Ilmenau is located in Thuringia, about 33 km in the south of the federal capital Erfurt in the valley of the Ilm at the northern border of the Thuringian forest. On the one hand, Ilmenau is famous for its University of Technology (https://www.tu-ilmenau.de/), which has about 6200 students and is the second largest university of Thuringia. On the other hand the poet J. W. von Goethe, in his official function as minister of state, frequently visited Ilmenau. During his numerous stays he was inspired by the beautiful landscape. The museums “Amtshaus” and “Jagdhaus Gabelbach” as well as the Goethe walk inform about his life and work in and around Ilmenau.
Ilmenau was founded about 1300. The buildings in the city center were built after the last devastating fire in 1752. Historically, Ilmenau is a silver and copper mining town. In the 19th century Ilmenau developed to an industrial town, while mainly porcelain and glass industry were resident in the region of Ilmenau. In 1894 the “Thüringisches Technikum” was founded, which applies as corner stone for today’s university. Today Ilmenau is one of the most important centers for innovation and development in Thuringia.
Further information you can also find on the website of the city: https://www.ilmenau.de/1-1-Welcome.html
https://www.ilmenau.de/5-1-Tourism.html
The DPT 2017 mainly takes place on the city campus of the TU Ilmenau (Georg-Schmidt-Technikum), that is located in the town center of Ilmenau.
Here you can find a map of the TU Ilmenau campus: Campusplan
The address of the Curiebau (conference office) is:
Weimarer Straße 25
98693 Ilmenau
The next major train station, that is connected to the national InterCityExpress (ICE)-System is "Erfurt Hauptbahnhof". ErfurterBahn drives from Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, to Ilmenau. The trip takes about one hour through the picturesque landscape of the Thuringian Basin. If you start in the south of Germany, you can change trains in Arnstadt. The timetable of the train can be found here http://www.erfurter-bahn.de/en.html.
Please consider the offer of Deutsche Bahn.
The closest international airports with good train connections to Erfurt are Frankfurt airport (https://www.frankfurt-airport.com/en/flights---more/flights.html), airport Berlin Schönefeld (http://www.berlin-airport.de/en/index.php) or airport Halle-Leipzig (https://www.leipzig-halle-airport.de/en/).
Ilmenau is located close to Motorway A71 that crosses the A4 in Erfurt (Schweinfurt-Erfurt). From exit “Ilmenau West” follow L3004 to Ilmenau. From exit “Ilmenau Ost” use B88 and L3087 to Ilmenau center. Furthermore the national highways B4, B88 and B87 cross near Ilmenau.
Ilmenau is a small town, so you are able to reach all important places in less than 20 min by foot. Alternatively you can use public transport (http://www.iov-ilmenau.de/).