Oldenburg. The privilege to accompany the German Federal Minister on a state visit was bestowed to the hearing scientist Prof. Dr. Dr. Birger Kollmeier from the University of Oldenburg. As speakers at the German-Luxembourg economic conference he and Dr. Torsten Niederdränk, vice president of Siemens Health Care, were guests of the German Federal Minister Joachim Gauck on a three-day long journey to the the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Both – together with the hearing scientist Prof. Dr. Volker Hohmann from Oldenburg – had been awarded 2012 the German Future Price (Deutschen Zukunftspreis) by Gauck.

The state visit at the beginning of November included many official appointments, receptions and meetings with the Grand Duke and his court, the Luxembourgish goverment and other representatives of the public. "The journey was like a dream", sums Kollmeier up, "it was a great privilege to be part of it." Both the Fraunhofer project group Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology which was established in Oldenburg and the model of the European Medical School Oldenburg-Groningen were regarded with vivid interest by the people he spoke with, reports Kollmeier.