Cottbus is currently the first virtually walkable city in Germany!

Digital, sophisticated and contemporary – that’s virtual Cottbus. Creating a virtual city – sounds like a dream of the future at first, but it is actually already a reality. A key measure in the marketing of the location is the so-called virtual reality film.

In cooperation with many municipal stakeholders and with the support of GRW-I funding from the state of Brandenburg and the federal government, the virtual Cottbus was created: the Virtual Reality Film Cottbus (VR film), in development since 2020, it developed into a key measure within the location marketing. The production was modularly continued in 2021 and from it, the virtual Cottbus was created as version1.0.

Virtual films belong nowadays to the central components of the advertisement for the location Cottbus. Especially in Corona times, the digital channels have gained undreamt-of importance and dynamic. The possibilities of 360-degree presentations are indispensable for all digital presentations and offer attractive acquisition supplements in times of reduced presence. Every entrepreneur wants to know where the property is, which companies are located nearby, and how the transport links and traffic structure are created.

EGC Wirtschaftsförderung has taken care of the so-called hard location factors, concentrating on the places that are important for entrepreneurial decisions to settle in Cottbus. In other words, what makes Cottbus unique for business, what are the advantages of a large city, the largest city in Lusatia, and a magnet for jobs. The filming locations included the main train station as the site of Europe’s most modern railroad plant, industrial parks, founders and established entrepreneurs at the sites, Gebäudewirtschaft Cottbus (GWC), Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU), Congress, Messe & Touristik GmbH Cottbus (CMT) as a medical campus, the Cottbus public utility company and the emerging Cottbus Baltic Sea. What makes the film so special is that each virtual station contains personal statements from local companies and start-ups that highlight the advantages of Cottbus from their perspective.

Individual films were also shot by other partners. The BTU, for example, created a VR film with a university focus, while the city marketing department shows the soft location factors, life, recreation, culture and tourism. All of these films are components of Virtual Cottbus.

The result and the resulting possibilities were presented on April 28, 2022 – as part of a press briefing by EGC – at the Cottbus Start-up Center, Startblock B2. The presentation of the VR film was done by the film producer Walter Schönenbröcher (WHITESTAG – VR Filmproduktion®). The participants were then offered the opportunity to immerse themselves in virtual Cottbus by means of virtual reality glasses.

Economic Development Cottbus says THANK YOU!

„Special thanks to the idea givers and enablers Walter Schönenbröcher, as producer. The voice of the film belongs to Clara Katrin Jahnke, known to many in Cottbus as a singer. Drone pilot Steffen Franzeck, Drone Expertise, Finsterwalde. We would like to thank our Lord Mayor, Holger Kelch, and Stefan Korb, Head of the Economics Department. We thank all participating companies and institutions and their management, as well as those involved from our EGC team, especially Elisa Fladrich.“

In addition to the VR film, which is being used for marketing in line with the target group, the project has now taken on even greater dimensions. In close cooperation with Walter Schönenbröcher, an update/extension of the VR film is being discussed, which can be walked through interactively and can be expanded more and more in perspective.

Experience Cottbus interactively: www.virtuelles-cottbus.de