For me, the highlight is the hands-on stations where you can try things out; that’s what makes the Kapsele Festival more accessible and interactive.
Interactive stations
A labyrinth for next-level innovation
On 16 July 2026, the SICK Arena Freiburg will be transformed into Germany’s largest technology and innovation park.
With over 30 different stations, we’ll take you on a journey through a labyrinth of the latest technologies and most innovative developments – up close, interactive and hands-on.
Immerse yourself, try things out and discover first-hand what the future holds for your business. No advance registration is required for the interactive stations.
NeptunLab, Faculty of Engineering, University of Freiburg: Compact systems, materials and smart solutions.
Areas of application:
- Energy storage and materials
- Precision microsystems
- Miniature manufacturing
Benefits:
- More efficient and sustainable technologies
- More compact, higher-performance systems
- New industrial applications
Who: NeptunLab
Biomedical Microtechnology, Faculty of Engineering, University of Freiburg: New opportunities in medicine and neuroscience.
Fields of application:
- Neuroscience and medical technology
- Rehabilitation medicine
- Future technologies and ethics
Benefits:
- Improving BCI applications
- Innovations for medicine and neurotechnology
- Driving progress and responsibility
Who: Biomedical Microtechnology
Simulation of cardiac arrhythmias using instruments, dexterity and precision.
Areas of application:
- Cardiac arrhythmias
- Nerve stimulation
- Clinical research
Benefits:
- Improved treatment options
- Development and production in Freiburg
- Collaboration with clinics and research institutions
Who: Stockert GmbH
Innovative digital diagnostics for location-independent initial medical assessment and collection of diagnostic data from patients.
Areas of application:
- Underserved (rural) regions
- Inpatient and outpatient care
- Assisted telemedicine in pharmacies
Benefits:
- Maintaining basic medical care
- Efficient channelling of patients to the appropriate level of care
- Relief for doctors, medical staff and local services (ambulance services, A&E departments, etc.)
Who: Digital Specialist Doctors and Healthcare Services GmbH
AI agents link knowledge and systems, solve problems in real time and optimise themselves automatically.
Areas of application:
- AI-powered support & troubleshooting (chat, voice, AI agents)
- Knowledge management with Knowledge Graph & RAG
- AI orchestration layer for tools, APIs & systems (AnythingMCP)
Benefits:
- Autonomous support: issues are resolved without tickets
- Instant access to networked knowledge via AI retrieval
- AI becomes actionable through integration & orchestration (AnythingMCP)
Who: helpcode.ai GmbH
Diamond quantum chips and quantum computing solutions from a single source.
Areas of application:
- Optimisation of production processes
- Simulation of chemical compounds
- Analysis of patient data
Benefits:
- Mobile quantum computing: compact systems capable of operating at room temperature
- Potential to perform calculations that were previously impossible
- Cross-sector opportunity for disruptive impact
Who: Fraunhofer IAF
A programmed microcontroller that uses sensors to ensure an optimal cut.
Areas of application:
- Gardening and landscaping
- Robotics
Benefits:
- Eases the workload
- Time-saving
- Precise cuts
Who: StraightCut
A fully integrated plant pot that can water itself over a period of several weeks.
Areas of application:
- Home
- Office
- Schools
Benefits:
- Stress reduction
- Optimised plant growth
- Time savings
Who: MS Solutions
Flexible learning: face-to-face, online or hybrid.
Areas of application:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Digital transformation
- Cyber Security
Benefits:
- Flexible learning – location-independent & practical
- Skills for tomorrow – immediately applicable
- Targeted development and retention of skilled staff
Comprehensive automation solutions, from concept to stable operation.
Areas of application:
- Hospitals: autonomous material and logistics transport
- Airport: automated baggage handling
- Facility management: cleaning and service robotics
Benefits:
- Significantly reduce operating costs in the long term
- Effectively and permanently address the skills shortage
- Design efficient processes that are fully digital and automated
Who: Drees & Sommer
The simulator and the surgeon’s console demonstrate the precision and speed of the operation.
Areas of application:
- General and visceral surgery
- Gynaecology
- Urology"
Benefits:
- Faster recovery
- Reduced risks
- Greater precision
Test scenarios virtually using robots and sensors – to achieve the optimal setup.
Areas of application:
- Robotics
- Logistics
- Manufacturing
Benefits:
- Digital validation prior to physical installation
- Precise virtual sensor model for virtual commissioning
- Realistic data, minimal simulation-to-reality gap
Who: SICK AG
EDENenergy – Second-life battery storage. Quirie – Electrocaloric technology for environmentally friendly and efficient cooling. SnapLCA – AI-based sustainability assessment.
Areas of application:
- Energy storage & grid stability
- Efficient, climate-friendly cooling technologies
- Digital sustainability assessment & life cycle assessments
Benefits:
- Recyclable energy storage through the reuse of batteries to reduce CO₂
- Highly efficient, climate-friendly heat pumps
- Rapid and automated sustainability assessment
Who: Fraunhofer Centre of Excellence for Sustainability, Freiburg
Design your own personalised Freiburger Bierle label – live and directly using Black Forest Labs’ AI.
Applications:
- AI-powered design and creative prototyping
- Custom product design
- Marketing & brand presentation
Benefits:
- Your own Bierle label + free drink
- Hands-on AI – experience FLUX from Black Forest Labs live
Who: machn GmbH
The production of real milk from animal cells: sustainable, scalable, and without the need for animal husbandry.
Areas of application:
- Food industry (dairy products)
- Speciality foods & functional proteins
- Sustainable protein production / FoodTech
Benefits:
- Up to 90% reduction in CO₂, water and land use
- Animal-free production with identical quality
- Scalable, stable and controllable production
Who: Senara GmbH
Precise protection, reduced use of resources, long-term preservation of the landscape.
Areas of application:
- Precision crop protection on steep slopes
- Use across multiple farms via a service provider
- Access to modern crop protection technology without the need for investment
Benefits:
- Greater efficiency, reduced workload for staff
- Protection of soil, plants, nature and the landscape
- Preservation of vineyards, recreational areas and tourism
By temporarily taking over heart and lung function, CARL saves the heart and the brain.
Areas of application:
- Resuscitation in cases of acute cardiac arrest at the scene of an emergency
- Maintenance of organ and limb perfusion in cases of massive blood loss
- Taking over heart and lung function during the transport of critical patients in an ambulance or helicopter
Benefits:
- Studies show: an increase in the survival rate following cardiac arrest from 8% to over 40%
- Restores oxygen supply to the brain and organs
- Ensures organ perfusion even in cases of massive blood loss
MP Virtual Reality, ExploraVision table, business applications, micro-apps.
Areas of application:
- Rapid prototyping of walk-in digital twins
- Intuitive, interactive data visualisation
- Business applications
Benefits:
- Rapid visualisations
- Rapid testing
- Digital public transport planning
- Networking between schools and training companies
Who: Furtwangen University, Faculty of Computer Science and Applications
Experience digital tools first-hand and discover their potential applications: AR, VR, smart glasses, drones, 3D scanning, AI applications.
Areas of application:
- Maintenance & Service
- Education & Training
- Documentation & data collection
Benefits:
- Streamline processes
- Reduce the workload on skilled staff
- Enable scalable services
Experience, learn about and explore sustainable e-mobility and logistics with our simulators and showrooms.
Areas of application:
- Science communication
- Feasibility studies
- Research collaborations
Benefits:
- Communication of information and technology
- Prototype implementation projects
Early detection rather than late treatment.
Areas of application:
- Single-molecule sensing
- Medical diagnostics
- Drug development
- Quality assurance
Benefits:
- Improved early detection of diseases
- Blood sample instead of tissue sample
- Cost-effective and simple technique
- an important step towards personalised medicine
Who: Hahn-Schickard
Molecular clarity at the touch of a button thanks to fully automated analysis.
Areas of application:
- Support for unclear diagnoses of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis
- Centrifugal microfluidics
- Molecular diagnostics
- On-site use in dermatology practices, clinics and laboratories
Benefits:
- Greater diagnostic certainty through objective results
- Faster decisions for targeted therapies
- Greater clarity for patients
- An important step towards personalised medicine
Who: Hahn-Schickard and Dermagnostix
A digital, interactive wall illustrating the development of an innovation ecosystem in Freiburg.
Areas of application:
- Urban innovation
- Open Government
- Resilience
Benefits:
- Promotion of an open innovation culture
- Supporting project development
- Creating spaces for experimentation with creative solutions
Who: City of Freiburg
MAIA demonstrates how immersive technologies can be made easily accessible and experienced in real time.
Areas of application:
- Industry
- Creative industries
- Public
Benefits:
- AI avatar makes it easier to get started with immersive technologies and answers questions
- On Apple Vision Pro: immersive application and experiential content
Who: THE CYBERLÄND
Realistic virtual exercises for medical emergencies.
Areas of application:
- Diagnosis and treatment of respiratory infections
Benefits:
- Improved processes and optimised communication
- Safety and risk-free environment
- Personalised development
Who: Pfizer Pharma GmbH
Join us and discover why your perspective is the key to true innovation.
Areas of application:
- Organisations where innovation meets uncertainty
- Innovators who are struggling with resistance
- Managers who feel powerless to act
Benefits:
- Together, we create new perspectives on challenging situations
- Together, we develop the courage to step outside our own perspective
- This creates inspiration for a culture of innovation within your organisation
Who: lumanaa
Listen to new music for targeted brain stimulation or immerse yourself in VR and stimulate your brain using tDCS.
Areas of application:
- neudio: Improvement of mental health and cognitive performance.
- Cortelics: treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and regulation of emotion.
Benefits:
- Gentle, pleasant brain modulation at home
- Improves mental health and cognitive performance
- Reduces stress, boosts concentration and learning, and improves sleep
- Supports the treatment of conditions
Who: neudio & Cortelics
In the virtual forest, visitors learn in a fun and interactive way what modern education looks like – seeing, feeling, hearing.
Areas of application:
- Education
- Research
- Future
Benefits:
- Practical learning
- Building a sustainable future
- Applying sustainable practices
- Resource-efficient
Virtual planning and CAD-CAM technology in surgery. 3D-printed skull models. Anatomy in AR and/or VR. AI in radiology and histology. AI in medical studies and training.
Fields of application:
- Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
- Medical education
- Medical training
Benefits:
- The virtual and real models help surgeons to plan and prepare for operations even more effectively.
- At the same time, VR/AR applications provide a completely new approach for medical students and trainees
Drill Guard Two – Drilling depth and inclination measurement system. LangConnect – AI translation tool for German Sign Language. MS Solutions – Easy Pot: automatic plant watering system. SaniLink – medical emergency alert system. StraightCut – sensor-based hedge trimming.
Areas of application:
- Precision and automation for industry and trade
- Smart solutions for sustainable use of the environment and resources
- Smart solutions for greater safety, health and inclusion
Benefits:
- Increased efficiency & automation
- Sustainability & resource conservation
- Improved safety & quality of life
Who: Jugend forscht South Baden Regional Competition – participants and projects
Trinatronics Competition: Trinational students at DHBW Lörrach develop innovative mechatronic solutions.
Fields of application:
- Neurological tremor disorders
- Rehabilitation and therapy facilities
- Combating invasive species
- Environmental and nature conservation
Benefits:
- Greater independence and participation in everyday life
- Support for therapeutic progress
- Faster localisation of nests
- Semi-autonomous target tracking
Who: DHBW Lörrach
Emilia Neuwirt
Co-Founder and CEO, EMUNO Therapeutics GmbH
Discover our masterclasses!
Have you had a hands-on experience of the latest technologies at the interactive stations? Then put that knowledge into practice now! In our Käpsele Masterclasses, we switch to hands-on learning.
You can look forward to crisp 45-minute sessions, tried-and-tested methods and direct interaction with experts. Best of all: this year, the Masterclasses are expanding and will take place over two days at two different venues!
Day 1 (16 July 2026): Right on the festival site at the SICK Arena, running alongside the experience stations.
Day 2 (17 July 2026): Our exclusive focus day at the Kreativpark in the Lokhalle Freiburg.
Please note: As places are limited, advance registration via the festival app is required for the masterclasses!
The stage programme at the festival
As well as the interactive stations, a wealth of inspiration awaits you! On 16 July 2026, the venue will be transformed into a space for big ideas and fresh perspectives.
On five different stages, top-class speakers such as
- Joe Kaeser
- Aya Jaff
- Robin Rombach
- Birte Hackenjos
- Christian Miele
their insights into the digital future, tech mindsets and industrial transformation. Don’t miss a single highlight panel and plan your keynotes perfectly!