the evening's entertainment. By the way, you can watch and listen to the lads drumming in the Future Lab trailer!

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Nadine Jungblut)

Group portrait with Minister. The hosts were showered with praise from Düsseldorf. NRW's Minister of Science Svenja Schulze (centre) had actually skipped a parliamentary session to be at the Gala!
The hosts are: RWTH Rector Ernst Schmachtenberg, KatHO Dean Ute Antonia Lammel, Lord Mayor Marcel Philipp, FH Rector Marcus Baumann, RWTH Chancellor Manfred Nettekoven and Herbert Görtz, Director of the Aachen Conservatory (f.l.t.r.).

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

Leibniz Prize winner Leif Kobbelt then explained to everyone why Pythagoras' Theorem remains eternally valuable, even in the Digital Age. You can use it, for example, to make a 3D model of the theatre – well, using a more elaborated version of it than we were taught back at school.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

And then the show went round in circles... The aero wheel acrobats of the University Sports Centre group "RollAix" put on a splendid show...

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

...for Michael Wulf, Vice-Rector for Higher Education at the FH Aachen, the aero-wheelers were certainly the highlight of the evening. His wife Margret Gerdes thought that Pythagoras 4.0 was better. Clever woman!

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Nadine Jungblut)

Alexander Voss from the FH Aachen's Research Institute for Applied Computer Sciences explains the data glasses that compere Bernd Büttgens is wearing and using as a modern autocue.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

Perspectives for refugee children and adolescents in Germany – that was the topic discussed by Susanne Bücken and Norbert Frieters-Reermann from the KatHO Aachen and Juliane Hoppe, refugee counsellor in "Café Zuflucht".

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

They had to take the door of the rear entrance out of its frame to get the SpeedE onto the theatre's stage. But it was certainly worth all the effort. Lutz Eckstein, Head of the IKA at the RWTH, demonstrated to an astounded audience just how flexible the steering is on this flagship electric vehicle – and it doesn't even have a steering wheel!

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

Julia Jacobi, Jasper Gehrmann, Ava Moayeri and Emma Busch are pupils in the 9th Class at the local grammar school, Einhard Gymnasium. They all agree that the SpeedE is truly sensational.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Nadine Jungblut)

And that's definitely the way we see it, too. So, here it is again, the SpeedE!

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

Science and Business working hand in hand. At the Gala, Malte Brettel, RWTH Vice-Rector for Commerce and Industry, Klaus-Dieter Lagner, CSO of the main sponsor Grünenthal, and Marius Rosenberg, CEO of Adhesys Medical premiered a product that will revolutionise medical care: a completely novel kind of high-tech adhesive for closing wounds – the product of collaboration between the giant Grünenthal and the small RWTH spin-off company, Adhesys.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

Then it was down to the nitty-gritty as the meat of young bulls from the Eifel was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the wound glue – or should we say wonder glue? And it passed the test, as Marius Rosenberg proved to the evening's compere, Bernd Büttgens, and an amazed audience.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

Mayoress Margrethe Schmeer was pretty impressed by the "glued steak". Andreas Beitin, Director of the Ludwig Forum for International Art, found the SpeedE more impressive. Not really surprising – the man's job is all about aesthetics.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Nadine Jungblut)

A serious contribution, but in the eyes of many at the Gala one of the real highlights of the evening – Martin Wiesmann (right), Director of the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology at the RWTH Aachen University Clinic, explains his innovative procedure which has proven to help stroke patients – in the case of a timely reaction to the event.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

More a case of good judgement than luck! It wasn't by chance that Markus Morgenstern, Institute Head at the RWTH's Chair of Experimental Physics, survived the lightning bolt attack. He was standing in a Faraday cage.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

Sabina Jeschke, Head of the Institute-Cluster IMA/ZLW & IfU, filled the stage with dancing robots.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

Simply adorable!

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

And a splendid time was had by all, especially the front row.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

Thomas Ritz, Head of the Mobile Media Communication Lab at the FH Aachen, was thinking of kicking the football into the audience, but then dropped the idea. Clever.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

STAWAG director Christian Becker got everyone's appetite going for future treats. In September, the STAWAG will put on a show of 3D pixel mapping on the facade of Aachen's Town Hall. On several evenings, after nightfall, huge hearts will beat on the Town Hall... Check out the Future Lab Web Calendar for the exact dates - coming soon.

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

Grand Opera: a sample of the new production of the Aachen Conservatory in cooperation with Theater Aachen

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

The Grand Finale! And certainly a first for Aachen: one piano, four pairs of hands – three of those pairs belonging to professors! Ge-Kathy Yang, student at the HfMT, Florian Wellmann, Junior Professor at the RWTH, FH Rector Marcus Baumann and Conservatory Director Herbert Görtz (f.l.t.r.)

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Andreas Steindl)

Resounding applause – for a wonderful evening. And many thanks to Rainer Plum of the FH Aachen for staging the light show on Theater Aachen's forecourt.
See you there again next year, right?

(Photo: Stadt Aachen_Nadine Jungblut)