Calendar of events: Experiencing technology

20 August 2020

Online, hybrid or analogue in small groups: The coronavirus situation has led many organisers to postpone their originally scheduled events, to limit participant numbers or to move their conferences either partially or completely online. So there’s no expectation that new visitor records will be set this year - but it may be some consolation for technology lovers that they will have the opportunity between September and December to tune into some exciting events online that have previously always been held at locations too far away for them to attend in person.

3 to 5 September 2020, Messe Berlin
For more information about “IFA”, click here.

This September’s news broadcasts will sadly not be featuring any reports on the many thousands of visitors flocking to the exhibition centre beneath Berlin’s iconic radio tower to get their hands on and try out the very latest gadgets and innovations from the home electronics scene. Due to the coronavirus situation, the International Electronics Fair (IFA) will this year be opening its doors only to accredited trade visitors and 800 international journalists. These lucky few will be able to find out all about the latest trends and developments from press conferences and keynote speeches. “SHIFT Mobility meets IFA NEXT”   will bring together in a single live event international technology start-ups and companies from the networked mobility field – the focus will be on 5G, Mixed Reality, the Internet of Things and smart homes.  All private tech connoisseurs, along with those who didn’t quite make it onto the accreditation list this time, will instead be able to dial remotely into streaming and chat sessions from beneath the radio tower.

15 to 18 September 2020
For more information on the Internet Security Digital Days, click here.

The tenth “Internet Security Days” event at Phantasialand near Cologne has this year become the first “Internet Security Digital Days” to be held on the World Wide Web: IT security experts, security officers and user companies will be meeting online for lectures, discussion groups and workshops to find out about current threats and new strategies. The topics will include computer viruses in the health services, the effects of digitalisation on police work and the best ways for security officers to contact members of staff. The speakers will include Markus Bartsch and Markus Wagner from TÜViT, who will be giving talks  on the role of Common Criteria  in smart homes, networked cars and intelligent factories.

16 to 18 September 2020, Kraftwerk Berlin
For more information about the “Greentech Festival”, click here.

Climate change has not been put on hold by the pandemic, which is why event organisers associated with ex-Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg have decided to hold the second Greentech Festival in analogue form in Berlin - albeit in smaller spaces for safety reasons and, for the first time, complemented by online formats. The “global platform for green future technologies” brings together innovative thinkers, pioneers and industrialists to discuss the urgent issues of our age. The list of well-known speakers includes the boss of German railway company Deutsche Bahn Richard Lutz, ex-foreign minister Joschka Fischer and Jan Wurzbacher, whose start-up Climeworks is developing technologies to filter the greenhouse gas CO2 out of the air. Further climate-friendly innovations will be showcased in the exhibition zone by established companies and young developers - including Ottobahn, whose aim is to revolutionise transportation using an automated gondola system. Lots of lectures and the Green Awards  ceremony will be available to view via live stream and on YouTube.

14 - 16 October 2020, Messe Stuttgart
For more information about “Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo”, click here.

Electric mobility is strongly on the up in Germany at the moment: More than ten percent of all new cars in July were either fully electric or plug-in hybrids - more than ever before. What is particularly remarkable is that, although sales of diesel and petrol cars collapsed by 20 percent each, more electric cars were sold than in the previous year. Good news not only for the participants in the Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo, who will be dedicating their energies in Stuttgart to the latest technologies and innovations in electric propulsion. The associated “Battery Show Europe” will at the same time be fully concentrating on the technological development of electric vehicles:  International experts from Volvo, Nissan, Renault and NASA will be discussing the current status of battery design, recycling and solid batteries alongside the development of battery cell production in Europe, which the EU and the German government are determined to push ahead with by offering subsidies to the tune of many billions of euros.

10 - 12 November 2020, Messe Frankfurt
For more information about “Hypermotion”, click here.

Where mobility is set to go next and how we’ll all be travelling conveniently, multimodally  and in an environmentally friendly way in the future will be discussed over three days and in a number of conferences at Hypermotion. This year's main topic will be the potential of drones to ferry people and goods from A to B through the air, high above traffic jams. The German Mobility Congress will be enquiring into the challenges of climate change and the coronavirus pandemic for public transport; the Smart Mobility Conference will be discussing intelligent solutions for sustainable mobility in cities and municipalities; and young start-ups will be pitching their innovative ideas for transport and logistics. On the Micro Mobility Course , trade visitors will also have the opportunity to test out new mobility solutions in a practical and hands-on way

1 to 4 December 2020, Hamburg Messe and Congress
For more information about “WindEnergy Hamburg”, click here.

Planners, manufacturers and operators of wind turbines, both on land and at sea, will be returning to WindEnergy in Hamburg in December. According to the provider's website, this year's leading international trade fair for the global wind energy industry will be focusing on energy storage and power-to-X technologies as the “missing link” in the successful energy transition. The most prominent newcomer to the list of topics will be “green” hydrogen. Expert discussion fora such as the new “H2Insights” area will be focusing on how the CO2-free energy source might be produced economically in the future using wind power.

7 to 10 December 2020
For more information on the “IT Days 2020”, click here.

Information technology is a wide field – and one which the IT Days in their current format will for the first time be ploughing exclusively online. Over four days, the trade audience will be able to attend workshops, keynote talks and further lectures  to find out about current trends and tendencies in software development, database architecture, IT security and agile project management. In addition to the evergreen issues of software architecture and AI, this year’s event will also be dealing with the psychology of coding, golden rules for long-term successful home working and the potential of neural networks for the rapid diagnosis of pneumonia.