Tech Days 2022 in Munich

The Tech Days in Munich, hosted by Sicherheitsnetzwerk München and Bayern Innovativ, are a great place for founders, entrepreneurs, and creatives in the cyberspace to exchange their views on ongoing digital transformation and new ways of creating, organizing, and accelerating innovation. After two years of virtual events due to the pandemic, at Tech Days 2022, people finally met in person again. The excitement of all the attendees and speakers about being together again was palpable. With three stages, an exhibition hall, and plenty of space to network, the famous Muffathalle in the heart of Munich set a wonderful stage for this year's overall theme, “digital innovation for sustainability and resilience”, with a special focus on SMEs and start-ups.

The event started with four keynotes before breaking out into action on all three stages. Visitors were able to roam freely between the stages, where they could listen to talks on various topics like “Quantum Computing”, “Tech for Green Energy”, and “Neuromorphic Computing Applications”. The setup of panel discussions engaged the audience with various topics. Additionally, visitors were able to sit in on two informative hours of five-minute pitches by the many start-ups present. It was also always possible to visit the exhibition hall and get insights from founders or even a demonstration of their products.

Here are some insights from interesting talks:

• The block of talks on the topic of “AI & Metaverse” was very interesting. Guest speakers such as Kevin Niekrawietz (Capgemini Invent), Thomas Reiners (Metacity), and Uwe Rechkemmer (NVIDIA) provided an excellent overview of the present and future of Web 3.0 and the metaverse. The speakers all insisted that the metaverse was going to be a dominant market in the future. More and more big players in the SITS market are expanding their business to include the metaverse, with companies like Microsoft planning on being at the forefront of the surge. For more details, be sure to look out for our upcoming blog posts on this topic in the coming weeks[AT1] .
• A key focus, and one of the main topics of the event that all speakers leaned on, was sustainability. The “Tech for Green Energy” block with multiple talks and panel discussions was all about sustainability, but so were talks from the “Future Tech” topic, with Dr. Gallasch (Software Factory GmbH) speaking about the circular economy and Peter Eggelseder (Allterco) delivering a presentation on smart homes. All in all, it was evident that sustainability is and will remain a major point of consideration for all companies.
• Judith Gerlach, the Bavarian State Minister for Digital Affairs, spoke about digitization initiatives in Bavaria and current challenges, sustainability, resilience, and future viability. In her view, digitization is about bringing all stakeholders on board. Gerlach would like to see a broader commitment to innovation, particularly from universities, and to sustainability.
• One panel discussion was about Health & MedTech and the current challenges to digitalizing health services. Beside low IT budgets, which will hopefully change due to the Hospital Future Act (Krankenhauszukunftsgesetz), the mindset is also crucial to advancing the sector. The lone survivor, the paper patient file, which is transported via the patient’s bed, must be digitalized. In essence, structures must be rethought, improvements must be made, especially in horizontal organizations (e.g. between hospital departments), and understanding must be built to generate (future) potential.

Overall, the event was very insightful, and we look forward to attending again in the future.