DLDsummer: Burda Invites Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser and BMW Marketing Head Hildegard Wortmann to Munich's Haus der Kunst

MUNICH, June 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

DLD, one of Europe's most successful innovation- and tech conferences, is staging its summer offshoot DLDsummer in Munich on June 16-17, 2016. Extending a day and a half, the event at the 'Haus der Kunst' is expected to attract some 500 visitors and over 40 speakers. Features include BMW's new head of marketing Hildegard Wortmann speaking on the future of mobility, Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser giving his views on innovation in an interview with Dominik Wichmann (DLD), and Claudia Nemat from Deutsche Telekom's Board of Management discussing the cities of the future. Deon Newman from IBM Watson, the industrial designer Gadi Amit who developed the Fitbit wristband, Solveigh Hieronimus from McKinsey, and Michael Halek from University Hospital Cologne, whose patients have included former German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, are also due to appear on the DLD stage.

Digitalization spanning every realm of life 

"Artificial intelligence, its close companion virtual reality and even blockchain technology are exerting major influences on all areas of everyday life, over and beyond the worlds of work and industry," says DLD founder and Managing Director Steffi Czerny. "A broadly-based revolution, comparable to that of the Internet 20 years ago, is gaining momentum here. Societies and individual citizens alike will need to take stock of it quickly. For this reason we will be discussing the opportunities and challenges these developments harbor at DLDsummer."

"The consequences of today's digital revolutions are increasingly impacting people - the very people who provided the spark that first ignited them," adds Dominik Wichmann, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of DLD. "Given the Internet of Things, the increasing tightly-knit networks and the enormous potential of Big Data, people and their individual needs and interests are already becoming a reference point for this process."

Partnership with Ashoka 

At its summer conference DLD is cooperating for the first time with Ashoka, the global network for social entrepreneurs. The conference's second day, which is being staged jointly with Ashoka, will revolve around outstanding solutions that are available for social problems. The discussions will also cover new ideas in the areas of refugee integration, entrepreneurship and digital activism.  

SevenVentures Pitch Day 

Europe's largest start-up competition is also making its premiere at DLDsummer. Organized by SevenVentures and offering a total of 3 million euros worth of TV media, it is one of Europe's most valuable awards. On June 16, 2016 the finalists will step into the DLD arena for the final battle. Under the moderation of Steven Gätjen, they will present short pitches aimed at winning over a jury - comprising Luciana Lixandru (Accel Partners), Nikolaus Röttger (Wired Germany) and Sascha van Holt (SevenVentures) - for their ideas.

Workshops: from genome editing to online petitions 

In addition to engrossing panel discussions, the participants at DLDsummer can also look forward to practical workshops. For example, the biologist Ellen Jorgensen from Genspace will be giving an introduction to genome editing - molecular techniques for deleting, inserting and modifying DNA - while the Ashoka fellow Gregor Hackmarck from change.org will be offering a range of tips for making online petitions work.

Further information on DLDsummer can be found at http://dld-conference.com/DLDsummer16. Press should address their inquiries to dldpress@burda.com. Any remaining tickets can be requested at dldteam@burda.com.

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Executive Board: Dr Paul-Bernhard Kallen (CEO), Holger Eckstein, Dr. Andreas Rittstieg, Philipp Welte, Stefan Winners