Top scientists at work in high-tech research facilities don’t mix well with wandering visitors taking selfies and touching equipment. Before you can say ‘battery acid’, months of photovoltaic research is undone by untimely visitor interference. How to give a grand tour of a leading lab that wants to display its innovation to the world? A virtual tour provides the answer.

EnergyVille is the leading research cooperative that emerged from a number of Flemish university-based research partners. Its mission is focused around sustainable energy and intelligent energy systems. It aims to push for an energy-efficient, carbon-free and sustainable urban environment. With over 400 researchers and a number of state-of-the-art facilities, EnergyVille is considered a true energy innovation hub in Europe, uniting research, development and training, in close cooperation with local, regional and international partners from both industry and public authorities.

In 2018, Energyville opened their long-awaited second campus near Genk, in the Belgian region of Limburg. Labs with state-of-the-art technology for battery and solar cell research are combined with office space for scientists. The idea came up to make the location accessible to a wider audience, to provide an insight into the scientific heart of the region’s university research. However, the organization of regular public visits through an active research lab proved easier said than done. That is why EnergyVille went in search of an alternative way of visiting. How? Through a virtual 3D tour. Time for the Poppr team to step in!

One of EnergyVille’s key requirements was easy accessibility of its virtual 3D tour – not only for the general public, but also for their own employees. The marketing team wanted to have the freedom to update the tour’s images and text frames without any technical intervention.

• Technical development of a virtual 3D tour, in line with EnergyVille’s corporate branding.
• Content management system (CMS) accessible to the marketing team, enabling content editors to change items without any need to rely on Poppr’s development team.
• Multilingual tour (English, French and Dutch), for maximum national and international reach.
• High-resolution 360-degree images, shot at two locations.
• Short development time: from first intake to live tour in mere weeks.

The result? A virtual tour with a clean look and feel, entirely in line with the clean technology research that EnergyVille prides itself on. Anyone who would like to take a look inside the high-tech research centres for solar panels can now do so from the comfort of their own home – without the risk of distracting researchers from their work or causing any trouble.