Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser at DLDsummer

"Speed is Not the Most Important Factor in Digitalisation" - Seite 2

The future of cities and mobility 

Deutsche Telekom Board Member Claudia Nemat provided a glimpse into the future of our cities. She explained that to close in on the goal of the "smart city", it is essential to evaluate existing data using mathematical algorithms. For example, a huge proportion of urban traffic is caused by drivers searching for somewhere to park. Digital services and real-time analyses could solve this problem relatively easily.

Hildegard Wortmann, BMW's new Marketing Head, took to the DLDsummer stage to discuss the challenges in the automotive industry. "Technology is developing rapidly - the changes that will come in the next ten years are comparable to those of the last 30 years," stated Wortmann, who has been with BMW since 1998. A global company such as BMW must be innovative and constantly developing, which is why it is looking for unusual ideas: "Only in this way will the company have the impetus to progress further."

From IoT to wearables and microbiomes 

Further speakers on the first day of the conference included Deon Newman (IBM Watson), who presented the opportunities offered by cognitive computing and IoT (Internet of Things), industrial designer Gadi Amit, who talked about new technology designs, German internist Michael Hallek, who discussed the ethical dimension of digital medicine, and gastroenterologist Berndt Birkner, who focused on microbiology.

The second day of DLDsummer (Friday) will welcome speakers such as Gregor Hackmack, CEO of the Change.org petition platform, neuroscientist Frederike Petzschner, Michael Gleich (author and founder of the Culture Counts Foundation) and Solveigh Hieronimus of McKinsey & Company.

Start-up battle with SevenVentures 

Yesterday, DLDsummer hosted its first SevenVentures Pitch Day. With prize money of 3 million euros, the major start-up competition is one of Europe's most generous awards for TV media. Moderated by Steven Gätjen, the event saw six finalists battle it out on the DLD stage in front of a jury comprising Luciana Lixandru (Accel Partners), Nikolaus Röttger (Wired Germany) and Sascha van Holt (SevenVentures). In the final round, the audience ultimately voted for the start-up Tinkerbots, which impressed them with its toy kit for constructing robots.