Press Release
Smart Country Convention 2024: Strong political presence from Germany and Europe
• President Edgars Rinkēvičs (Latvia) and Head of Government Daniel Risch (Liechtenstein) on stage
• Nancy Faeser (BMI), Dr. Volker Wissing (BMDV), Cem Özdemir (BMEL), Ricarda Lang, Elisabeth Kaiser and Kai Wegner speak on site
• First highlight sessions of the stage program published
With a top-class stage program, the Smart Country Convention 2024 (SCCON) from 15-17 October in Berlin will provide new impetus for the digitalization of cities and public authorities. The leading event for the public sector will welcome top political representatives from Germany and abroad.
International program participation continues to grow
With the Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs and Daniel Risch, Head of Government and Minister for Presidential Affairs and Finance of the Principality of Liechtenstein, two leading European government representatives will enrich this year's event program for the first and second day of the event for the first time. In addition, Northern Ireland's Minister for the Economy Connor Murphy and Viktors Valainis, Minister for the Economy of the partner country Latvia, will be on stage on day one.
At federal level, the Smart Country Convention 2024 is expecting Federal Minister of the Interior and patron Nancy Faeser, Cem Özdemir, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Volker Wissing, Federal Minister of Digital Affairs and Transport, Elisabeth Kaiser, State Secretary in the Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Construction, and the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, to be live on site. Green Party Chairwoman Ricarda Lang will open the third day of the event on the Plaza Stage.
“Digital administration is a prerequisite for smart cities and regions. It is also the basis for a functioning state - and thus promotes people's trust in politics, from the federal government to the federal states to the municipalities,” says Bitkom President Dr. Ralf Wintergerst. “We don't need to reinvent the wheel of digitalization, we simply need to learn more from each other. At the Smart Country Convention, best practices from German administrations and pioneering European countries will show us how the state and public sector can be successfully digitalized.”
First highlight sessions published
The first highlight sessions of the Smart Country Convention 2024 can already be found in the stage program:
Day 1, October 15
• Forum Stage, 12:30 p.m.: Ralf Meyer (Berlin Senate Department of Finance), Linda Wichmann (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs) and Dr. Peter Geißler (Communardo) will talk about “AI and automation in everyday administrative work”.
• Plaza Stage, 14:15: In the afternoon, the most digitized cities in Germany will be honored as part of the Smart City Index Awards of the digital association Bitkom.
• Plaza Stage, from 18:00: The partner country Latvia invites you to exchange ideas at the SCCON Networking Night.
Day 2, October 16
• Plaza Stage, 10:00 a.m.: Rolf Bösinger (BMWSB), Kristina Sinemus (Minister for Digitalization and Innovation, Hesse), Sabine Meigel (German Association of Cities, City of Ulm) and Lars Rohwer (Member of the Bundestag, CDU) discuss the Smart City phased plan.
• Arena Stage, 14:00: Martina Klement (CDO Berlin), Lydia Hüskens (Minister for Infrastructure and Digital Affairs, Saxony-Anhalt), Christian Pfromm (CDO Hamburg) and Dörte Schall (Minister for Labour, Social Affairs, Transformation and Digitization, Rhineland-Palatinate) present the Bitkom State Index.
• Plaza Stage, 17:30: The most innovative startups from the fields of smart city and e-government will be honored at the Smart Country Startup Award ceremony.
Day 3, October 17
• Plaza Stage, 11:30 a.m.: Dr. Caroline Wagner, Anette von Rolbeck (ZF Mobility Solutions) and Matthias Punz (SZ Dossier) look at “10 years of Smart City in Germany: What's next?”.
• Arena Stage, 1:30 pm: To coincide with SCCON Career Day, Ann-Kathrin Riedel (Next e. V.) and Ralf Stettner (CIO Hessen) will be speaking on the topic of “Future skills and further training - the key to administrative digitalization”.
• Plaza Stage, 3:30 pm: Martin Schallbruch (govdigital), Christine Serette (ITZ Bund), Dr. Oliver Heidinger (IT.NRW) and other experts will discuss the topic “Cloud in administration: federal and state governments in exchange”.
The entire SCCON program is available on the Smart Country Convention website.
Free tickets for the Smart Country Convention 2024 are available in the online ticket shop.
About Smart Country Convention
The Smart Country Convention is the leading event for the digital state and public services. With over 15,000 participants, it is the meeting place for everyone involved in the digitalisation of the public sector. The combination of congress, workshops, expo and networking is aimed at employees from administration, politics, the digital economy, associations and science. SCCON is organised by Bitkom e.V. and Messe Berlin.
You can also find this press release on the Internet: www.smartcountry.berlin
Press photos of the Smart Country Convention in printable quality can be downloaded here. Videos about the event and the topics of the Smart Country Convention can be found here.