What is the conference about?

Everybody talks about Digitization or Digital Transformation but still for most of the people it's still an abstract term or buzz word that can mean everything or nothing at all. We want to give a stage or even a platform to experts, founders and specialists from all around Germany, Europe and the World to share their know-how and experience in different formats with you. Also, we want to provide a direct level of interaction for you to get in touch and discuss with the people of your interest.

Digitization is and must be in many ways linked to our ethical standards and and concerns. Especially when it comes to Artificial Intelligence, Media, Health and Mobility. Let's talk about it!

We strongly believe that today no one need to fly to Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv or Shenzhen anymore to meet highly innovative people. We also believe that "Silicon Valley is Everywhere". Especially in Europe the mid-sized sector, including many hidden champions and global market leaders, is strong and innovative in its many specific business niches. The innovator might just have an office in a small town nearby. But still there is a big difference in the way people and companies innovate or disrupt. Let's discuss and learn together in, talks, panels and deep dive sessions how you can participate in these processes.

One big and important part of the Digital Transformation is and will always be technology. Technology is the reason and the driving force of the paradigm shift that goes along with the Digitization. That’s why we invited tech entrepreneurs and startups as well as corporate decision makers to teach us about the status quo and the potential of the technologies they use to innovate or disrupt their businesses, products and entire markets. The challenge will also be to translate the power of technology into how it will impact our society.

Our society needs bright entrepreneurial minds who can and want to understand the opportunities that go along with Digitization, Innovation and Technology, are able to keep us with the accelerating pace of change but also have an understanding for the importance and wellbeing of a well-functioning society. We invited smart achievers, pragmatic makers and extraordinary minds to tell their journey to inspire you and others to have the guts to try something new.

What’s actually the difference of New and Old Work? Where are the advantages or what can go wrong? We learned that it's all about communication. But how to enable a heterogeneous team with different ideas, based in different locations, from different generations and cultures to act in their mutual interest and the interest of an entire organization? How will the perception and definition of work change and how will the jobs of the future look like? What economics are behind that and in how far will our coexistence or society be affected?

One of the main actors of Digital Transformation is media. Media nowadays is way more digital than analog and its DNA is fully technology based. To understand how media influences your or others' behavior you have to understand technology as well as the data that can be collected, aggregated and instrumentalized in your favor or disadvantage. Social Media and its evil potential is discussed more and more controversial even though for the most of us it's still pandoras box. We invited media experts and scientists that will talk and discuss media as the link of technology and society. We will also talk about new levels of manipulation and Fake News with the means of Virtual Reality and Machine Learning.

Both - Education and Creativity - go hand in hand as being the foundation as well as the starting point for everything mentioned before. We urgently have to rethink education and create contemporary formats to identify and support individual talents. Today it’s more important to discover, understand, reflect and adapt than to just memorize, recover and reproduce existing knowledge. Also, how can our still very analog educational system which is still massively determined by the age of industrialization of the last century be changed into an up-to-date high-end creativity engine?

Data is created, collected and used for predictions nearly everywhere in business and life today. But data is also more and more advancing into a weapon and a means of warfare between nations, industries, companies but also individuals. On the other hand, we do treat data as the holy grail when talking about artificial intelligence or machine learning. The data processing speed today is more than impressive and the results are sometimes stunning. The technology is very promising but at the same time terrifying when we think e.g. of Singularity or Skynet. Thus, security is not only a side effect or even party pooper, it's also an imperative, a necessary counterbalance which takes care that data is not misused.

Where do we stand when it comes to A.I. or robotics? Will a smart or even self-learning algorithm or a virtual assistant be able to do your job better then you, even if you are an academic medical doctor, engineer or lawyer? Will we be able to develop artificial consciousness even though we still do not know how our own consciousness works? And if so, will we be able to differ between a fake and a real artificial created consciousness given that the A.I. might be able to easily outsmart us. Are we heading to a dystopian or utopian world within the next 12+ years with robots doing all our physical work and A.I. helping (?) us with the rest?

Efficient and smart mobility solutions are the backbone of our society. They are an important part of the productivity and the wellbeing of the society. Mobility lately became also an important pillar of our individual lifestyle. The spectrum of options to move from A to B grew massively in the last years in comparison to the prior decades. Cities need to be and stay attractive for their citizens and are entering the international war of talents while more people start to work remotely as e.g. digital nomads. In addition, efficient cities have to work on sustainability when it comes to economic performance or pollution.

Virtual, immersive experiences and augmented realities enriched or augmented information in our daily lives will soon become the new normal. Mobile phones still play a predominant role in our media or information consumption but when a headset manages the move to the mass market consumers will switch to away from hand- to headsets. Convenience and usability as well as battery capacity and simply the looks of the device is the key for the user adaption. Upcoming devices will be smart and anticipate what you need, where an when you need something what will foster the mass acceptance of Next Reality Solutions.

The health sector focusses on preventive medicine. This shift enhances our quality of life and life expectancy beyond what was ever possible. Data driven self-improvement in sports and even our daily routines makes us aware and willing to improve. Prosthetics devices are performing better than our natural limbs. People start thinking about biohacking or even body modifications to improve their performance. Genetic engineering will pave the way for designer kids or heathier and smarter versions of ourselves. We are able to 3D-print meat or fall in love with robots now. But what will be the consequence of really exhausting all possibilities for society?